Yama Rising

Bzzt… Bzzt… The lights in the large tent at the peripheries of the area around Gonjiam Asylum flickered wildly to the horror of the personnel gathered within.

One of the men dressed in camouflage raised his head and glanced at the time. It was midnight.

Just a little while ago, the entire tent… No, rather, the Gonjiam Asylum, together with all areas enclosed within the perimeter and the outposts and sentry towers around saw their lights flickering wildly. Obviously, there was no wind, but the hanging lights in the central tent still swayed back and forth eerily, as though it were beckoning to them - Go! Leave this place! Leave, before it’s too late!

Unfortunately, they couldn’t leave.

The ones who remained behind were five middle-aged men, all of whom were dressed in their military colours and proudly wore the emblem of the LSD on their chests. One of the men looked up at the light and muttered hoarsely, “It’s begun…”

“There’s going to be chaos here in Gwangju City tonight…”

“But that’s not something we’ve got to worry about.” One of the men grunted, “Our duty is to keep watching. No matter what happens, someone needs to keep track of what happened tonight for the benefit of all future generations.”

“How’s the situation downtown?”

“Evacuation is in progress, but… It’s already night-time, and I’m afraid it’s not easy. Besides… we don’t know just how widespread the supernatural outbreak is going to be tonight…”

Just then, he suddenly froze and shot to his feet.

“What’s the matter?”

The man shook his head, and his lips twitched uncontrollably, “Listen…”

“It’s the voice of death…”

The tent was filled with pin-drop silence in an instant. Nobody said a word. A split second later, everyone heard shouts of death reverberate endlessly throughout the wilderness!

In fact, they could even hear the sound of clashing iron and the sound of swords slicing through flesh interspersed among the grunts and cries of death.

“What’s this…” A man froze and rushed out of the tent as he took a closer look at Gonjiam Asylum.

The night was dark and intense, and he could tell that Gonjiam Asylum was still standing where it was meant to be. However, the surrounding area was clearly in a mess. The trees thrashed about in a mad frenzy, and there was even the sound of rumbling iron hooves on the ground. However… they couldn’t see a single person in sight!

It was the march of Yin soldiers!

But before they could even react to the abrupt change in the circumstances, a massive wave of Yin energy suddenly erupted from the void, sweeping everywhere like a massive shockwave. At once, it swept straight through their bodies, and everyone shivered violently.

“Oh god…” One of the men’s knees buckled, and he collapsed to the ground, “What the hell is going on in this place…”

………………………………………………….

“Damn!!” Oda Nobutada gritted his teeth fiercely and hammered his fist down onto the instruments before him.

They were barely moving any further!

The Yin soldiers were reaping and incapacitating the living dead below, and their numbers were dwindling rapidly. If things went on like this, they wouldn’t have enough living dead to hold up the ship any longer, and they would be no different from pickles in a jar!

Wang Chenghao peeked out from behind one of the instruments and trembled profusely, “Why did Brother Qin just rush out like that?! Is he mad? He’s changed so much recently!”

“This is all because he trusts us.” Oda Nobutada took several deep breaths to calm his mind down, “Someone needs to give the MV Sewol orders. He’s responsible for drawing away the enemy forces, so that means he’s left entirely to us the tall task of ensuring that the MV Sewol makes it straight to the Gate of the Dead!”

Wang Chenghao gulped nervously, “Well… Wouldn’t we naturally be able to enter the Gate of the Dead if he managed to kill all of the enemy forces?”

“Fool!” Oda Nobutada was clearly losing his patience, “The enemy forces will raze all of our living dead to the ground before Lord Qin can level the enemy forces!”

Qin Ye went without saying a word.

Given the way the situation was developing, he simply didn’t have the luxury of time to communicate his instructions to them. Besides, it was a manifestation of the trust he had in them. He trusted them with the key to the plans. He trusted that they would wrack their minds to come up with a viable solution to their problems.

Oda Nobutada immediately surveyed the enemy troops arrayed against them. At once, he noticed the countless bowmen that stood right behind the cavalry men. These bowmen didn’t even have to aim. So long as they took aim in the general direction of the MV Sewol, some of their arrows were bound to strike the living dead underneath the MV Sewol.

What do we do? What can we possibly do?

How should we react to the situation? We cannot let Lord Qin’s trust in us be misplaced!

