Yama Rising

A wave of Yin energy far stronger than any other before swept through the funerary hall, filling it with a roiling black mist. The student’s physical body had shattered into pieces, and an illusory figure drifted out, only to vanish into the surroundings with a miserable scream.

Back in front of the television, Qin Ye’s hands trembled, and he nearly summoned his demonhead saber in that moment of excitement.

The emissary’s true body!

An emissary has been forced to shed his physical body in just under a minute!

That emissary must have sustained grievous injuries, but having shed its physical body, it was now completely invisible to the rest of the mortals around. Nobody knew exactly where it had retreated to in its desperate attempt to remain alive.

Patience…

Qin Ye sighed and forcibly calmed down his frantically beating heart.

Patience… It’s still far too early. A single burst of Yin energy isn’t sufficient to conceal the eruption of Yin energy when I transform into my emissary state. Zhou Xianlong hasn’t appeared either. I’ve got to bide my time… The best time to make my move is when all of the extraterritorial emissaries have reverted back to their true forms.

“Vanished?” The white streamers fluttered wildly in the dark funerary hall as paper money scattered everywhere. Lou Chuang stared in shock at the empty ground in front of him, and then raised his head and bellowed, “All faculty instructors - protect Mr Gu’s casket right now! We cannot afford any mistakes!”

“Yes!”

The instructors dashed past Lou Chuan’s position and swiftly made their way towards the inner sanctum. However, a loud explosion from the inner sanctum greeted them just as they arrived at its entrance. Billowing clouds of dense Yin energy poured forth from a massive crack in the ground as though Hell had opened its jaws! The Yin energy surged towards the sky, forming a wall of Yin energy that was hundred of meters wide and tens of meters high!

“It hurts…” “Let me die… please… let me die!” “Wuuuuuu… why… I don’t want to die…” The surroundings were instantly filled with the wails and moans of countless ghosts. All of the students outside immediately froze in horror.

“What the hell is this?!” “My god… What is that thing?!” “Unbelievable! What’s going on inside the funerary hall?”

The appearance of innumerable distorted faces accompanied the ghostly wails and heart-rending cries of anguish. Some wore a white robe, some wore a veil, while others donned head wrappings… The faces appeared to fade in and out of existence on the corporeal wall of Yin energy, as though it were a moat that devoured and thrived on the most intense emotions of human beings.

“Professor Tao!” “Are you alright? Hang in there! Head of Faculty Zhou should be here soon!” “We’ll be right over!”

“Don’t come any closer!!” Tao Ran’s voice called out from within the wall of Yin energy. Tao Ran was staring at the entrance to the funerary hall with a grim expression on his face.

It’s too bizarre… Everything happening today is far too bizarre!

“Стена бесконечного вздоха……[1] / Wall of Unbounded Whispers.” A plump lady squatted on the ground just behind the walls to the inner sanctum. Both her palms were pressing hard against the ground. The ground around her palms appeared like the surface of a lake, rippling endlessly as rings of foreign scripts swept into the surroundings. The wall of endless aggrieved souls howled and shrieked behind her, sequestering the inner sanctum from the rest of the world.

A dark fingerbone drifted eerily between her brows. This was by no means a human fingerbone. It was covered in barbs. And she wasn’t the only one who had whipped out a peculiar Yin artifact. In fact, all eleven extraterritorial emissaries around presented themselves with a peculiar Yin artifact drifting right beside them.

There was a crimson crystal skull, a fractured scepter, a broken crown dripping with blood… Every single artifact bore the thick stench of a foreign aura, and the agglomerated Yin energy was so terrifyingly thick that anyone who breathed in the tainted air would feel their lungs grow cold with just a single breath.

“Yin artifacts… What powerful Yin artifacts… and each one of them is at the level of a peak Anitya Hellguard… By their powers combined…[2]” Tao Ran drew a deep breath, and his entire being exploded with true energy, sweeping away the looming dark fog in an instant.

Combined, the Yin artifacts posed a threat equivalent to that of an Infernal Judge!

But right at that moment, he suddenly froze.

Twelve…

There were only twelve entities in front of him!

And there were a total of fourteen figures that had dashed into the funerary hall at the beginning…

He reflexively cocked his head and bellowed loudly, “Protect the casket!”

