Yama Rising

The sword projection was like a wave, causing the ground to quake violently. Cracks were rapidly spreading across the entire hall, and after the span of less than a second, the hall exploded.

It was like the collapse of the entire world, and the only thing that could be seen was the pristine sword projection at the center. Qin Ye had met many death gods, but this was only the second time he had faced the power of a death god all on his own. The first time was when he had faced Tsar Peter the Great, and at the time, Peter had harbored some reservations that prevented him from unleashing his full power. In the face of a death god that was attacking him without any inhibitions, he finally came to realize just how insurmountable the gulf between an Abyssal Prefect and a Yama-King was.

The sword projection rapidly expanded in his field of vision, resembling a scorching sun or a pristine moon. He desperately wanted to reach for his Abyssal Prefect's token or to move his finger to summon Kwon Kyung-ho and Ryu Changmin to shield him, however...

He was unable to do it!

He was completely immobilized. The sword projection had sliced through illusion and reality, striking him with a sense of asphyxiation and completely paralyzing him. He was biting down on his lower lip so hard that his teeth were drawing blood, but he could only look on helplessly as the sword projection continued to approach him. At this point, it was less than five meters away!

Is this the end...

A sense of powerlessness and indignation welled up in his heart, and even at this moment, he didn't relinquish his resistance. Right at this moment, two voices rang out like rumbling thunder in the hall in unison. 

"Stop!"

"Don't you dare!"

A silver figure emerged in a flash, yet before he had even arrived on the scene, he had already hurled something through the air.

It was the Harken.

As it was flying through the air, the Harken's head rapidly expanded, and a sinister smile appeared on its face, extending literally from ear to ear. The fur all over its body were like writhing vipers, and Yin energy erupted out of its body like a boundless sea as it instantly shielded Qin Ye with its own body.

In the next instant, an earth-shattering boom rang out across the entire room.

BOOM!! 

The entire Faint Earth Building trembled slightly. The shockwaves resulting from a clash between two Yama-Kings erupted forth in all directions, quickly reaching the surrounding buildings. Countless Yin runes instantly lit up, and the shockwaves gradually faded into nothingness.

The defensive prowess of these artifact-level buildings that had stood for thousands of years was truly remarkable. In the face of two indirect attacks from Yama-Kings level beings, the buildings remained completely unscathed!

The sword projection vanished, and the Harken's body was also trembling slightly. Right at this moment, a silver figure shot forth like a shadow, speeding directly into the shattered glass barrier.

It was Zhao Yun!

His snowy white cape raised up behind him like a cloud, and his body was ramrod straight. His black hair rose directly upward like a pair of raven wings being spread open, and his Courage of Dragons Silver Spear was like a wyrm emerging from the sea, piercing directly toward the Yin energy vortex up ahead.

It was truly an attack that was as fast as lightning.

All of a sudden, a buzzing sound rang out in the air, followed by a faint muffled groan, and immediately thereafter, the Yin energy vortex abruptly exploded.

Dead silence.

Complete silence descended upon the entire room. After what seemed like an eternity, Qin Ye finally rose to his feet, surrounded by a throng of wary scholars. His face was slightly pale, but his expression was as calm as ever as he waved a hand and said, "I'm fine, everyone."

Lu Ban heaved a long sigh of relief before stepping away from Qin Ye with a look of residual fear in his eyes. All of the scholars quickly followed suit, and unbeknownst to everyone, Qin Ye was wringing his hands together in a white-knuckled grip as he clasped them behind his own back.

Just now, he was only an instant away from death!

After taking many deep breaths and ensuring that his voice wasn't going to tremble, he said, "How did it go, General Zhao?"

"He managed to get away." Zhao Yun wore an extremely grim expression with tightly gritted teeth. "That man was extremely powerful. The power he displayed was on the advanced Yama-King level. I can confirm for sure that he's a human, not an evil ghost. He's most likely the most powerful human cultivator in history."

Qin Ye nodded in response and dragged over his chair before taking a seat, then making a reassuring hand gesture. "Take a seat, everyone. There's no need to be so tense now."

Everyone did as they were told, and it had to be said that Qin Ye's attitude and expression instilled a lot of calmness into everyone's hearts. The power of a leader had always played an extremely important role throughout the course of history. Even the King Yanluo wasn't scared, so what did they have to be scared of?

It was just an assassination, wasn't it? The Cathayan Underworld had stood for over 3,000 years, which King Yanluo hadn't suffered at least one assassination attempt?

