Yama Rising

Lu Ban's voice was a little raspy as he said, "The Aurogon's Eye embodies clarity and transparency. In the face of the Aurogon's Eye, there are no secrets in this world. We want to see through all the secrets surrounding Yin runes through it, but unfortunately, we're still very far away from achieving that goal. It took 547 years to construct this building, and during the process, 53 scholars and countless other personnel were involved. It is the most grandest building in the history of the Cathayan Underworld! In terms of its function, it ranks number one among the Six Origin Buildings, and it was the second of the six buildings to have been built. Perhaps you're curious about its function, my Lord. However, it's not really applicable to those who aren't familiar with Yin runes. An analogy here is science, which is the primary driving force to advance society, but science is completely detached from the average person."

Qin Ye nodded in response before suddenly raising his head. What's that supposed to mean? Are you insulting me by calling me an idiot who knows nothing? You're speaking to the King Yanluo here! Put some respect on my name!

Lu Ban was clearly unaware of what Qin Ye was currently thinking, and he continued, "All you need to know is that it's able to conduct comprehensive analysis on Yin runes, and that it's one-of-a-kind in the entire nation. It is the cradle in which Hell's scientific advancement, or rather progression in the field of Yin runes, is facilitated. Countless arts and Yin rune combinations have been born here. You can understand it as... Hmm, now that I think about it, it's easier to explain this topic by using the magic system of the west. For example, the chants used for magic spells consist of strings of syllables. Yin runes are the equivalent of those syllables, and when arranged in a specific order, they'll amount to a spell. Another example is the inscription technology of the west. In the beginning, the strategy they adopted wasn't the refinement strategy used by our nation. Instead, they engraved inscriptions onto high-quality pieces of equipment to achieve an enchantment effect. Yin runes work in the same way. Take a look at these buildings, my Lord. These are the best masterpieces of inscription. Truth be told, during the design process, we referenced inscription technology." 

Qin Ye cast a meaningful gaze toward the Six Origin Buildings. Indeed, Yin runes were inscribed upon every single brick that the buildings were constructed from, and when combined together, these Yin runes were no different from inscriptions or enchantments. It just depended on whether you wanted a 55 HP healing effect or a 20 magic damage attack...

This place wasn't his domain. Instead, it was the place where these scholars could thrive. All he needed to do was to understand how important they were and have a rough grasp on their productive capacity and quality.

As the ruler of a nation, he had to know what to learn and what to set aside for others to learn. If he were to take care of everything in person without any delegation, he would only work himself to death.

Thus, the group inspected one building after another, and before they knew it, over two hours had already passed, but this was still only a rough tour.

The Nine Yine Pavilion took 360 years to build, and was a facility where arts were developed.

All of Hell's arts originated from this place, and all of those arts had been recorded in archives, including some arts recorded by the first King Yanluo, and even several semi-forbidden techniques recorded by the second King Yanluo. Apparently, it's comprised of 103,000 Yin runes, and upon hearing this number, Qin Ye immediately made the wise decision to discard all thoughts of learning more about it.

The Nine Yin Pavilion was closely connected with the Myriad Treasure Pond. The artifacts produced by the Myriad Treasure Pond were like blank slates, and it was up to the Nine Yin Pavilion to transform them into their final forms.

For example, if a weapon needed to be enchanted with something like "Three Thousand Lightning Strikes" or "Buddha's Fury Fire Lotus", that could only be facilitated by the Nine Yin Pavilion. Not only did the compatibility of the arts have to be considered, whether the materials could handle the arts was also another factor to be assessed. Furthermore, many Emissaries of Hell requested self-made arts, so it was definitely no less useful than the Myriad Treasure Pond.

Obtaining a cultivation art was the first step to anyone's cultivation journey.

The Pixiu Chimera Building was the exclusive forbidden technique research center, and it was constructed during the reign of the second King Yanluo over a span of 380 years. The surface of the building was riddled with Yin runes inscribed by the second King Yanluo himself, and it was capable of withstanding an all-out attack from him. It was the building that possessed the greatest defensive prowess among all buildings in the Cathayan Underworld, and its defensive capabilities exceeded even that of the Array of Nine Gods.

