Yama Rising

If one were to describe their earlier assault as the raging seas, then their current assault would be more akin to a meteor shower. If the earlier assault was one that was orderly and backed by a strict adherence to their formations, then the present charge was one that was completely mindless and chaotic, with the only goal in mind being the entrance to the Martyr’s Shrine.

T-t-t-t… The survivors’ teeth chattered as they gripped tightly the talismans in their hands. They couldn’t help but close their eyes, because they didn’t want to see the hellish sight before their very eyes. Yet, even then, they continued to pour everything they had into the talismans.

Release the talisman now, and they would most certainly be trampled into the ground!

One sword.

How dare you demons act with such insolence before me?!

One minute later, thousands of centaurs were once again crushed to smithereens and sent scattering into a planetary belt of bones, drifting endlessly about as they sought each other out in a desperate attempt to reassemble once more.

Faced with the choice between collapse and death, they’d chosen the former. The survivors looked far more haggard than before, and their hair had even begun to turn white. In fact, they had already overdrawn on their true energy, and had already begun to tap into their life force. Even though they were all on the verge of collapse, they chose to continue to pour every last bit of their strength into the talismans in their hands.

Even a cornered rat would choose to fight on the verge of death - even at the cost of their own life force!

Qin Ye swung his blade for the umpteenth time, causing yet another wave of centaurs to collapse with a bang. And then, the world suddenly fell silent.

The horse’s head peak was still surrounded by dense swirling Yin energy, upon which drifted the countless bones of the crumbling centaurs. Countless spots of netherflames were still darting about within the depths of the skies, like the twinkling stars in the night sky. But this time… they no longer gathered together. At least, the rate of coalescence had dwindled substantially. Meanwhile, the clumps of netherflames pulsated wildly, almost as though they were all staring at Qin Ye in fear and trepidation.

Click… Kublai Khan sat on a skeletal carriage beneath the group of Yuan Emperors’ banners. His jaws dropped, and the corners of his eyes were twitching wildly as he slowly rose to his feet.

Impossible…

Strictly speaking, the Yuan Dynasty wasn’t one that followed the beliefs of Tantra. Furthermore, given the brief existence of the Yuan Dynasty, as well as the dissatisfaction of their citizens during this time, it would be nigh impossible to draw upon the might of the Array of the Kundali Wisdom King, much less receive an added endowment of might from the Heavenly Dao. But the fact of the matter was that they still managed to activate it, and even draw upon the power of the Heavenly Dao. Perhaps it was the Censer of the Song Dynasty, or the Imperial Seal of the Yuan Dynasty, or the gathering of a dozen or so Yuan Emperors, or a confluence of all these factors. Whatever the case was, the fact remained that their forces were able to benefit from the divine powers of the Array of the Kundali Wisdom King. And the forces that were endowed with such powers were none other than the renowned God’s Whip! Who could stand in their way?!

Nobody across all of the East Continent and Europa.

But, today, a single Emissary of Hell, and a true Abyssal prefect at that, stood tall as a rock at the top of the mountain, relentlessly repelling the march of the Golden Horde, so much so that… they didn’t even dare to return to life anymore?!

They were afraid because the fact that they were immortal didn’t change the fact that they would still experience pain. The man of valor standing at the peak of the mountain was a terrifying Emissary of Hell, one who possessed the ability to crush them to pieces time and again. He was akin to an insurmountable presence standing at the top of a mountain. To think that the valiant God’s Whip, the elite of the Yuan Dynasty’s cavalry, would one day recoil in fear and trepidation!

Kublai Khan shut his eyes. He wasn’t too tall, but he was likewise dressed in a majestic robe etched with the stitchings of golden wings. His braided hair hung loosely over his shoulders, and a gold band inlaid with emeralds rested at the top of his head to keep his hair in place. Most of the other Yuan Emperors looked almost as impressive.

We once used to be an extension of the Heavenly Dao after all. The Yuan Dynasty was the strongest empire in the 13th century, and yet… to think that there would be a day when we employ every means in our arsenal, yet to no avail.

