Yama Rising

Qin Ye was just about to reply when Arthis said, "Allow me. Aside from myself, no one can draw Frostmourne."

"Why can't it be my Warglaive of Azzinoth?" Qin Ye countered.

Zhao Yun and the Harken turned away, pretending as if they hadn't heard anything, and they were very relieved that they were the only ones who could hear this conversation. Thankfully, they still had some shred of self-awareness and were communicating through voice transmission that only Yama-Kings could hear.

Looks like they do have a sense of shame after all! Why am I so glad about that?

Arthis rolled her eyes at Qin Ye and said, "Do you think anyone would agree for you to swing the sword?"

Before Qin Ye had a chance to reply, she continued, "Brother Yun is above the Yama-King level, so he's not fit for the task. His Yin energy injection is different from that of a normal Yama-King, and the second-generation forbidden art was designed to be activated by Yama-Kings, not beings above that level. Excessively powerful injections of Yin energy could cause it to be detonated earlier than expected, so it was decided from the very beginning that Brother Yun wouldn't be able to do this."

"There's still the Harken, isn't there?" Qin Ye reflexively countered.

"I don't have hands," the Harken said in a cold voice before jumping onto his shoulder.

Arthis continued, "Given how precious you are to our Cathayan Underworld, if you tried to swing the sword, all of the researchers would immediately stand in front of you to stop you with their lives! No matter how you look at it, I'm the best candidate for the test."

Qin Ye looked around at the surrounding researchers, all of whom were already extremely tensed up, and wisely decided to back down.

Thus, the entire scene fell silent, and Arthis stood in front of the claymore and closed her eyes before taking several deep breaths in succession. Only after a full 10 minutes had passed did she reopen her eyes, then nodded toward the anxious researchers.

Her Yin energy had already completely calmed down, and it was as condensed and peaceful as the still surface of a tranquil lake.

The entirety of her attention was focused on a single thing, and that was the sword before her.

Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban exchanged a glance, then gritted their teeth as they each raised a hand in unison. The piercing sound of an alarm immediately rang out across the entire desert.

All of the Yin soldiers quickly scattered until they were outside of the protective barrier, and it was as if the sequence had already been rehearsed hundreds of times. The Harken raised one of its paws, and a series of massive light screens appeared in front of all of the Yin soldiers.

The screens depicted Arthis standing alone in the desert. It was already dusk, and her lone figure blended in with the desert and the setting sun. The heat rising up from the desert caused the air around her to shimmer and warp, giving her an abstract and indistinct appearance.

A gust of Yin wind slowly swept past, raising up her purple hair like a pair of wings. Amid this scene of surreal beauty, she slowly raised her hands.

"Calculate the stability curve!" Lu Ban roared with all his might.

Beside him were over 100 scientists, each of whom was carrying a compass-like object. A series of Yin runes were dancing within the compasses before flying out like butterflies to form lines of profound text.

"The stability value has reached its peak!"

"Yin energy flow is ideal!"

"All physical parameters are stable!"

"All Yin energy parameters are stable!"

The reports came in one after another for close to a minute, and Lu Ban took a deep breath before raising his hand once again. "Open the ox container muzzle!"

Inside the Yin energy images, beams of red light that extended for several meters abruptly shot out of the mechanical cow's eyes. Immediately thereafter, all of the chains on its back fell away, and the claymore was no longer bound.

An enormous gust of Yin wind rose up into the sky, and even from over 100,000 kilometers away, all of the Yin energy screens trembled violently. Countless Yin soldiers were staring intently at the screens, trying to commit this historic scene into their memories, not even daring to breathe as they waited for this monumental detonation to take place.

Qin Changxin was also among them, and he was more invested in this than anyone. His fingernails had dug deep into his palm, and he didn't want to miss a single thing.

This was the world's first-ever second-generation forbidden art, the weapon that was going to bring the Nipponese Underworld to its knees! All of the measures that they had prepared during the Asia-Pacific Economic Development Conference several years ago were going to bring about Izanami's downfall!

The entire desert was completely silent aside from the rustling of the wind, and claymore slowly rose up into the air amid a burst of clanging and buzzing. As it did so, the air around it began to twist and warp.

Not only that, but tremors ran through the entire desert as if a strong earthquake were taking place, and bursts of Yin energy were slowly rising up from the desert in all directions before surging toward the claymore at the center in a rapid frenzy.

The desert was instantly transformed into a sea of mist with Yin clouds surging through both heaven and earth. Even Qin Ye's expression changed slightly upon seeing this. Even as a Yama-King, he could sense power far beyond his own contained within the claymore.

Right at this moment, Arthis grabbed onto the hilt of the sword.

The sword was enormous, even taller than her, but it somehow seemed to belong in her hand. Her purple hair and clothes rippled slightly, then fell still again.

All of the phenomena vanished at the same time, and countless Yin runes were flashing on the surface of the sword like stars, giving it the appearance of a sparkling galaxy.

Arthis cast a surprised gaze toward her own hand, then turned to Qin Ye with a smile before mouthing the words: "here I go".

In the instant that her voice trailed off, she transformed into a gust of violent Yin wind, flying directly up toward the crane shuttle that was awaiting her up above.

The crane let loose a clear cry, and its wings, which were constructed from precious materials, spread open elegantly. With dense Yin energy all around it, the crane quickly flew up into the heavens.