"The first King Yanluo once visited the battlefield over in the Australis Underworld, and during that time, he endured 13 assassination attempts, two of which were from Yama-King level beings..." Wu Daozi slumped back in his chair in an exhausted manner, but his cheeks were flushed with excitement as he said in a hoarse voice, "During the reign of the second King Yanluo, which lasted close to 1,000 years, he endured more than 15 assassination attempts from Yama-King level beings alone. This is only the first time for our current King Yanluo, it looks like everyone is taking our new King Yanluo quite lightly..."

This was a rather awkward joke, but everyone played along and laughed in response. Even Qin Ye couldn't help but burst into laughter, and the tension from having just survived the nearest of near-death experiences completely washed away. He then turned to Zhao Yun and said, "Continue."

"Yes," Zhao Yun replied in a grim voice. "Throughout history, the most powerful human cultivator was the founding father of Taoism, Zhang Daoling. Ultimately, he ascended, and at the time of his ascension, he was only one step away from reaching my current level. Those below him included Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng of the Tang Dynasty, capable of reaching the intermediate Yama-King level when their powers were combined. Then comes Imperial Teacher Yu Wen of the Sui Dynasty, who reached the nascent Yama-King level, and Wang Chongyang, who also reached the same level. In any case, aside from Zhang Daoling, no human has ever reached the advanced Yama-King level, but this person has achieved such a feat."

"On top of that..." He took a deep breath, and his expression took an even grimmer turn as he continued, "Through the power he displayed, I can sense that his true power should be on an even higher level. I think that it would be best to regard him as a cultivator of the same caliber as Zhang Daoling. Even if he hasn't reached my level yet, he definitely isn't far away."

Qin Ye's eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this. What Zhao Yun had just said was definitely going to keep him up at night.

In a place that no one could find, in an abstract construct known as the Peach Blossom Spring, there exists a cultivator on the same level as Zhang Daoling!

Zhao Yun was a being beyond the Yama-King level, able to enter and exit the underworlds of the three pillars as he pleased. Even after bringing out their creation-grade divine artifact, the twin death gods of the Argosian Underworld, Thanatos and Hypnos, only dared to speak to him on even terms.

Zhang Daoling was the founding father of Taoisim in Cathay. In the religion of Taoism, he was an insurmountable peak, he was a divine deity that no one could surpass.

And now, there was another human on the same level...

The Harken said in a cold voice, "There is no record of him in the Book of Life and Death. Just like you, he has consumed the Taisui fungus, and he hasn't died even once. Otherwise, his name would be recorded in the Book of Life and Death as is the case for Lee Jung-sook."

Qin Ye remained expressionless as he asked, "How was he able to attack through a memory into the real world?"

Zhao Yun considered this question momentarily before replying, "My theory is that he most likely set up some type of defensive mechanism in that man's memories. Whenever some sensitive information is about to be leaked, the mechanism would be triggered, allowing him to teleport his power to the real world through some type of arts. It has to be said that this man is a genius the likes of which the world has never seen. If his name had been recorded in history, he would definitely be a vastly renowned figure."

Qin Ye was enlightened upon hearing this explanation.

He didn't say anything as he slowly rose to his feet before making his way over to the shattered protective barrier, remaining silent the entire time.

He was feeling an extremely urgent sense of threat. He suddenly realized that he had been lulled into a false sense of security.

He had grown too lax and complacent. Currently, the Cathayan Underworld iss isolated from the rest of the world. The high-grade darkfeathers of each nation, those Infernal Judges and even Abyssal Prefects, hadn't had a chance to enter the Cathayan Underworld yet, and the same applied to those powerful assassins. Thus, he was able to go wherever he wanted within the Cathayan Underworld's borders without any fear for his own safety. From now on, he would have to bring a squad of bodyguards wherever he went.

Assassination was a very unscrupulous act, but it was just as effective as it was unscrupulous.

He finally understood why Zhao Yun was so intent on encouraging him to travel the land, even at the expense of some of his obligations and duties as the King Yanluo.

He had been thrust into this role in a completely surprising turn of events, and he was sorely lacking in experience. Another reason for this was that a Yin energy system existed in the Cathayan Underworld, so once the main framework was set up, there was no need for constant manual supervision as was the case in the mortal realm. The third and most important reason was that if he didn't accumulate experience now, he most likely wouldn't get the opportunity to do so in the future.

This was the final period of time in which he could do whatever he wanted.

