Yama Rising

Pssshhhh!

The razor-sharp teeth cut through Wang Chenghao’s skin like butter and plunged straight into his artery. His body trembled, and a fountain of blood promptly gushed out.

Is this the end of my road…

This was the only thought in his mind at this moment. A wave of frigidity blanketed his body as he watched death beckoning him with great despondence.

This evil ghost is totally out of my league… Did the academy screw up? And who tampered with my magical artifact? What a pity… To think I would be killed in the outskirts like this without even purging a single Yin spirit. I couldn’t even keep the promise I’d made to Brother Qin back then… What a pity… What an unacceptable outcome…

Everything in front of his eyes began to grow blurry, and his head began to grow faint. He chuckled bitterly as he slumped back down to his feet. But just then--! Four shrill shrieks rang out, and four shadowy silhouettes suddenly pounced right over!

Yin spirits?

Wang Chenghao’s consciousness trembled slightly, and a bitter smile crept up the corner of his lips. So, that’s how it is… Not even the heavens are going to have mercy on me… And they’re not even going to leave me the dignity of an intact corpse…

A split second later, the four Yin spirits charged straight onto the male Yin spirit behind Wang Chenghao’s body and began tearing away at its flesh.

This is…

Wang Chenghao was taken aback. In that instant, his desire to live erupted like a powerful volcano, and he mustered every remaining bit of true energy in his body, grabbed hold of every remaining talisman in his arsenal and began to send them smashing into the evil ghost behind him.

Simultaneously, he managed to catch a glimpse of the four Yin spirits that were tearing away at the evil ghost - there was a woman, a child, a middle-aged man, and a young man. All of them had black hair, green nails and white teeth. They were obviously weaker than the evil ghost that was behind his back, but they still tore away at the evil ghost desperately, attempting to foil any attempt to kill him.

Just a moment ago, the four Yin spirits had clearly heard Qin Ye’s command booming in their minds - If anyone of you can prevent the death of this young man, you will immediately be conferred the title of an official Emissary of Hell!

Sss… SSS!!! The four Yin spirits hissed, and several clumps of hair ran straight through the jaws of the evil ghost, preventing it from clamping down as they desperately dragged the evil ghost back from his fleshly sustenance. The evil ghost’s Yin energy was ostensibly surging like a tide, but it simply couldn’t take a single step closer towards its target.

ROAR! The evil ghost finally loosened its bite with a roar of frustration. Meanwhile, Wang Chenghao grasped every opportunity he was presented with to rush straight out of the door. And then, he glanced back and caught a glimpse of the face of the evil ghost for the very first time.

It wasn’t a complete being.

There were traces of bite marks all over the man’s mangled body, and only half of it remained right now. His abdominal cavity was completely empty and devoid of innards, half of his face was nothing but bones. Trails of black corpse fluid flowed out of his wounds and left streaks of marks everywhere, leaving his clothes in tatters, while copious amounts of Yin energy continued to pour out incessantly.

But… how did his left hand… stretch so far?

So far that… it could plunge straight through my stomach?

Time seemed to freeze in that instant, and the entire world about him grew silent as he looked down at his abdomen, completely dumbfounded. He didn’t know when it happened, but he could see that a grisly, dark hand had run straight through his abdomen, and a stream of blood poured right out of his wounds.

How… did this happen?

A moment later, he coughed up a large mouthful of blood that scattered everywhere. His eyes blurred, and he collapsed to the ground with a dull thud.

As his consciousness began to drift away, the excruciating pain in his abdomen engulfed him like a tidal wave. Yet, it was also right at that moment that a large vortex of Yin energy and netherflames suddenly began to converge right on the rooftop.

The energy signature of the vortex was rather familiar to him. Wang Chenghao was already in a semi-conscious state, yet that didn’t prevent his lips from curling up weakly.

You’re here…

I’ve been useless…

It was as though the tension in his heart had finally been released, and his head weakly landed on the ground with a thud.

Incidentally, this was the first thing that Qin Ye saw as soon as he stepped out of the vortex.

And in that instant, it was also as though time had stopped for him.

He blinked vacantly and opened his mouth slightly, as though he wanted to say something. Yet, no words came out.

Dead?

Is he really dead?

