Yama Rising

“I’m not sure--...” Qin Ye ‘weakly’ stirred to his senses with a complexion just as pale as Wang Chenghao and Oda Nobutada.

Kim Sang-woo’s eyelids were trembling. He stared straight into Qin Ye’s eyes, scrutinizing any traces of wild movements to see if he was telling the truth. Unfortunately…

He was clearly dealing with an expert actor.

Qin Ye clutched tightly at his heart, and tried to stand up. But as soon as he did, his legs went limp, his knees buckled, and he fell right back into his seat. At once, he began to gasp for breath, and his face flushed with an unusually red hue.

How could a third-rate actor ever call out the bluff of a Challenger-class actor?

“Are you ok?” He helped Qin Ye to his feet, to which Qin Ye promptly responded, “I’m fine, thank you.”

It was a textbook response.

A moment later, he ‘noticed’ the death and destruction in the cabin around him. Qin Ye gasped in horror, his eyes rolled back, and he passed out completely.

Everything happened so quickly that Kim Sang-woo couldn’t even react to the situation.

He was completely baffled!

How can you just pass out after two simple sentences?! Do you know how anxious I am right now? How am I supposed to ask you about what happened here now?

He turned his gaze towards Wang Chenghao. Wang Chenghao was desperately trying to roll his eyes back to reveal only the whites of his eyes. Unfortunately… his skills were far too lacking.

“Hey, wake up!” Kim Sang-woo noticed how Wang Chenghao appeared to be passing out as well, and he immediately grabbed him by the shoulders and shouted at him and smacked him hard in the philtrum.

Wang Chenghao nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Kim Sang-woo was pressing down so hard on his philtrum that it felt almost as though it were going to tear in half! Damn it… I should’ve ‘fainted’ just a second earlier. Now I’ve got no choice but to ‘come to my senses’ once more… He gritted his teeth and put on his best expression of weakness, “Alright… I… think I can still hold on…”

“What the hell just happened?”

“I don’t know…” Wang Chenghao lowered his head and began to massage his temples as though he were suffering from a terrible headache, “Everyone was running everywhere. Then, just as we stuck out our heads to see, someone knocked us unconscious. Then, when we woke up… we saw you…”

Damn it… Kim Sang-woo gritted his teeth and turned to look at Oda Nobutada, “Sir, what about you?”

Oda Nobutada shook his head with a bitter expression. Kim Sang-woo cursed under his breath, and immediately rushed to the back of the cabin.

One can only hope that there are still eye-witnesses around…

“Well?” Qin Ye straightened up with a sigh of relief. Oda Nobutada responded, “Don’t worry. Mortals won’t be able to see anything that had just occurred. Besides, we’re not the only survivors here.”

There were a lucky few who had managed to survive the great slaughter.

There were just a couple of them, but it was unlikely that anyone saw exactly what happened. After all, they would have been hiding under the rest of the corpses, playing dead as best as they could. Their vision was likely obscured by the bodies. And even if it weren’t, would they really be in the mood to be gandering at what was going on?

“I imagine we’ll have to give our statements once we touch down in Hanyang.” Qin Ye straightened out his clothes and glanced out the window. He could already see some farmlands below. The cars below appeared to be swarming straight to Hanyang, just like an army of ants.

“Speaking of which, the Daeian government’s response to the situation is rather… interesting.” Retracting his gaze, Qin Ye leaned back into his seat and began to catch some shut-eye, “Zombies… carry pathogens that are incredibly contagious. Has Liu Yu gone nuts? How could he condone such madness?”

This is like a new director running along with the script of an old screenwriter. Isn’t he afraid that the film will be a flop?

…………………………………………

Incheon International Airport, located on Yeongjong Island in the western part of Incheon, a famous seaside resort city in South Daehan. It was 52 kilometers from Hanyang, and 15 kilometers from the coast of Incheon. Incidentally, this was also the sixth busiest international airport in the East Continent.

