Yama Rising

He made his way over to the front of the snake slough, then pressed the massive shedding together. "This trait doesn't belong to a foreigner. I read in a book once that Asians are also referred to as the Mongolian geographic race, characterized by the traits of light yellow skin, straight black hair, sparse facial and body hair, flat facial features, relatively tall cheekbones, and eyelids with wavy epicanthic folds. Aside from his skin color, which we can't determine from this snake slough, all of his other features are a complete match."

"What about the races on the western continents?" Zhao Yun asked.

"Europeans and Usonians, otherwise known as Caucasians, are characterized by fair skin, tall and narrow nose bridges, straight or wavy hair of golden or brown coloring, and thin lips. He doesn't fit any of those traits, and there's certainly no way he's of Alkebulan descent. Also, I'm not convinced that any foreign Yin spirits could survive under such overpowering Yin energy. The fact that he's managed to survive and even shed his skin indicates that he's gained the acknowledgment of the owner of the Yin energy here. In fact, there's even a chance that he could be the owner of the Yin energy."

He took another glance at the snake slough before concluding, "Judging from the intensity of the Yin energy emanating from this snake slough, I'm leaning more toward the latter possibility."

Zhao Yun nodded in response. "Alright, shall we continue then? The answer should lie just up ahead."

"Sure."

Thus, the two of them continued onward.

The cave was very long, and along the way, Qin Ye spotted many pieces of bronze ware littered all over the ground. All of a sudden, he drew to an abrupt halt. "Hold on... Hell and the mortal realm can't intersect; that's an ironclad rule, so why are there so many bronze artifacts from the Three Star Mound here?"

Zhao Yun replied in a solemn voice, "Your Excellency, anything is possible with the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn. It is indeed true that Hell and the mortal realm cannot intersect; that's an ironclad rule that even you can't break, but creation-grade divine artifacts are among the very few things that can break this rule. Otherwise, how could that pure and virtuous individual have been able to pick up the Holy Grail? In the name of the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn, the 'Anwnn' refers to the Otherworld, which possesses the ability to break the rules between our two realms, and this property is present among all creation-grade divine artifacts."

Qin Ye nodded in response as an enlightened look appeared on his face. 

This was something that he had already learned, but a very long time had passed since then, and he had never had to apply this knowledge, so he had gradually forgotten about it. Now that the lesson was being relearned and applied in a practical setting, it was becoming a lot more vivid.

Historical mysteries had always been profound and unfathomable. Qin Ye cast his gaze deep into the cave, then withdrew his gaze and turned to Zhao Yun with a slightly pitiful expression. "Ahem... Should we continue, Brother Zhao?"

He was asking in a very tentative manner...

"Sure." Zhao Yun nodded in response. "Rest assured, My Lord, I'll protect you."

Thus, they ventured deeper and deeper underground. At this point, Qin Ye felt as if they were already over 100 meters below the surface. More and more paths began to emerge, and they were also becoming smoother and smoother. In the beginning, they were walking, but since then, they had chosen to take flight.

Theirs was a duo consisting of an Abyssal Prefect and a being above the Yama-King level, and even though they weren't flying at full speed, they were still able to travel over 10 kilometers in just a few minutes. However, there was still no end in sight. Qin Ye stopped once again, but on this occasion, he didn't say anything. All he did was lean down and begin to gently stroke the wall beside him.

"What is it, My Lord?" Zhao Yun asked in a befuddled manner before inspecting the wall carefully, upon which his eyes abruptly lit up, and he also began to examine the wall closely.

The wall was very smooth. In fact, it was a little too smooth.

"Doesn't it seem like something slithered over this section of the path?" Qin Ye mused.

"Like a snake?"

"Then how do you explain this?" Qin Ye squatted down as he pointed at some rows of holes on the ground.

At the foot of the wall were countless irregular fist-sized holes, and they didn't appear to serve any discernible purpose.

Qin Ye released a wisp of Yin energy before quickly concluding, "The insides of these holes are solid."