There were two other professors here apart from him. Both were in other parts of the inner sanctum, defending themselves against the impending attacks. But as soon as they heard Tao Ran’s exclamation, they immediately dashed over with a glint in their eyes.

It had been one minute and thirty seconds exactly since the extraterritorial emissaries first dashed into the funerary hall.

“Kill them!!” The twelve extraterritorial emissaries shrieked in unison as the other two professors dashed towards the casket. Then, with boundless Yin energy wrapped around their bodies, the emissaries charged straight at the two professors!

As the emissaries charged forward, the boundless Yin energy in the surroundings abruptly converged and congealed into a massive black cloaked death god armed with a terrifying scythe, and it expelled copious amounts of Yin energy with every breath. With one swift motion, the death god swung his scythe through the air, aiming its blade directly towards Tao Ran.

“伊邪大美人の加護で、私は黄泉比良坂に足を踏み入れ、陰霊に敬意を払う…… / Under the protection of Izanami, the boundless beauty, I set foot onto Yomotsuhirasaka and pay homage to the Yin spirits......[3]” Simultaneously, a skinny student that was lagging behind the pack made several hand seals in the blink of an eye, and an ancient mirror bloomed at his heart with a bright white luster. Then, he suddenly turned to his colleague, grabbed him with both hands and smashed him straight into the mirror, “八辺の鏡 / Omnipresent Mirror!”

Whoosh… Tao Ran was caught in the sea of dark Yin energy, and he was unable to see exactly what happened. However, the mirror appeared to morph into a deep whirlpool that instantly swallowed up his colleague. A split second later, another similar mirror materialized right above Gu Qing’s casket, and a blood-soaked hand stretched out from the depths of the mirror and smashed the top of the casket to smithereens with a powerful blow!

It was a thunderous noise that caused everyone’s hearts to skip a beat. The two other professors had been unable to get there in time. Tao Ran also turned back in horror. A group of extraterritorial emissaries had actually been able to breach the lid of Gu Qing’s casket! It was practically unfathomable!

Boom!!!

Clatter… The lid of the maroon casket had been shattered into bits, revealing Gu Qing’s corpse that was dressed in a Cathayan tunic suit. His eyes were tightly shut, as though he was at peace. However, there was still an inch-long nail hammered deep into the base of the casket.

Back in front of the television, Qin Ye shot to his feet for the umpteenth time, and his breathing had gone ragged once more. He had never expected the extraterritorial emissaries to be able to get so far!

Five full professors were present, and yet they weren’t even able to withstand the onslaught of the extraterritorial emissaries for two whole minutes!

If no one was able to interrupt the peculiar mirror, the soul affixing nail and the soul retention jade would definitely be pulled out within the next ten seconds. And that… is when the extraterritorial emissaries would all shed their physical bodies and enter their emissary states!

“Zhou Xianlong… what the hell are you doing!” Qin Ye tightened his fists anxiously, “Aren’t you always the capable one in the academy?! It’s been two full minutes! Why haven’t you arrived just yet?!”

“Calm down.” Arthis stood up. Although her tone of voice was calm and placid, it was obvious that her breathing had grown much heavier than usual, “Cathay hasn’t witnessed a war among underworlds for the last hundred years. This isn’t their fault. Don’t worry. I can sense that the human Judge is right at the door. Thirty seconds… no! I’m certain that he will arrive in no more than fifteen seconds!”

“Be at the ready to enter the emissary state at any time… This is the final push of the extraterritorial emissaries. They’re going to be giving it their all.”

Back in the funerary hall, a tremendous sound shook the heavens. True energy poured out of Tao Ran’s body like flowing waters as he faced the powerful blow from the massive god of death formed by Yin energy. Recognizing the difference in their abilities, Tao Ran unleashed a burst of true energy at the moment of impact, and forcibly deflected the overbearing blow by the Judge-class entity!

CRASH! The trees surrounding the entire memorial hall were felled in an instant. Countless willow trees were uprooted. With a muffled grunt, Tao Ran’s feet dragged two deep grooves through the ground. He was actually knocked back a dozen meters, and he crashed straight through the inner sanctum walls!

“Pull out the soul affixing nail!” The god of death had dimmed substantially as a result from their clash. Five of the extraterritorial emissaries standing closest to the epicenter of their clash were bleeding from their seven apertures and barely clinging onto their human form. They cried out madly, “Thirty seconds! Everything must be done in thirty seconds! I can already sense the might of the Infernal Judge’s presence! He’s right outside the door!”