That tyrannical kid from Clear Creek County High School that had fled with me from Clear Creek County all the way to the City of Salvation… That very same teenager who begged me to be his friend… is dead? Just like that?

And right in front of my very eyes?

It wouldn’t be right to describe his feelings right now as heartbroken. After all, he had lived for a long time, and seen his fair share of death and departure. His heart had naturally already grown numb to these things.

That said, his heart undoubtedly ached.

And it was an intense ache at that.

It was almost as though someone had squeezed lemon juice on his hands and rubbed it directly onto the surface of his heart. Even the corners of his eyes felt somewhat sour as his heart sank to rock bottom. He stared vacantly at the motionless Wang Chenghao, watching intently as the blood continued to flow out from his body and seep into the cracks between the tiles of the roof.

Moments later, he slowly turned his head and glanced at the Yin spirit.

His four remaining ghosts were clearly no match for him, and two had already been torn apart in an instant. The only ones left were the woman and the child, both of which were screaming as they desperately tried to resist.

Then, just as they were on the verge of defeat and contemplating retreat, a wall of netherfire suddenly slammed straight down like a rushing waterfall.

It happened without any warning.

Yet it was also filled with killing intent.

Furthermore, the Yin energy accompanying the netherfire greatly surpassed the strength of the evil ghost, and it screamed in fear as it promptly retreated. Then, mouth agape, the evil ghost turned its head stiffly around and stared at the top of the building.

“I could have let you perish swiftly and painlessly…” Qin Ye’s face appeared incredibly calm, but the Yin energy around his body was twisting and roiling like an incredibly menacing aura. A split second later, all of the Yin energy within a 100 meter radius around him suddenly converged onto his body. Qin Ye’s eyes promptly inverted its colours, while copious amounts of Yin energy began to pour out of his body. In fact, one could even see illusory lotus flowers blossoming in the air where the Yin energy was densest.

Every single talisman on his spirit streamer began to flutter wildly and glow with a scarlet luster as it opened up into a massive spinning umbrella. Qin Ye’s voice continued softly, “But I’m… no longer prepared to grant you deliverance.”

As he spoke, the Yin energy contracted violently, and then, with a loud bang, a figure wearing a long black robe sporting a meter-long tongue and white hair that was scattering about menacingly descended from the sky like a god of all Yin spirits.

By Hell’s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!

That was also the very same instant that all of the Yin energy monitoring devices within New Hale City began to blare with alarms of distress.

“Huh?!” Back on the seventh storey of the military hotel, Guan Gen looked up at the screen with great disbelief.

They were right in the middle of a meeting at the conference room, but the text on the LED screen behind him instantly vanished. Instead, there was simply a shrill voice speaking through the broadcast system.

“An eruption of Yin energy has been detected in the vicinity. Estimated levels - perilous. Location - Hunting Zone D-69. All units on alert! All units on alert! I repeat…”

“Perilous?” One of the officers in the room adjusted his glasses and shot to his feet, “Hellguard… that signifies the appearance of a Hellguard-class Yin spirit! Mobilize all troops!!”

Wuuuuuuuuuu… The military base immediately sounded the alarm. Cultivator after cultivator suddenly lifted their heads, dropped what they were doing and made their way towards the barracks at full speed. Fifteen minutes later, a long convoy of military vehicles promptly rolled out of the barracks like a rumbling war machine. Their destination - Hunting Zone D-69.

Back in the surveillance room of Hunting Zone D-72.

The entire place was already covered in blood. Li Jixi’s limbs were completely missing, and the only parts of him that remained were his head and his body, both of which were bleeding profusely.

Just then, the two ghosts that were gnawing on his body suddenly lifted his head. And then, they shrieked at the top of their voice and shrank back into the corner of the room, “Emissary of Hell! Emissary of Hell! It’s a genuine Emissary of Hell!! That’s our target!” “It’s him! He has finally appeared! There really was a genuine Emissary of Hell! His Excellency was right!”

A split second later, the two evil ghosts grabbed what remained of Li Jixi and rushed straight towards Hunting Zone D-69 in an instant.

Ssss!! Meanwhile, back in Hunting Zone D-69, the evil ghost was smacked several meters back, and he dug his foot into the ground to stabilize himself, leaving two half-foot deep grooves in the ground just a short moment before he slammed heavily into the wall. A web of cracks immediately appeared on the walls.