Qin Ye had to repress the excitement that welled up in his heart at the sight of this building. It still wasn't the time to be thinking about forbidden techniques.

Forbidden techniques had to be created, and they would have to progress straight to the second generation of forbidden techniques, but this wasn't the right time.

Qin Ye continued onward, and the final building appeared in his field of view.

"This is the Faint Earth Building, which is the Yin spirit research facility. To put it in simpler terms, it's the Yin spirit biology research center. Yin spirits are comprised of Yin runes, but the configuration of these Yin runes, which Yin runes are involved, how did Yin spirits come into existence, do they come from one's soul or one's physical body, is it still the same Yin spirit even after undergoing multiple cycles of reincarnation... These are all prevailing mysteries that have stood the test of time. Of course, with the development of Yin rune science, all of these questions will be answered eventually," Li Chun explained.

Qin Ye drew to a halt here.

"Is there something wrong, my Lord?" Li Chun asked with a perplexed expression.

"Can I use this place to see the memories of Yin spirits without having to use a soul search technique?" Qin Ye asked. "I have a rather special Yin spirit that I'm planning to use as part of the six paths of reincarnation, and using a soul search technique on it will damage his spiritual body."

"Of course." Li Chun made an inviting hand gesture. "Go ahead. As long as it's something that he's seen or encountered before, even if he doesn't remember it himself, the Faint Earth Building will be able to dig it up for sure!"

"Good." Qin Ye curled a finger, and Bu Wantian's soul emerged, apprehended by Chu Renmei and Huang Jiansen, before falling to its knees on the ground.

"Check through all of his memories! Find out when he saw the peach blossom."

…………………………………

Chu Renmei and Huang Jiansen moved on ahead with Bu Wantian between them, and Qin Ye trailed along behind them. This was the first time he had entered a truly unsealed Six Origin Building, and he couldn't help but carefully examine it.

In contrast with the other antiquated pavilions of the Cathayan Underworld, many signs of machinery could be seen inside the completely unsealed Six Origin Building. Even though there were extremely intricate silencing measures set up, the sounds being made by the machinery were still extremely loud, and it was as if he had walked straight into a magical factory in a science fiction novel.

He was just about to ask whether they had tried to replicate this across the entire nation, thereby making energy resources such as electricity redundant, but he immediately realized why that would be a stupid question.

Even at its very peak, it took several centuries for Hell to construct a fully automatic building like this, and countless personnel from different fields were involved in the construction of each of these buildings, so it was certainly not a project to be taken lightly. If it were to be replicated across the entire nation, it would completely crush the national economy no matter how much the projects were simplified. Currently, the Cathayan Underworld was nowhere near its peak, so this would be an impossible feat.

Thus, they still had to find new energy resources, and this was something that could even alter the state of the entire world. Having said that, all of the international underworlds had also been searching, and the search had been ongoing for several thousand years, so everything that could be tried had most likely already been tried. Thus, this was not something to be rushed.

After walking for over 10 minutes through this fantastical building, they arrived in a room on the second floor. The interior of the room was inscribed with all types of Yin runes, and Bu Wantian's soul was panting heavily as it knelt in the center of the room.

"Do you know how to operate this thing?"

"Rest assured, my Lord." Li Chun strode forward as he said, "Searching one's memories is a simple task, and it's only a slight improvement on a soul search technique. Please take a seat and wait a moment."

Bu Wantian's soul was already very faint. His entire body was riddled with wounds and splattered with blood, still maintaining the horrendous condition he had been in from being torn to pieces by the zombies of the Huang Clan's village. He looked on with a cold expression as Li Chun approached him, and he said in a hoarse voice, "You know nothing about immortality, you little brat..."

There was a row of seats at the back of the hall, and Qin Ye was seated in the taishi chair at the very center as he instructed, "Tell him to shut up."

How could he keep a straight face while delivering such a corny line? Had he no shame?

"Yes." Li Chun snapped his fingers, and the ground in all directions immediately rose up before 49 chains emerged at once amid a string of metallic clangs. The chains pierced through Bu Wantian's soul, suspending it in mid-air, and his agonized howls became the only sound left in the room.