Countless passengers were waltzing out from the departure gate with their luggage in tow. Just then, a swarm of armed policemen rushed over, startling the leisurely passengers.

“What’s going on?” “What’s happening?” “Why is the army mobilizing in full force?” “Is this a terrorist attack? Are we experiencing a terrorist attack?”

The armed police couldn’t even be bothered about the passenger’s curious gazes as they dashed straight towards a plane that had just landed and was taxiing on the runway. They formed up in a line, aiming the muzzles of their rifles at the entrance to the place. And then… a troupe of priests marched out from the heart of the armed forces. Escorted by the Daeian soldiers, they slowly and cautiously proceeded to open the door to the aircraft.

Whoosh… As soon as the door opened, the middle-aged priest at the head of the pack narrowed his eyes and exclaimed aloud in English, “What a heavy stench of blood…”

Chk! Chk! Chk! The guns cocked in unison, while the priest clasped his palms together and recited some scriptures softly. If there were any cultivators around, they would be able to see wisps of white true energy pouring out from his body and filling the empty cabins of the aircraft. Ten minutes passed in tense silence. And then, the priest turned back and nodded to the rest.

A second later, a team of soldiers rushed in with their guns raised. Minutes later, they transmitted through their intercoms, “All clear. There are survivors. Requesting evacuation.”

A blond Usonian man stood right at the heart of the Daeian forces. He nodded his head, “Evacuate everyone, and place them under quarantine.”

The passengers were all howling and screaming in anguish and fear as they were slowly escorted out of the plane. All of them were covered in blood that wasn’t their own, and their legs were still numb from the horrifying ordeal that left a plethora of scars in their heart.

The Usonian man swept his gaze across the passengers like a hawk, scanning each passenger as they were escorted out from the plane. After some time, he finally turned his gaze away and instructed the captain beside him, “I’ll leave the rest to you.”

“Yes.”

Qin Ye, Oda Nobutada and Wang Chenghao were among the group of passengers that were escorted from the plane. Unfortunately, it was impossible for them to slip out under the radar. They were escorted straight to a police car.

As they drove along, Qin Ye slowly scanned the surroundings in Daehan. Although Gyeonggi Province must be experiencing a terrifying supernatural outbreak no different from hell on earth, the general atmosphere around Daehan was still far more relaxed than it was back in Cathay. At the very least, the households didn’t have crosses or talismans hanging by their doors, and the citizens weren’t looking over their shoulders with tension and worry like the ones back in Cathay.

“Where are we headed?” Wang One Tail whispered softly to him, “Brother Qin, have you noticed? That priest earlier was…”

“A demon hunter.” Qin Ye’s lips parted slightly. The staff sergeant seated in the front of the car was keeping a close eye on them through the rear-view mirror. Qin Ye could tell from his expression that he was silently warning them not to step out of line.

“The main religions here are Confucianism and Catholicism. Taoism isn’t common here in Daehan. It used to be, at least until the 1970s, when Taoism was driven out in favour of other religions. Increasingly, people believe less in gods and more in their ancestors. It’s a strange country where Catholicism is practically no different from the state religion, but the citizens still continue to practice the rites and rituals of Confucianism in their daily lives. It’s also not unusual to see missionaries around these parts.”

Oda Nobutada continued with a deep voice, “Hanyang is known as the city with the most churches in the entire world. The organization we know to be the Special Investigations Department will have an equivalent counterpart in foreign countries as well. As far as that man is concerned, it’s not wrong to refer to him as a demon hunter. I’m not surprised that he would enter Hanyang as a priest either. That said… this tells us that the strength of cultivators here in Hanyang isn’t too strong. It’s surprising that only an Operative-class expert was deployed for an incident as serious as this.”

Obviously, they’d all done their homework about Hanyang and Daehan. Wang One tail nodded thoughtfully, “Did you notice the Usonian man?”