Granted, it was always an option to depart from this place and have nothing to do with the Hanyang Underworld moving forward. But… if Qin Ye could accept Hanyang’s independence and the fact that it was pledging its allegiance to the Russian Underworld, he would have departed from this place a long time ago! In other words, Oda Nobutada was keenly aware that Lord Qin was vastly different now from when he had accepted Liu Yu’s declaration of independence in the past.

The confluence of factors and encounters leading up to this moment had made Qin Ye who he was right now. He was no longer the spineless coward he once used to be. Now, he was a valiant Emissary who was ready to live up to his name as the Third King Yanluo of Hell. In fact, this was merely a stepping stone towards their march against Nippon in future! Oda Nobutada had no desire to allow the Third King Yanluo’s legacy to end in this place!

“Why don’t we throw it over?”

Oda Nobutada nearly blew his top - Wang Chenghao… If not for the fact that you’re Lord Qin’s beloved pet, I would’ve tossed you out to the pigsty as feed by now!

What kind of a silly proposal is that?!

“You--…” He gritted his teeth, but then promptly held his tongue because he saw that Wang Chenghao was completely serious in his expression.

Throw it over?

It sounded silly at first blush, but upon closer inspection… it wasn’t entirely unfeasible!

If the living dead could lift the boat, there was no reason why they couldn’t take things one step further and toss the boat over!

“Throw it over?” His voice trembled.

Wang Chenghao responded affirmatively, “That’s right! Throw it over! That should work!”

Dead silence.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t any time to hesitate.

Liu Yu’s name had clearly been blotted out from the Book of Life and Death. The Third King Yanluo had clearly assented to his request for independence, and he was indubitably considered a foreign emissary right now. Although Qin Ye claimed that independence would only be granted to Liu Yu after the formal establishment of the Hanyang Underworld, everyone knew full well that he was harping on semantics. This was a match between the Emissaries of two different underworlds. Given Liu Yu’s depth of cultivation, there was no doubt that Qin Ye was no match for him.

He immediately stood up and looked around. Qin Ye was floundering about like a clumsy fish under Liu Yu’s flurry of attacks. In fact, he could tell that Qin Ye wasn’t even able to find any reliable opening to make any counterattacks.

Oda Nobutada seized up for a moment. One second… two seconds…

Three seconds later, Oda Nobutada plunged the Kiku-ichimonji in his hands straight into the instrument controlling the ship. At once, MV Sewol froze.

A split second later, Choi Tae-min’s face at the bow cried out with a heart-rending scream, almost as though it were a cry of abject sorrow. If not for the fact that he was an inanimate object, he might well have already been writhing on the ground in agony.

“Throw.” Oda Nobutada ran his fingers through his hair with a blazing scarlet fire in his eyes, “Throw it over!!”

“AAARRRGGHHH!!!” MV Sewol screamed frantically in response.

“Or do you wish to perish under my sword?!!” Oda Nobutada was even more anxious than the MV Sewol was. At once, he drew back his sword and braced himself to plunge it down further. But, just then, the chains tethering MV Sewol to the living dead suddenly snapped at once.

Each chain was tethered to a single living dead. As soon as the chains snapped, the living dead immediately raised their heads at the same time. Yin energy began to flow out of their seven apertures, and their muscles swelled up at once.

………………………………………………….

Whoosh! Liu Yu’s spear flourished quick as lightning, just like the dance of a dragon. Not only was Qin Ye unable to find any gaps to throw in a counterattack, the truth of the matter was that he didn’t even dare to get in range of the tip of Liu Yu’s spear at all.

Each thrust from Liu Yu came with a roaring sonic boom. Qin Ye was unable to believe that this was the handiwork of a meagre Infernal Judge. The air was filled with frigid tension, so much so that the temperature in the surroundings were even dipping rapidly.

“Zhong Kui… Leave Hanyang right now, and I’ll spare you this once!” Liu Yu bellowed at the top of his voice. His attacks flourished with great elegance and poise, and yet Qin Ye could tell that Liu Yu still wasn’t giving it his all. Perhaps he was still afraid of Hell, or the Harken that could put him to death in an instant. He’d declared that he would kill all trespassers without mercy, but he was clearly still prepared to act in a more measured fashion.

And it was precisely for this reason that he had allowed Qin Ye to catch a little breather.

Even then, Qin Ye was incredibly tense. Liu Yu was far more powerful than he had imagined. The gap between their abilities was as far as the heaven was from the earth. His speed alone was already of another class of its own. Qin Ye simply couldn’t fathom how he had refined and fine-tuned his craft to such an extent.