On the ground below, tens of thousands of Yin soldiers were looking up at the sky. As soon as the crane flew up into the Yin clouds overhead, they immediately formed a vast vortex that was rumbling and twisting incessantly, giving off vast and unpredictable power. Beams of crimson light were flashing within the vortex, giving it a sinister appearance.

Lu Ban was so anxious that all of the hair on his head was standing up on end, and he frantically yelled, "All groups report to me! Is everything operating in a normal and stable fashion?"

"Stable for group one!"

"Stable for group two!"

"Stable for group three!"

"Stable for group four!"

One voice after another rang out, but that did nothing to assuage everyone's anxiety. The Yin soldiers and underworld emissaries outside of the central sphere of power were perhaps only treating this as a visual spectacle, but the truly high-ranking officials knew just how significant the second-generation forbidden art was.

After what seemed like an eternity, all sound faded from the world.

Amid the deathly silence, a figure pierced through the heavens like lightning in a storm before ascending from above.

Her clothes and purple hair were flapping incessantly, and she was like a deity that had descended from heaven. Right as she began her descent, she slashed the dazzling sword in her hand through the air.

BOOM!!

A violent boom rang out across the entire desert, and sand erupted upward for over 100 meters before falling like rain. Heaven and earth were illuminated by dazzling white radiance, following which nothing else could be seen.

All of the underworld emissaries closed their eyes, and for an instant, they lost their sense of hearing as well.

Even the Yama-Kings had closed their eyes. The light was too powerful and violent, and it was as if it were threatening to devour the entire world.

Only after a full minute had passed did Qin Ye open his eyes, and in the instant that he did so, even he couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.

The Harken had also opened its eyes while perched on his shoulder, and its mouth was gaped wide open as if it wanted to say something, but couldn't utter even a single word in the end.

A stunned silence began to spread until the entire desert was completely silent.

They were seeing clouds, layers upon layers of clouds.

Each cloud had a different shape, and in total, it was a nine-tiered sea of clouds. The pillar of clouds extended right up into the heavens, undergoing nine violent explosions in an extremely short time.

Each level of the sea of clouds was a shockwave, and they progressed from large to small from the bottom to the top. The bottom level was filled with boundless sand and inky-black Yin energy that resembled a sea of black flower petals.

Countless souls were howling and screaming within it, and this applied to every other level as well. It was as if this were a massive pillar formed by Yin spirits, culminating into a dazzling sun at the very top.

It was a crimson sun that stood like a ruby above the 18 abysses of punishment. The sun was tens of thousands of meters in size, and even the actual sun paled in the face of its radiance. All of the Yin clouds were scattered, and a gigantic hole had been forcibly torn into the heavens.

None of the Yin spirits uttered even a single word.

They were all proud of this moment, but also astonished by the marvelous spectacle they were witnessing, shocked by the power of underworld technology.

Everyone was also completely still.

They were all entirely enraptured by this scene, and it seemed that they had been robbed of the ability to think and move.

Only after a full 30 minutes had passed did everything begin to slowly dim, and the Yin clouds on the ground gradually faded, but the entire desert within an area of over 100,000 square kilometers had been reduced to countless shattered glass shards!

The glass shards were in all types of different colors, and they were buried within the sand of the desert, presenting an incredible spectacle to behold.

Upon being exposed to high temperatures, sand would sometimes turn into glass, and that was what had happened here. Not only did the second-generation forbidden art possess terrifying destructive power, it was also capable of giving off incredible heat!

"Where's Arthis?" Qin Ye was the first one to return to his senses.

"I'm over here." Arthis's voice rang out from behind him, and Qin Ye turned around to look for her, upon which his pupils immediately contracted drastically.

Arthis was in an extremely sorry state. Her clothes were in tatters, and large sections of her hair had been charred, even though she had been several thousand meters above the ground earlier!

Lu Ban and the scientists were quickly tallying up the figures, but Qin Ye paid no heed to that. In contrast with a bunch of statistics and figures that he couldn't understand, he was much more interested in hearing the first-hand experience of another Yama-King in the face of the second-generation forbidden art.

"How did it feel?"

Arthis took a deep breath before replying in a grim voice, "It was terrifying... I've never experienced something so terrifying before. It's very difficult to describe. For beings below the Yama-King level, they most likely wouldn't even be able to work up the urge to run away. It's like... a demon that robs you of your autonomy."

She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts, then continued, "The second-generation forbidden art presents two waves of destruction, the first of which comes from the extremely high temperatures and destructive force generated by the countless advanced Yin runes, and that's capable of instantly destroying everything within range. After that comes the spiritual impact. All Yin spirits at or below the Prefect-level will have their souls completely destroyed if they're within range."

"Can a Yama-King directly withstand it?"

"Absolutely not!" Arthis immediately replied without any hesitation. "If I had gotten away any later than I did, I most likely wouldn't be standing here right now. There's no way that a Yama-King would be able to withstand the power of the second-generation forbidden art. Perhaps only beings above the Yama-King level would be capable of that..."

As soon as her voice trailed off, a string of alarmed cries rang out from behind them, followed by a clear crack.

Qin Ye faltered slightly upon hearing this, then swung around to find that a massive crack had appeared on the protective barrier erected by Zhao Yun!

As soon as the crack appeared, it began to rapidly elongate, and bursts of crimson radiance quickly surged in through the crack. Qin Ye's mind went completely blank for a moment before he hurriedly yelled, "Look out!"

Even a being above the Yama-King level couldn't withstand this power!