Sss… ROAR!!! The evil ghost’s eyes grew bloodshot. Their simple exchange had told him that his opponent commanded an unfathomable depth of Yin energy that was vast as the oceans! They were on two completely different planes of existence altogether!

Furthermore… he could sense a primal fear rising from the innermost parts of his heart whenever he came within a five meter radius of his opponent.

This man… No, this ghastly existence can easily tear me to pieces…

The two remaining ghosts of Qin Ye’s Yoke of the Five Ghosts didn’t utter a single word. They simply hid in a corner, shivering uncontrollably - Our hunch was right… this man… is far too scary… It’s a good thing we’ve pledged our allegiance to him…

“Stand up.” Just as the evil ghost began to see stars in his eyes, he also noticed a pair of feet walk up slowly in front of him. Then, he heard an unbelievably chilling voice, “Wouldn’t it be far too cheap if you simply died like that?”

Curses… CURSES!

The resentment and grievances in his heart overwhelmed his rationality in that moment, and with a wild shriek, his hands suddenly extended and lashed out against Qin Ye once more.

“Was this the very same move that killed Wang Chenghao?” Qin Ye glanced coldly at the evil ghost and flicked his spirit streamer. Clatter! Crunch! A split second later, the evil ghost grabbed hold of his right hand and screamed in pain.

Ssss… SSS!!!

The evil ghost’s hand was already twisted beyond belief. The bones in his hand were shattered into innumerable pieces, while his razor-sharp nails were scattered all over the floor. But he wasn’t given the room to breathe at all. A moment later, he suddenly felt… as though something was grabbing onto his hair.

Then, before the evil ghost could react to what was going on, he found his face slamming straight into the ground with a dull thud. The floor showed cracks in an instant. Then, amidst a series of intermittent wheezes and miserable shrieks, the evil ghost found himself dragged by the hair some distance away, before his head was once again slammed into the ground right in front of Wang Chenghao.

Wang Chenghao knew that he was already on the verge of death, but he still managed to cling onto that very strand of life within by sheer willpower. And at this very moment, he laughed.

It was an ugly sight.

Blood sputtered and gurgled from his mouth like spring waters. Whenever it moved, some blood would spew out. However, his eyes gleamed brighter than ever as he watched Qin Ye subdue the evil ghost right in front of his eyes.

The evil ghost’s face had practically been ground away by Qin Ye’s manhandling, leaving nothing but a macabre remnant of his skull exposed to the air. The evil ghost shuddered and flailed his limbs about wildly, but it was completely helpless under the subjugation of absolute strength.

“Little Wang.” Qin Ye loosened his grip and stomped down hard on the evil ghost with his foot. A piercing cry resounded through the dark night as the evil ghost’s head was pummeled straight through the concrete of the roof.

“I’m avenging you right now.”

Wang Chenghao continued to laugh feebly even as the entire world in front of him shook violently.

It’s beyond salvation...

Qin Ye sighed. Not even the Book of Life and Death could reverse the situation right now. Sure, the Book of Life and Death might be a divine artifact of Hell, but that didn’t mean that anyone who got shot straight through the head would still be revived and healed back to the pink of health.

After all, matters of life and death were still governed by the laws of the Heavenly Dao.

Go in peace… I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again soon…

Qin Ye drew a deep breath, tightened his grasp around his spirit streamer, and pressed its tip against the back of the evil ghost’s head. Then, mercilessly, he slowly but forcefully rotated the tip as he drove the spirit streamer deeper and deeper in.

Crack… That was the sound of the skull giving way.

Crack… Kkkkrrrrr… A grotesque sound of grinding bones continued to echo through the night, while the evil ghost finally cried out for mercy, “Spare me… spare… me!”

“Don’t kill me… D-d-don’t… don’t… kill me…”

“I don’t want to die… please… I don’t… I-I beg of you…”

“You don’t want to die?” Qin Ye appeared to be calm and at peace, while the evil ghost continued to flail his arms about as he struggled desperately.

“But who in the right mind would want to die in the first place?

“On the other hand, it’s only right to repay a life for a life.”

Shk! With that, the spirit streamer plunged straight through the evil ghost’s skull, instantly extinguishing the remaining netherflame that blazed within him.