Yama Rising

Tang An was so excited that even his body was trembling.

Buzz… The clamor soon burgeoned into a flood of chatter. And then, the illusory figure suspended in the sky raised his hand and made a pressing movement with great authority. At once, the Yin spirits were astonished to discover that they couldn’t make a single other peep of sound.

The citizens were clearly brimming with excitement. However, Qin Ye wanted them to channel their excitement to the right places.

Everything had been done in order to pave the way for their one true purpose here.

“That’s all for my announcements. Please be reminded to trade in your prevailing currencies for the new unified currency of Hell. There’s only one week remaining until the Hungry Ghost Festival.”

Yet, they remained silent.

Just like a spring released from tension, their suppressed excitement exploded once more like a stirring wave in the ocean. Then, with expressions of feigned calmness, groups of citizens slowly began to disperse, almost as though they were returning to their rooms.

“What are you still standing around for?” A middle-aged man brushed past him with some measure of consternation, “Let’s go! What are you still waiting for?!”

“Uncle, what’s the hurry? We don’t live that far away after all. Ah, speaking of which, was there an attraction earlier that took your fancy?” Tang An trotted along, completely oblivious to the stirring undercurrents under the actions of the entire city.

Tang An shook his head, completely baffled by the situation.

“And if you can’t, how do you expect to participate in the grand festivities in celebration of the Hungry Ghost Festival?!”

Damn it!!!

20 million Yin spirits… in a week’s time… Bloody hell!!!

Without further ado, Tang An also dove straight into the crowd, pushing and jostling as he made a mad rush around. Just then, there was a clattering sound of armor, and countless Yin soldiers suddenly appeared on the city walls all around.

Unfortunately, none of the Yin spirits paid any heed to these words.

“Make way! Make way!” An old lady dressed in clothes from the ‘30s or ‘40s ran quicker than anybody else as she held a white cloth bag in her hand. Her voice was incredibly shrill, “Respect your elders! Respect your elders! Let me pass! I promise to be quick! I don’t have much money, so I’ll be done in a jiffy!”

“Are you messing with me?”

“From ‘42. And you?”

Similar exchanges were taking place throughout Ashmound City. The great stir had finally disrupted the earlier tense silence throughout the city like a floor breaking the dike! The entire city was filled with the sight of Yin spirits of all shapes and sizes carrying rushing here and there, scattering from certain places and recongregating at others. But one thing they had in common was the fact that everyone was slowly but surely making their way towards the Central District!

“Friends, that’s where your lack of experience truly shows. I’ve already taken two days off work. I’m going to get the new currency of Hell before the Hungry Ghost Festival at all costs!” “No way! Your supervisor approved it?!” “Well… he’s standing approximately 20 meters ahead of me in the queue. He’s also taken two days off work…”

The entire road was already so packed that nobody could move in the slightest.

This was a crowd that definitely surpassed the fan meetings of the largest stars or the most highly-anticipated launch events! And yet every single Yin spirit in the vicinity didn’t show the slightest signs of letting up!

After decades of waiting, the mortal realm is finally in sight…

Nobody said a word. The air was only filled with ragged breaths and a multitude of desperate expressions. The reservations and concerns of a new unified currency had gone completely out of the window, only to be replaced with an intense stir of eager anticipation.

He couldn’t even see the end of the queue in sight. There were endless Yin spirits ahead of him, and yet… he couldn’t retreat and return even if he’d wanted to.

Annals of the New Hell: Year 001 of the New Hell. The citizens of Ashmound City flew into a frenzy for the new unified currency of Hell.

………………………………………………….

Thousands upon thousands of Yin spirits packed into every street in the city that led towards the Central District, and yet none appeared to be grumbling or complaining about the ordeal. The Minister of Finance finally heaved a sigh of relief, “Our efforts for the last month haven’t been in vain…”

Another veteran minister added, “Even then, everything would still depend on the festivities themselves. Sure, we may be off to a good start as far as the promotion of the new currency is concerned, but we’ll still have to do our best to carry the hype through to the very end.”

Qin Ye sighed with relief.

The successful adoption of Hell’s new currency would naturally smoothen the path to the things to be done in future.

The proof was in the pudding, and everything would depend on the actual festivities during the Hungry Ghost Festival!

And the only ones in Ashmound who could keep things in check were only Qin Ye and Arthis.

15 August was the scheduled date of excavation of the Lush Garden Acres. Mo Changhao, the Special Investigations Department, and the SRC would all be coming together to work in tandem in this regard. He simply wouldn’t have the time nor the opportunity to slip away to Hell for his business!

Arthis squinted at him slightly, “You seem a little bit distracted. What’s going on?”

Sometimes, a woman’s intuition was far more reliable than even logic itself. Arthis stared intently at Qin Ye for the next few moments, and then suddenly quipped, “You’re not going to tell me that… you won’t be in Hell at a time as crucial as this, are you?”

“That’s good.” Arthis retracted her gaze and responded solemnly, “Everything in Hell is riding on these upcoming festivities, and any mistake could potentially be fatal to our governance in future. You and I must both monitor the amusement park on all fronts, at least until the festivities celebrating the Hungry Ghost Festival is over. In other words… we definitely have to hold things up over the two public holidays until the crowd subsides!”

“There is.” The nethergale gently tousled her hair as she continued to speak with great sobriety, “Yin spirits have the capacity for emotions and desires. When these are taken to its extreme, they would go out of control, and the situation can quickly devolve into a riot, rebellion or even an insurgency. Why do you think the Yin marionette you once destroyed was called Wrath? It’s precisely because it’s formed from an aggregation of wrathful emotions.”

She turned around and glanced at Qin Ye, “The implementation of the new currency of Hell, the arrival of the daolord of the asura, as well as the first celebration of the Hungry Ghost Festival in a hundred years are all taking place on the same day. We’ve got a perfect start thus far. And if we don’t see things through to a perfect grand finale in seven days’ time… Yanluo Qin, are you even aware how many pairs of eyes are watching you here? If things don’t go well, we’re talking about the ire of 20 million Yin spirits.”

“I’m not privy to what difficulties you might be facing in the mortal realm, but you’d better straighten your thoughts out and identify what constitutes your primary function, and what are but secondary functions.”