Yama Rising

Qin Ye’s voice continued, “Pearlmount City, the provincial capital of the Pearl River region, and Brightriver City of the three northeastern provinces… I don’t know where exactly they may be hiding right now, but what I do know is that if we search through all of the existing unresolved supernatural incidents, we’ll definitely get a clue!”

“After all… where there’s an incarnate revenant, there will invariably arise the phenomenon called the intersection of realms. Students, please take note. All who discover an intersection of realms must immediately evacuate the vicinity unless you are a Judge-class expert! Otherwise, you would most certainly die! This is because… a nest of ten thousand captive ghosts would already have appeared somewhere in the vicinity, and the entire locale would be undergoing a transformation into a land of Yin. Even the longevity of human beings in these regions would fall as a result of these phenomena.”

“Nest of ten thousand captive ghosts? What’s that?” “What exactly is the phenomenon called the intersection of realms?”

The students absorbed in the lecture were just about to raise their hands when two voices called out anxiously before any of them could act. Zhou Xianlong and Xu Anguo had practically blurted out their questions at the same time.

It was yet another brand new nomenclature!

They’ve heard far too many fresh ideas and novel concepts since the start of this lesson! Even the leaders hadn’t heard of these things before! On one hand, a person can dismiss these details, saying that it’s nothing more than an opinion that cannot properly be proven true. But on the other hand, even a hypothesis that is grounded in some basis would be sufficient to make waves in academia!

It was just like the various theorems that are so ubiquitously discussed in the academia of mathematics.

Therefore, the two leaders blurted out their questions almost instinctively, completely obviating from their considerations the fact that they were principal and head of faculty altogether. It wasn’t until they finished asking their questions that they came back to their senses and realized the situation that they stiffened their faces in a contrived manner and adjusted themselves in their seats awkwardly.

“Uhh…” Qin Ye was just getting back into the groove of things when he was cut off yet again. He sighed with some measure of resentment - These students are so hard to teach. Didn’t you say that they were all elites… so why does it feel like none of them know a single thing at all?

He took some time to sort through his own thoughts before explicating, “The intersection of the realms is a term that I’ve coined. It essentially refers to a locality that has already become half Yin and half Yang, where hidden underneath the facade of the city is a whole new realm!”

“Where’s the proof?” Professor Yu responded impassionately.

“The City of Salvation!” Qin Ye declared, “The City of Salvation is the best proof of this! If we simply extrapolate what we’ve seen in the City of Salvation, who is to say that Yin spirits possessing stronger abilities wouldn’t engage in the very same conduct and behaviour?”

Boom!

It was like a bolt of thunder had pierced the haze and brought clarity to their minds. Everyone went silent almost immediately.

That’s right… If the City of Salvation could devolve to that state, then… what about the other cities?

When night falls, can it truly still be called a mortal realm? Can anyone truly be certain that there wouldn’t be another pair of eyes right beside each person, staring intently at them?

Zhou Xianlong lifted his head after an extensive period of deliberation, “Then, what about the nest of ten thousand captive ghosts?”

The well-prepared Qin Ye rattled off his response like a well-oiled machine, “It’s simple. High-level ghosts possess a commensurate amount of spiritual awareness. Wherever they go, numerous Yin spirits are bound to congregate around in reliance upon them. I call this the siphoning effect of Yin spirits, or the Yin spirit siphoning. It’s quite similar to how an entire province tends to siphon off the provincial capital.”

“For this very reason, the red zones on the map naturally implies that there are already high-level Yin spirits residing there, drawing the reliance of weaker Yin spirits and giving rise to the terrifying effect of Yin spirit siphoning. What would we call it if not the nest of ten thousand captive ghosts?”

Pak… Old Man Yu closed his eyes and smacked the table in front of him.

The men dressed in white lab coats glanced at his hand with great astonishment. Professor Yu had earlier raised his hands as if he was about to applaud, only to abruptly remember that this was a class.

In the end, he resigned himself to simply suppressing the excitement in his heart and smacking the table in front of him.

“Call the man we’ve just sent out.” His eyes were slightly bloodshot, and his voice was hoarse, “Tell him to come back immediately after catching the Yin spirit!”

“So soon?” One of the men dressed in white lab coats asked in bewilderment.

“You guys…” Professor Yu sighed with a burning glint in the depths of his eyes, “Haven’t you guys realized the importance of everything he’s saying right now?”

He didn’t go on. But the more the men in the white lab coats thought about it, the more their expressions changed.