Zhao Yun's brows furrowed tightly with befuddlement. The further they advanced, the more mysteries arose. It was as if an ancient civilization that was thousands of years old had somehow linked up with the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn and was calling out to them.

"Qin Ye stroked his chin as he paced from side to side. "Let's think about it this way: does a snake slough necessarily have to be left behind by a snake?"

Zhao Yun's eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. "You don't mean..."

"I think it was an insect." Qin Ye appraised the surrounding walls through narrowed eyes as he said, "Have you seen the holes that insects bore into the earth? These holes are very much reminiscent of that. Insects with long and thin segmented limbs that pierce into these stone walls..."

He patted the wall and concluded, "That's exactly what that would look like. Also, have you noticed?"

He turned around to face the inky darkness behind them, and continued, "This cave is a lot larger than the one before. The snake slough that we saw earlier belonged to a creature with a body that was only around a meter in thickness, yet this cave is at least two meters tall and four to five meters wide. A snake, even one with a human body, must move by slithering as it doesn't have legs; how could a slithering snake possibly bore such a massive hole? Biologically speaking, there are virtually no creatures who emerge from their sloughs larger than before their metamorphosis; that applies even to mosquitoes and butterflies. They either come out the same size or even smaller than before, and even if they ultimately end up bigger, the growth happens over time. That snake would've occupied the entirety of the cave we just passed through. There's no way that it would've slithered into these passageways after becoming bigger as there's not enough space."

Zhao Yun's eyelids were twitching slightly as he said, "So you're saying that a human-snake hybrid creature metamorphosed into an insect, then immediately began boring holes... Why would it do that?"

"It must be looking for something!" Qin Ye's eyes were glowing brighter and brighter as the puzzle pieces fell into place. "On the way here, we saw countless holes, and that indicates that the creature is unsure of the exact location of the thing that he's looking for. All it knows for sure is that it's under the Lotus City Hell, so it's haphazardly boring holes while traveling in this general direction."

Zhao Yun suddenly drew a sharp breath, and before Qin Ye had a chance to continue, he began to massage his own temples as he exclaimed, "Some things are suddenly coming back to me..."

He took a moment to arrange his thoughts and his words before continuing, "Prior to Lord Bo Yikao's founding of Hell, there was still an Underworld, but it wasn't united, and it was just a barren and primordial land. During that time, there were many incredible beings, including many monsters even more powerful than Yama-Kings."

He cast a wary glance into the dark passageway, as if he were concerned that a formidable evil ghost could rush out at any time. After ensuring that nothing was coming out to attack them, he heaved a slight sigh of relief and said, "This reminds me of a legend that even the second King Yanluo most likely didn't know; I only heard it mentioned to me in passing by the first King Yanluo..."

"What is it?"

Zhao Yun shook his head in response. "Let's continue. Things could get dangerous from here onward, so make sure to protect yourself no matter what! We can’t afford any harm to befall you!"

The two didn't waste any more time as they continued onward, and after flying for about five more minutes, another cave finally appeared up ahead. Inside the cave was another giant slough that was around 40 meters in length and eight meters tall!

It was significantly larger than the snake slough, and it was also of a translucent white color, but this slough belonged to an insect!

"That's a cicada," Qin Ye mused, "From human-snake hybrid to cicada; this completely goes against common biological wisdom. It's like a Pokemon!"

They examined the slough while making laps around it and discovered that aside from the head, which remained unevolved, all of the other parts of the creature's body had evolved into that of an insect. The head was still identical to the head of the human-snake hybrid, except a crack had appeared on its glabella, and two holes around as thick as a human's arm had emerged on its earlobes.

Qin Ye and Zhao Yun were itching to get to the bottom of the mystery, so they only briefly inspected the slough before flying onward, and this time, they reached a straight passageway.

The ground was extremely uneven, and Qin Ye's brows furrowed tightly as he flew along. "What did it transform into this time? Such an uneven passageway definitely couldn't have been created by an insect with a smooth body. Also..."