Meanwhile, Liu Yu was slowly closing the distance, bit by bit. Qin Ye could tell that Liu Yu’s patience was wearing thin. Sure, he could tolerate Emissaries of Hell going about their business here in Hanyang. Sure, he could tolerate Emissaries of Hell bossing him around as though he were still a part of Hell. But his bottom line was now being threatened - he simply couldn’t tolerate Emissaries of Hell staining the sacred Gonjiam Asylum with their dirty hands!

“Traitor, how dare you act boldly despite your crimes?” QIn Ye chuckled coldly.

Liu Yu took a deep breath, and the netherflames in his eyes instantly surged to over a meter high, “Let’s see who’s the traitor when my banner flies high across all of Cathay!!”

“Since you’re courting death, then don’t blame me for disregarding our camaraderie of the ancient past!”

With that, he immediately moved into action and thrusted his spear directly towards Qin Ye’s chest.

Quick.

Unbelievably quick.

This thrust of the spear was far quicker than any other attacks before this. In fact, it wasn’t something that Qin Ye could avoid.

Whoosh! The spear hurtled straight through the air with a deadly silver gleam. And when it next stopped, it was no more than an inch from Qin Ye’s chest!

Drip… Qin Ye felt a bead of cold sweat drip onto the ground.

His life flashed right before his very eyes. Just then, the Spatial Spirit appeared right behind Liu Yu with his mouth agape, fervently devouring everything around it.

Liu Yu’s elbow trembled as it was forcibly dragged back towards the black hole. He was clearly only an inch away from plunging his spear straight through Qin Ye’s chest, yet he could move his hand no further forward.

Had Qin Ye made his move even a split second later, he would have been headed straight to the well of reincarnation by now.

“What gall!!” Liu Yu bellowed in anger as he swung his spear behind, instantly knocking the Spatial Spirit away. Then, just as he retracted his spear and readied himself for his next attack, he suddenly heard the sound of a loud clamor echoing throughout the entire vicinity of the Gonjiam Asylum!

Time seemed to freeze at that moment. In the backlines, Rumyantsev and the rest of the KGB agents abruptly looked up. Likewise, Qin Ye glanced back in surprise at the source of the sound.

At once, they noticed countless living dead… raising the MV Sewol high up in the air.

To be more precise, the MV Sewol was now tilted upwards. The living dead standing closer to the front of the ship had piled up into a little mound that was approximately 10-meters tall. The living dead breathed in a ragged fashion as they glared intently at the Gate of the Dead.

A split second later, the living dead roared at the top of their voices as they hurled the MV Sewol into the air, causing it to soar through the air with a beautiful parabola, just like a majestic fish leaping out of water. It was headed directly for the Gate of the Dead.

The Titanic was finally about to crash straight through the iceberg!

Countless pairs of eyes watched in horror as the ship soared through the air. Meanwhile, Rumyantsev gasped in horror. The hair on the nape of his neck stood on end as he abruptly shot to his feet and bellowed at the top of his voice, “Kill him!!!”

His words instantly jolted everyone out of their moment of stupor. Liu Yu lowered his head and turned right back to Qin Ye. Then, with a furious cry of rage, he cocked back the spear in his hand and thrusted it straight towards Qin Ye’s chest once more!

No more reservations!

Whoosh… The tip of his spear appeared right before Qin Ye in the blink of an eye. Qin Ye’s mind went numb in an instant.

He was startled by the devastating thrust of the spear.

He was also astounded by the solution that Oda Nobutada and Wang Chenghao had come up with to bridge the final gap of 1,000 meters!

The tip of the spear was quickly approaching his chest. However, he wasn’t looking at Liu Yu.

Rather, he was looking at the backlines of the Yin soldiers arrayed before him. He was looking at Rumyantsev.

It was because Rumyantsev had finally made his move. An incredible burst of Yin energy shot into the skies above him, before swiftly condensing into the shape of a giant bear that swiftly swiped its claws at the MV Sewol that was hurtling towards the Gate of the Dead.

Almost simultaneously, a brilliant golden light erupted from out of nowhere.

Whoosh… The tip of Liu Yu’s spear stopped at Qin Ye’s chest, no longer able to go any further. It was because… a brilliant golden light had erupted from within Qin Ye’s robes, almost as though Lord Ksitigarbha had made his appearance once more.

“This is…” Not even Liu Yu could help but mutter with great trembling in his voice at this moment.

“Fate… This is Fate!!!”

“This is none other than the brush used by the Second King Yanluo himself!!!”