"You don't deserve to live! You're an absolute imbecile!! We're the same type of people... the same type of people! We are the same!"

Crack... A massive glass dome descended right in front of him from above, and Lu Ban explained with a smile, "Nightjade Glass is extremely precious, and it can't be broken unless it's attacked by a Yama-King level being. This is a measure set up to protect scholars in case Yin spirits suddenly undergo mutations during experimentation, transforming them into powerful yet mindless killing machines."

The glass dome fell into place, separating Qin Ye's group from Bu Wantian. Li Chun circulated his own Yin energy before injecting it into several floorboards without any warning, and Bu Wantian's eyes abruptly widened. His entire body began to tremble, and boundless Yin energy flowed out of all of his pores.

Whoosh... The Yin energy revolved rapidly around him, quickly forming a Yin energy screen that was around five meters tall. At the same time, countless Yin runes were surging all over his body, traveling along the chains onto the floorboards before fusing with the Yin energy. Several minutes later, a series of images appeared on the screen.

Qin Ye was truly amazed by this spectacle. Manifesting memories as images was already something that science couldn't explain.

The images quickly transitioned between one another, and soon, Qin Ye caught sight of Huang Yunqing's face, upon which he immediately instructed, "Stop."

His voice was like rumbling thunder, transmitted clearly to the other side of the protective dome, and he continued, "Search for all memories of this man. In particular, search for when this person first appeared in his memories!"

"Yes."

Yin runes instantly began to surge throughout the room, and the image on the screen had transformed into that of Huang Yunqing.

These were Bu Wantian's memories of Huang Yunqing. The image began to change rapidly from one scene to the next, and it was going back in time at a breakneck pace!

The 80s, the 60s, the 50s... Prior to the founding of the republic!

Qin Ye could identify the buildings and attire symbolic of those eras, and the more he saw, the more solemn his expression became. This Huang Yunqing existed even before the founding of the republic!

He would meet with Bu Wantian roughly once every decade. Could it be that when Bu Wantian had said that this was the second time he was meeting the same type of person as him, the first time was referring to his meeting with Huang Yunqing?

No, that shouldn't be the case. Someone who has consumed the true Taisui fungus wouldn't have transformed into a monster like that. That wasn't a zombie created by the Taisui fungus, it was a creature from an entirely different dimension! 

The images were still progressing back in time!

Initially, it was only Qin Ye looking on with a grim expression, but soon, his expression had become mirrored on everyone else's faces as well.

The images had progressed all the way back to the Qing Dynasty!

At the time, their meetings still weren't very frequent, taking place roughly once every 30 to 50 years. However, time was still going back in reverse, and it was showing no signs of stopping!

Soon, it had reached the Ming Dynasty!

"Could it be that this man has consumed the Taisui fungus?" Zhang Heng mused as he stroked his own beard, and he couldn't help but cast a glance toward Qin Ye. "Could this be another person who has eaten the Taisui fungus? How are there so many of them?"

"It's not the Taisui fungus," Qin Ye said with a grim expression. "It's some type of... poison of immortality..."

The images were still traveling back in time, and the intervals between their meetings had become even longer with each meeting taking place roughly every 100 years. All of their meetings took place outside the Huang Clan's earthen building, and it was already the early phase of the Ming Dynasty!

The Ming Dynasty was founded in 1368, which meant that this man had lived for roughly 700 years!

Furthermore, there were still more images to come!

This was a 1,000-year agreement between a pair of immortals!

At this point, everyone aside from Qin Ye had risen to their feet in astonishment. This was because they had seen the flag of the Yuan Dynasty!

However, that still wasn't the end. When the next set of images appeared, everyone drew a sharp breath.

It was the Song Dynasty...

The attire of the Yuan Dynasty, which reflected elements of strong foreign influences, transitioned back to the antiquated attire of the Cathayan style, heralding the return to the Song Dynasty.

The image depicted a huge boat that was brightly lit by lanterns, not netherfire. There was a group of guards standing on the boat dressed entirely in black, and at the center of the boat stood a man.

"Is it you?" The man's voice was very elegant, and Bu Wantian was also in the image, but he was on his knees and didn't even dare to raise his head.

"Are you the one who ignited the light tower in this mortal coil?"