There were huge footprints on the ground that were also very deep.

This passageway was several dozen meters tall and close to 100 meters wide. It was very normal for a creature of such a massive stature to leave footprints on the ground, but these footprints...

"Do those belong to a frog?" Even Zhao Yun was completely dumbstruck now. "The fact that the cave is this tall indicates that the creature is unable to hunch down. We're close, Lord Qin! I can sense that the creature we've been tracking this entire time is just up ahead!"

Whoosh! Qin Ye immediately accelerated, and Zhao Yun followed along in hot pursuit.

Qin Ye's gaze was directed straight ahead, and a hint of anticipation and killing intent had surfaced in his eyes. He couldn't allow anything that he couldn't control to exist on the land that he ruled over.

Around 10 minutes later, they finally drew to a halt.

Directly up ahead was a massive cave, and there were no other caves aside from this one.

This was the end, or perhaps the beginning to a new horrific chapter in their exploration.

The cave was extremely massive, stretching for over a kilometer wide and over 200 meters tall. There was nothing inside the cave aside from a pond at the very center.

The water in the pond was as red as blood, and above it, thin lines of scarlet blood were dripping down incessantly. At the same time, there was an enormous carcass situated beside the pond; it was the carcass of a dragon!

Zhao Yun immediately drew a sharp breath upon seeing this. "That's the blood of a divinity... It's the blood of a death god!"

"Where?" Qin Ye looked around in a dumbstruck manner before his gaze finally fell upon those lines of blood and the small pond beneath it. His mouth instantly gaped open as he exclaimed, "You're saying... that entire pond is filled with the blood of a divinity? The whole thing?"

Zhao Yun was also utterly astonished, and he gently shook his head before nodding vigorously. "That's right; that entire pond is full of the blood of a divinity."

This was the blood of a divinity that had been dripping down for over 1,000 years, and there was still more that was continuing to drip down!

This was an utterly incredible scene, and Qin Ye quickly made his way over to the carcass with his mouth slightly agape in shock. He shook his head in disbelief as he gently stroked the carcass and asked in a trembling voice, "Is this a dragon?"

"It is." Zhao Yun was also appraising the carcass intently with utter disbelief in his eyes. "I've seen the deceased descendants of Master Aurogon, and their skeletons are identical. The deer horns, the serpentine body, the QilinKirin claws... This is the skeleton of a true dragon! Lord Qin..."

He turned to Qin Ye, and a thought suddenly occurred to him as he asked, "Didn't you say that when the Divine Bronze Tree was unearthed, there were nine divine birds and a bronze dragon?"

Qin Ye immediately turned toward Zhao Yun, and both of them could see their own astonishment mirrored on one another's faces.

This was simply beyond belief. The Divine Bronze Tree, the nine divine birds, the bronze dragon... Could it be that the archeologists were correct in their theories and that this dragon was none other than that very same bronze dragon?

This was the dragon that had resided on the Divine Bronze Tree! It was a true dragon, not a bronze dragon!

Also, where was the Holy Grail?

The blood of a divinity was here, so where was the Holy Grail?

And where was the monster that had shed those sloughs?

How was the Three Star Mount connected to the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn?

"This isn't it!" Qin Ye suddenly concluded, "This isn't the creature that emerged from that slough!"

"Is it not?" Zhao Yun asked with furrowed brows, "There isn't too much difference between the prints of a dragon's claws and a frog's feet..."

Before Zhao Yun had a chance to finish, Qin Ye cut him off in a confident and implacable voice. "This definitely isn't it! I can tell because of this cave! Just like the beehive-like passageways we just passed through, the cave we just entered was extremely tall, yet this dragon was also a serpentine creature!"

Qin Ye paused as he inspected his surroundings with a wary gaze, then continued, "The monster that shed its slough twice in these caves is right here. Can you feel it? Even the Yin energy here is trembling. It's watching us from somewhere, and it's already transformed into a completely different type of living being!"