Could one man and a few Yin spirits truly keep God’s Whip at bay?

Kublai Khan raised his hand.

He refused to believe in destiny!

The attendant next to him gritted his teeth and respectfully handed him a golden sword. As he moved, the other Yuan Emperors also began to shift their hands without a word, unsheathing the swords that hung right beside their waists. At once, over a dozen swords were unsheathed. This was the last hurrah of the entire Yuan Dynasty.

Give it your all.

This was the dignity of an empire that was once hailed as the greatest! There was no turning back now. And such an opportunity would only come once in a lifetime.

Whoosh!!! At once, the Yuan Emperors dove headlong into the fray without any hesitation. Likewise, Prefect-class Yin energy erupted from Phagpa and the other Imperial Preceptor, before promptly coalescing into two gigantic faces formed out of Yin energy that roared wrathfully as it hurtled straight for the mountaintop!

“My god…” One of the survivors stared agape at the last hurrah of the Yuan Dynasty, but he could tell that the swords of the Yuan Emperors were all pointed straight towards Qin Ye. After all, the Yuan Emperors knew full well that so long as the Emissary of Hell perished, the rest of the survivors on the mountain would immediately lose all of their will to fight. Their instincts told them that the survivors were nothing to worry about.

“CHARGE!!!” With the Yuan Emperors joining the fray, the disheartened souls of the centaurs once again gained renewed fervor. At once, the vortex of Yin energy spun more powerfully than before, and the bones of the centaurs began to coalesce into the centaur skeletons once more. And as soon as they did, they immediately charged forward, following in the footsteps of their valiant masters that marched before them like indomitable warlords.

“Kiddo… Can you hold on?!” The Harken’s hair was fluttering wildly with the wind. The Yuan Dynasty forces were finally attacking without reservation, so much so that they could even feel an overbearing sensation of bloodthirstiness in the air.

Instead, he took a deep breath and placed both hands to the ground. At once, the Porter Spirit behind him immediately opened his mouth and roared violently.

The desert stopped moving for a moment, and then… it exploded! Ryu Changmin’s domain spread rapidly at once, while everything else transformed into a majestic stream of Yin energy that bore right into Qin Ye’s sword.

After all, he had a job to do.

Strike first, and strike hard at the root of the problem. He had come a long way since then, so much so that he no longer entertained any thoughts of retreat right now.

The glint of his sword brought a terrifying chill upon the lands.

There was no fancy flourish. It was a simple strike, albeit one filled with supreme majesty. Qin Ye had poured every bit of his heart and mind into this one simple attack, and it was one backed by the weight of his own philosophy for both himself and Hell. This was the strongest attack that Hell’s god of death could muster right now.

Everything went silent upon impact. One side represented the Heavenly Dao of a dynasty of ages past, while the other side represented the kingdom of a god of death. Neither appeared weaker than the other. Neither appeared to gain any ground. That said, the illusory face of Tengri appeared to crack slowly, peeling off bit by bit as it transformed into countless black butterflies that were consumed by the onslaught of light. However… it continued to hold strong!

Rumble! The sand around Qin Ye’s feet began to quiver and tremble. Meanwhile, his bamboo sword continued to clang as he swung it about furiously, repelling the attacks of the dozens of Yuan Emperors that were closing in on him. He could even see their hideous appearances by now.

Qin Ye sighed in his heart. Had he been a Yama-King, then the battlefield would already be filled with the corpses of his opponent!

I might… not be able to hang in there after all…

It’s been almost four hours…

Why the hell are you here in the first place?!

And it was right then when it happened.

The light went out. Yin energy receded. Anxiety faded, and the tension of the climax vanished into thin air.

“Is this--...” The Harken froze, and then immediately turned back to the Martyr’s Shrine with a shiver down its spine, “This power… is this… is this…”

The emptiness was filled with tense silence, until an authoritative voice spoke.

Ancient and primordial, almost as though it was the voice of a god who spoke beings into existence.

“By Hell’s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse!”