He turned to Zhao Yun with a cold expression and commanded, "Investigate the matter in person! Take all of the darkfeathers and investigate until the answer comes to light! Even if we have to search through the entire Cathayan Underworld top to bottom, we have to find out where this Peach Blossom Spring is!"

Just the assassination attempt on the King Yanluo along was an unforgivable crime!

"Yes!" Zhao Yun accepted the order with a respectful salute, and after a brief pause, he asked, "My Lord, what if we find it?"

"In that case, I'll go and meet him myself." Qin Ye gently stroked a finger along the remnants of the glass barrier as he said, "But before that, we must construct the six paths of reincarnation. I'm going to earn the final merit points required to break through to the Yama-King level!"

"Yes!"

Right as Zhao Yun was about to leave, Qin Ye suddenly said, "Hold on a moment!"

Everyone immediately directed their attention toward him, and Qin Ye looked up at the ceiling with a thoughtful expression as he said, "Everyone leave for now, I need some more time to think."

No one disobeyed his orders, and soon, he was the only one left in the room, and he began to pace back and forth with his hands clasped behind his back.

At this point, he had already completely calmed down. He was definitely going to launch an investigation, but he had to narrow down the search scope first. Otherwise, given how massive the Cathayan Underworld was, it would take decades to scour the entire land.

He was already determined to stamp out this Peach Blossom Spring no matter what.

"The fact that they support the creation of the light tower in the mortal coil means that they're definitely not some philanthropic organization. I could try to track them down through the light tower in the mortal coil but at this point, will they respond even if I ignite the light tower?" His eyes narrowed slightly as he quietly organized his own thoughts. "Do they not know that Bu Wantian is dead?"

He didn't dare to take the risk.

In that case, where would he be able to find traces of them?

He stroked his own chin as he paced back and forth in the room for close to 20 minutes. All of a sudden, his eyes lit up as he raised his head. "I can find leads in the sea!"

"I wanted to prepare the most ceremonious welcome for you, but the true body of this boat sank around 1,000 years ago in the sea roughly 150 nautical miles east of here. At this point, it's most likely already become a paradise for fish, so I must beg your forgiveness for this subpar welcome." 

These were the exact words that the man had spoken, and thinking back now, it was the only thing that he had said that contained any potential leads.

The boat that the man was on had sunk into the sea roughly 150 nautical miles to the east of the Yellow River's inlet. Thus, if they could find the sunken shipwreck, they would be able to find out who this man was!

Hell's forces weren't in the sea, but there were more suitable candidates to search through the sea in their stead, such as the Special Investigations Department.

Having arranged his thoughts, he quickly made his way out of the Faint Earth Building. The scholars, the Harken, and Zhao Yun were all still waiting for him outside, and for some reason, Secretary Jiang had brought over a very benevolent-looking man who appeared to be in his fifties.

"Yanluo Qin." As soon as Qin Ye made his way over to them, the man immediately extended a respectful bow with a smile on his face.

"Director Qian! Is there something you need from me?" A smile also appeared on Qin Ye's face. During the six-year-long war of unification, the mortal realm had lent Hell its unreserved support, supplying countless resources to pave the way for the construction of the entire nation. As a result, Cathay's GDP in the mortal realm had suffered steep declines, but they didn't express any displeasure in spite of this, and this left Qin Ye with a very good impression of the mortal realm.

Furthermore, the mortal realm had supplied them with not just resources, but also talented personnel.

Due to the fact that Hell's forces hadn't yet extended to Yanjing, the Yin spirits of all of the talented personnel who passed away in Yanjing would become evil ghosts upon arriving in the underworld. In order to prevent this, a regulation was established to take the bodies of all of these high-end talents to Ashmound so that their souls would descend into the underworld at Ashmound, and this Director Qian was among the cream of the crop of this bunch.

His name was Qian Duolai [1]. It was a very lucky name, and he was the director of the secret service's intelligence departments.

The secret service had six divisional level departments, as well as a secret seventh department.

That secret seventh department was home to Cathay's most exceptional secret agents!

Qian Duolai was the former director of the secret service's intelligence department, as well as the director of the secret seventh department!

He had passed away from a sudden heart attack, and no news of his death was released by the media. His body was taken in secret to the public cemetery for heroes for a burial, but prior to that, it had taken a trip to Ashmound.

[1] [His name literally translates to 钱 (money) 多 (many/plentiful) 来 (come), so it's a name that certainly bodes very well financially.]