Qin Ye responded softly, “Currently, South Daehan forces would all fall under Usonian control should war break out. Demon hunters and the army should be in communications with each other, just like how the Special Investigations Department works closely with armed forces back in Cathay. The Special investigations Department has been conferred the highest authority to mobilize military forces… Speaking of which, the Second King Yanluo was right - it’s only when you make the trip abroad that you start to see Cathay comparatively from the lenses of other nations, as well as the developments in other nations.”

“My Lord.” Oda Nobutada whispered, “While the supreme command of the Daeian army is under the control of Usonians, the highest command of the Usonian military in Daehan is probably in the hands of the Usonian organization of demon hunters.”

He continued with his analysis, “Daehan Catholicism is rather well known throughout the world. They have a total of 15 dioceses, including three archdioceses and one military ordinariate.” [1]

“The three archdioceses are located in Hanyang, Daegu and Gwangju. They have their seats in the Myeongdong Cathedral and the Kyesan Cathedral.”

Qin Ye nodded slightly and glanced at the soldier who was keenly observing them through the rearview mirror, indicating that they should revisit this issue sometime later.

This information certainly wasn’t banal banter.

He had two primary objectives in his trip to Daehan. Firstly, it was to see if the nameless god of death was pulling the strings in the shadow. Secondly, if the answer to the former question was in the affirmative, he wanted to see with his very own eyes how Tsar Arturo would actually successfully cast myths and fabricate miracles in the short span of a single year, thereby allowing Liu Yu to firmly establish his foothold as the Hanyang Underworld.

And if there was room for a third objective, then it would undoubtedly be to help Lee Jung-sook jog her memories. And last of all on his list of priorities… was naturally his actual participation in the opening ceremony of the Hanyang Underworld.

Liu Yu was hardly an important existence to his mind at all. In fact, he was as good as dead to Qin Ye ever since he first made the call to declare his independence from Hell.

Nobody should ever provoke the wrath of Hell.

An instance of ignominy, an eternity of penance!

As far as his primary objectives were concerned, the best way to uncover the truth behind this great play in Hanyang was naturally to look through the records of the special organizations in Hanyang! Mortals would never be able to do more than scratch the surface of the iceberg of truth.

LSD was the Daeian counterpart of the Special Investigations Department. Lee’s Sharp Edge. However, Qin Ye didn’t trust them.

Faith.

Their absence of faith would necessarily prevent them from peering beyond the facade concealing the truth. They would never be able to understand the intentions of all that was happening!

Instead, the three archdioceses located in Hanyang, Gwangju and Daegu probably saw everything with far better clarity than anyone else in Daehan itself.

In fact, Qin Ye had already decided upon his angle of entry as soon as he saw the priest and the Usonian commander back at the airport - through the church!

But I’ll first have to determine which cathedral is the primary stronghold in Daehan. One thing I’m certain of is that the primary stronghold would naturally see the largest gathering of demon hunters in the Daehan Peninsula. To that end, wouldn’t it be rather interesting for the lord of Hell to take a stroll through a holy church?

I’m the source of their pain, and yet we’d simply brush past each other’s shoulders…

Soon, they arrived at the Incheon police station, where they were isolated, questioned and examined, but not without first satiating their dietary needs. Even then, the entire process took a long time, and it wasn’t until after midnight that they finally concluded their investigations.

“Sorry about that. Just one last thing, you’ll be allowed to leave once you sign and endorse this agreement.” The equally tired police officer pulled out an agreement and placed it before the three men. Qin Ye took a quick skim through it, only to realize that it was a confidentiality agreement.

So long as they were discovered to leak anything pertaining to anything they saw or heard about this entire incident, they would forthwith be repatriated back to where they had come from.

Excellent…

Qin Ye picked up a pen and promptly signed the agreement. Investigations at this level would never attract the attention of the Hanyang Underworld. There was still over a month until the end of October. This would give them plenty of time and space to go about their business and slowly peel back the layers of facade that were concealing the truth of the living hell in Gyeonggi Province.

1. A military ordinariate is an ecclesiateical jurisdiction of the church responsible for the care of Catholics serving in the armed forces of a nation. They used to be called military vicariates. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_ordinariate