“Don’t be anxious!! This is a complete replica of the eight-foot mirror! Do you think it is a third-rate Yin artifact?!” The extraterritorial emissary holding onto the eight-foot mirror screamed back with bloodshot eyes. His chest was rising and falling greatly with each heave of breath he took. Every second counts! He could feel his fingertips tingling with anxiety!

An emissary in the body of a long-haired female student gritted her teeth as she activated an ancient lantern on her chest, causing it to blossom with a radiance that covered a ten-meter radius. Then, she dashed towards the professor on the left as she barked, “Obstruct them! No matter the cost!”

“You guys… are looking for death!!” The eyes of the professor on the left turned bloodshot. What evil dares cause such trouble?! This is tantamount to giving the First Academy of Cultivators a tight slap on the face!

Five professors weren’t able to hold back a dozen or so extraterritorial emissaries? If news of this spreads, the academy could wind up even before it began proper! This was simply outrageous!

The professor’s speed was incredibly quick. However, the lantern was even more bizarre! It instantly shifted in front of him, and then with a quick tug of a chain, the female student who was tethered to the chain was immediately dragged over.

Black pupils that were filled with fury immediately locked eyes with the crazed look of the female student. Both sides knew that the other was a force to behold - one was no mere Soul Hunter, while the other was a true blue Hellguard. Neither dared to hold back. A loud battle cry and a manic shriek rang out at the exact same time. The professor spat out a peachwood sword that instantly split into two, and then to three, and then to innumerable swords that turned the battleground into a sea of swords!

“Quick!!” The female student knew she was no match for the professor in a one-on-one fight. The bright luster of the lamp faded away in no time, and her entire body began to splinter and crack. She turned around abruptly, “Ignore me… and get the soul! This shall be the first soul to be seized by foreign emissaries in hundreds of years! It’s symbolic…”

Her voice was cut off abruptly.

Because the professor’s sea of swords had converged in an instant and torn the female student’s body to shreds.

“Arizona er godt / Arizona is good!! [4]” A grief-stricken scream echoed through the crowd. The female student’s body had transformed into a cloud of ash as she fell, and her soul stared blankly in front of her as it quickly dissipated into the ground.

“Arrrgghhh!!!” Meanwhile, the extraterritorial emissary obstructing the professor on the right also shattered into countless pieces in the wake of a cold, frigid light, and its soul dissipated into the surroundings as well.

“Damn it… damn it!!” Several extraterritorial emissaries cursed with heart-rending bellows of rage and indignation. An emissary in the body of a short boy dashed towards the emissary holding onto the eight-foot mirror and grabbed hold of his collar as he cried out with trembling, “There’s still seventeen seconds remaining! If you can’t do it, I’m coming straight for your throat!!”

The emissary holding onto the eight-foot mirror gnashed his teeth, “Do you think I’m not giving it my all? Get the hell out of here if you don’t want to die!”

Clink… The soul affixing nail was pulled out just as the two professors arrived at the casket from the sides.

Time seemed to freeze at that instant. Everyone stared blankly as a single nail flew through the air, leaving an ugly hole in the coffin where it had been nailed to.

The professors arrived by the coffin a split second after the nail had been pulled out. Just then, there were two sudden crunching sounds, followed quickly by two hands that extended straight through the base of the coffin.

One hand snapped Gu Qing’s upper jaw, while the other hand snapped Gu Qing’s lower jaw. And then, a red string flew straight into Gu Qing’s mouth and wrapped itself tightly around a piece of green artifact.

This was the last extraterritorial emissary that had been missing before.

At some point in time, he had snuck away and found his place right under the casket.

But just then--...

“What gall!!” A domineering cry thundered across the sky as though a god had descended, and the entire funerary hall crumbled in an instant!

It didn’t explode from within. Rather, it simply peeled away from the top, layer by layer as though it were soft as tofu. Then amidst the cloud of dust and dirt that was sent scattering into the air, a massive hand formed by lightning tore through the plumes and slammed straight towards the ground!

The Infernal Judge has finally arrived!

1. Sorry I just had to throw another one of my own references in here. Any guesses?

2. Thanks uprototype!

3. Thanks retired_penguin for the help on this one!

4. Thanks Vladimir_taltos!