Importance…

It was more than just important!

This was the systematization of Yin spirits!

The soul sphere could be used to capture Yin spirits, thereby enabling their research into Yin Spirits, thereby allowing them to confirm his claim that Yin spirits do devour each other, which by extrapolation gives rise to a new understanding on how high-level Yin spirits advance even further, thereby drawing the inference that the red zone cities… represented the nascent formation of the ghosts’ own territory!

And once they successfully prove these conjectures of theirs, the entire nation’s research into Yin spirits would necessarily undergo a massive upheaval!

The direction of research, strategies and means would all undergo a massive overhaul!

And all of these stemmed from the hypotheses from a newly-minted instructor.

“This kid…” The man in black who commented previously stared at Qin Ye, completely flabbergasted, “This… is far more than just an idea…”

“He… has basically extrapolated an entire system out of a single soul sphere in hand… No wonder Old Man Yu went out of his way to attend his lecture today…”

Qin Ye had finally finished his exposition on this part of the lecture.

He sighed in relief, and then glanced at his phone - Holy crap, it’s already been forty-two minutes?!

The original plan was to introduce two types of extraordinary Yin spirits, and run through their related supernatural incidents by this point in time. As things are, I would count myself lucky if I even manage to complete my introduction to one such Yin spirit.

In the end… I’d done nothing more than to expound in segments, only to be interrupted time and again by the most studious comrades.

He gave the panel of evaluators a somewhat begrudging look - Weren’t you supposed to be evaluating me? Are you sure you’re even doing what you need to be doing right now…

He collected his expression and coughed lightly, “Alright, to recap, I’ve just been discussing the definition of an incarnate revenant and the advancement of Yin spirits. Right now, I want to talk about something else. Different environments beget different types and even races of human beings. What about Yin spirits?”

“Good lad.” Professor Yu’s expression turned grave and serious as he let out a long sigh, “How dare you challenge the research topic I’ve been tackling lately… I’d truly like to see what other surprises you might bring to the table!”

Qin Ye’s voice continued, “As long as we remain oblivious to the different types of Yin spirits, their existence would continue to surprise us and threaten our lives. I’ve personally come across several different types of Yin spirits that have never been recorded before. I’ve taken the time to observe them, and I’ve noticed that they all have some things in common - they’re extremely dangerous, they conceal themselves extremely well, and they are extremely difficult to purge.”

The student scribbled frantically on their notebooks with a chorus of soft rustling sound. Qin Ye tapped his pointer on the LED screen once more, and an image showed up.

“Mount Tai City’s unresolved midnight murder incident.” Qin Ye read out the headline on the screen and turned back to the students, “Who remembers this case?”

Sha-sha-sha… Several students promptly set down their pens and raised their hands.

“Very good. Looks like the incident is fresh in everyone’s minds. I’d made several trips to the police station and forensics department in Mount Tai City in order to suss out some examples of special, bizarre incidents…”

Local Bully reacted with great astonishment, “What the heck… when did this kid even do that? He totally lied to us about sleeping when he had in fact surreptitiously gone about with these scandalous affairs!”

Su Feng sighed, “The most frightening thing aren’t geniuses, but geniuses who are more diligent than you… That’s right, Local Bully, I’m comparing him to you.”

Qin Ye continued with a loud voice, “This case wasn’t even recorded as a supernatural incident to begin with. I’d only picked it out after going through their records. 8 March, two years ago. Zhang Sanhao, a resident of Clearwater Street, was found to have been sleepwalking when he murdered his wife and son. When he woke up and discovered what he had done, he committed suicide.”

The LED screen toggled through several photographs related to the investigations, some of which were even bloody and gory. Nevertheless, everyone present, even Wang Chenghao, had seen their fair share of blood and gore, and none of them felt ill at the sight of these photographs.

“Everyone, please take note.” He tapped on the bottom left of the screen, “I’ll let you in on a nifty trick on how to determine if a particular location is the scene of a supernatural incident. One of the most telltale signs is… time.”

Many students’ eyes brightened up immediately, and they frantically recorded this in their notes. In particular, Qin Ye had just pointed to the time stamp on the first photograph, revealing the exact time at which the forensic scientist had adjudged Zhang Sanhao to have first arisen from his slumber.

Midnight!

Even the police investigation reports noted that Zhang Sanhao had awakened from his slumber and sprung out of bed like a vampire at exactly midnight. Then, he gazed intently at his wife for several minutes, before walking to the kitchen and picking up a vegetable knife without any hesitation.

