Yama Rising

As a newly minted Anitya Hellguard, Qin Ye knew full well the chasm between the abilities of a Hellguard and the abilities of a Soul Hunter. To put it bluntly, if he were to take the lives of all on the mount right now, nobody would be able to stand in his way.

The mask that covered his face did not have a single hole on it. Furthermore, as an Emissary of Hell, Qin Ye could tell that Tripitaka’s body was devoid of any Yang energy.

How the hell did this happen?

Whoosh… The leaves on the ground began to rustle and sway without a breeze. Slowly, but surely, they began to swirl around them. The banyan tree slowly lowered its branches, almost as though an invisible force were pushing them down.

Sun Wukong pulled out a scarf and began to wipe off the sweat on his forehead, “Guardian Auctions is--...”

Everyone grew silent.

With that, he sighed, and slowly grabbed the mask covering his own face.

Whoosh!

Clink! The mask in his hand shattered to pieces just as the metallic gleam struck Qin Ye’s arm. But, to his horror, he found his blade unable to penetrate even a millimeter of Qin Ye’s skin!

Boom!

“This is…” Qin Ye’s expressions suddenly turned somber, “A corpse?”

“Furthermore, I can tell that you’re an underworldly craftsman. After all, you’ve sealed the seven apertures of the corpse to prevent his corpse stench from leaking out into the surroundings… Just who are you? The one in charge of these affairs… is actually you?”

These were silken threads.

The only one who could do this, was one of the seven underworldly craftsmen… the corpse driver.

A gleaming shiv was connected to a chain that extended out from the corpse’s sleeve. Unfortunately, the sharp edge was unable to penetrate even the top layer of Qin Ye’s skin.

Sun Wukong didn’t say a word. Seconds later, he sighed slightly, and reached for his own mask.

The only difference was that this man appeared far more haggard. His eyes were sunken and bloodshot, almost as though he hadn’t slept for a few days on end. In fact, it looked as though he were held up only by his enduring willpower. Qin Ye could tell with a single look that a soft tap would be all it took to knock him over.

“So… you’re the real Bai Yishan?”

“I beg of you… save me!”

Bai Yishan appeared to be screaming at the top of his voice whenever he mentioned the word “he”. But, as if a great terror was overwhelming him, the only sound that came out was a soft whisper and a great tremble to his voice.

“Mori Ranmaru… He mentioned that his name is Mori Ranmaru!” Tears finally gushed out of Bai Yishan’s eyes, “Mr Qin… save me! This is an evil ghost! I’ve never seen anything as evil as it! It’s… it’s far too terrifying! It’s followed me all the way here from Yan Capital, and it’s just nearby! I can sense it! I shouldn’t have… I shouldn’t have done it… I shouldn’t have done it! AHHHHHH!!”

He could tell that Bai Yishan’s mind was on the brink of collapse. What has he done? Has the evil spirit truly followed him all the way to the City of Salvation?

Having lived for such a long time, Qin Ye naturally had a far greater depth of general knowledge than most who were alive. For instance, he knew about the incident at the Honnoji Temple.

Legend has it that Mori Ranmaru looked even more effeminate than most women of his time. Personal attendants at that time were akin to a secretary to a general right now. Some of these personal attendants even had an unusually intimate relationship with their masters… As he thought about these things, Qin Ye abruptly looked up, and an incredulous speculation crossed his mind!

If Mori Ranmaru was around, then… wouldn’t the souls of Nohime, Oda Nobutada and Murai Sadakatsu be trapped within this bowl that is hailed as one of the ten great Yin Artifacts of the East?

“Mr Qin!” Bai Yishan attached himself to Qin Ye like a leech, clinging onto Qin Ye’s trousers for dear life, “The City of Salvation! Only the City of Salvation is safe! Please take me there with you! I beg you! I don’t want to die in this unending nightmare! It’s too frightening… every night… every night, when I close my eyes, I can see the face of that evil spirit staring right at me…”

Bai Yishan recoiled in horror. He was just about to scream at the top of his voice when Qin Ye added placidly, “He’s already here.”

Mori Ranmaru… one of the most famous attendants of all time… Qin Ye turned around valiantly and kicked off with his feet. Then, to Bai Yishan’s great astonishment, he quickly drifted further into the distance.

But he only covered ten meters before he suddenly paused right in his tracks, smacked his head and turned back around again.

Qin Ye also felt somewhat embarrassed by the situation. After all, he just recalled something important - I’m already a Hellguard, aren’t I? What’s there to fear from a mere Soul hunter? If a prey comes looking for a predator, shouldn’t the predator welcome its approach?

The soft moonbeams cast dark shadows all over the tombs around them, and the menacing shadows of the surroundings danced about wildly behind Bai Yishan… almost as though they were alive! And then, they suddenly began to converge from all directions, ignoring everyone around and swooping in right towards Bai Yishan’s head!

It was impossible to see his appearances. But every single step that the figure took caused endless wails to echo in the surroundings, almost as though… those who had committed seppuku or perished in the tragic fire of the Honnoji incident were grieving endlessly.

Simultaneously, the candles in every single stall back at the top of the mountain flickered wildly and burned with a green netherflame. The black-robed stall attendants seated at the tombstones were startled by the eerie phenomenon, and all of them turned to look at the candles at their stalls at the same time.

“Evil ghost… a hundred-year evil ghost! This… how could it be?!” “How could there possibly be a hundred-year evil ghost at the border of the City of Salvation? Why weren’t we informed about this?!” “Where did this monstrosity come from?! What an overbearing aura of grievance!”

Lin Han stood his ground at the top of the mount. The nethergale was so powerful that the tombstones around him were rattling softly, and cracks had even begun to appear on some of them. His coat fluttered wildly in the wind, and he gazed deeply at zone C8 of the cemetery, murmuring to himself, “What an intense wave of Yin energy… what kind of evil spirit is that?”

Mount Monarch was largely terraced, and zone C8 was located on the third terrace. However, as soon as he arrived on the second terrace, he discovered that… he was completely stuck!

“This is…” Lin Han drew a deep breath. He suddenly realized that things weren’t as simple as he had initially thought.

“Formation array… and it’s not a Cathayan technique at that.” He glanced around warily, “There are others… there are others in this place!”

1. This is a traditional japanese male adult’s hairstyle where the top of the head is shaved, leaving the scalp looking like a half-moon.