All of these were deduced through the marks left on the bed and angle of force.

“Then, after hacking and cutting down his wife and son, he quietly went back to sleep. When he woke up again…” He pointed at the bottom of yet another photograph, and everyone’s eyes brightened immediately.

Exactly five in the morning!

The demonic hour!

Midnight was the intersection of night and day, or Yin and Yang, while five in the morning was the demonic hour. This was more than just a coincidence!

“This is but one of many such incidents when Yin spirit attacks appear to be mere coincidences simply because they are far too peculiar or bizarre. I dare assert that there are likely several other such cold cases where the murderer can’t be located at all. If not for the fact that I’d specially made the trip, I wouldn’t have discovered these things either… But I digress. Coming back to the topic at hand, under what circumstances do you think Zhang Sanhao murdered his wife and son? Wang Chenghao, why don’t you hazard a guess?”

Wang Chenghao stood up and suggested, “Possession?”

“You’ve got to be more precise with your terminology when it comes to matters in academia. Possession isn’t a concept you should toss around so casually.” He made a pressing gesture, and Wang Chenghao sat back down obediently. Wang Chenghao had initially expected to find it awkward to listen to Qin Ye’s lecture. However, it was only after Qin Ye commenced his opening lecture that he discovered that Qin Ye had a powerful stage presence and commanded their attention well.

Qin Ye tapped the LED screen once more, and two words immediately appeared - Whisper, hint.

Whisper?

The panel of evaluators furrowed their brows again. But this time, they knew better than to stand up to question it.

Even Professor Yu didn’t speak up, and instead only kept his gleaming eyes transfixed on Qin Ye as he eagerly awaited what he was going to say next. Did anybody else really have the right to interject right now?

Qin Ye didn’t even bother about the embarrassment in the hearts of the leaders around. Instead, he pulled out a stack of documents and waved it around, “This is the information I’d personally collected when I went about interviewing Zhang Sanhao’s family members on the tenth of last month. Students who are interested in attempting an extra-curricular assignment can take a copy and see if you can spot how I’d discovered the involvement of the supernatural. This would also be covered in the next lecture, where we would be talking about a cultivator’s sensitivity… Alright, back to the topic at hand. To cut to the chase, seven years prior to the incident, Zhang Sanhao had dreamt of an old man wearing an ancient gray robe hovering in mid-air with his back facing him.”

“From there on, he would have the exact same dream every half-moon and full moon for the next seven years. Incidentally, I’d previously learnt that such a Yin spirit… can’t be considered a regular Yin spirit. This spirit is called a nightmare spirit.”

“Record it…” Old Man Yu couldn’t help but instruct his aide to take notes even as he kept his eyes peeled on Qin Ye. Yet there would have been no need for his instructions, because his aide was already frantically scribbling down notes before he even spoke up.

Xu Anguo and the rest of the academy’s leaders, including Zhou Xianlong, couldn’t help but stare intently at Qin Ye.

Nightmare spirit.

This was yet another term of reference that nobody had heard of before!

Parapsychology was a discipline that had been founded and developed through the years. There has even been a development of various sub-disciplines, as well as its own set of nomenclature. Every single term of reference was added to the list only after much debate and deliberation. It was evident just how much trouble it was to build on the existing list of nomenclature.

That said, nobody had any doubts that if Qin Ye’s various theories and terms of reference could be proven true… the publisher might well have to issue a fresh new edition of the list of nomenclature altogether.

Just then, the back door suddenly slammed wide open, and a man dressed in a white lab coat burst through the door, holding up a soul sphere in his hands victoriously, “Chief, it works! It really works!! This… this is going to usher in a whole new era of spiritual research!!”

The object in his hand was emitting faint wisps of Yin energy as the layers of golden runic symbols glowed brightly like a brand, trapping and sealing the Yin spirit within.

Whoosh! Before he could even finish speaking, the soul sphere in his hand immediately flew through the air and landed in Xu Anguo’s hands. Xu Anguo closed his eyes and gently sensed its contents. Then, he opened his eyes so abruptly that even his facial hair trembled slightly. He cast a deep and profound look at Qin Ye, before handing the soul sphere to Zhou Xianlong, “Take a look.”

I’m afraid… afraid that I might’ve been mistaken. You’re a Judge. You wouldn’t get it wrong.

If the soul sphere could really seal a Yin spirit… this could potentially be one of the greatest breakthroughs in the recent years of cultivation history!

To think that a simple lecture could be filled with so many surprises, and yet even more astonishments!