Yama Rising
chapter-192

The road to establishing a kingdom was fraught with many difficulties and hardships. The journey from humble beginnings to a thriving city of skyscrapers could practically be called a magnificent epic spanning all disciplines, from necessities of clothing, food, housing and transportation, to the fields of humanities and physics. The development of early civilizations depended largely on manpower, while the development of modern civilizations that stood on the shoulders of their predecessors relied on money and wealth.

Wealth of a few million RMB was akin to a drop in the ocean. He was desperate to secure a stable source of wealth for the future development of Hell, but he didn’t know where to begin at all. He possessed several pieces of priceless artifacts from Huang Chuanliang and the other tycoons worth well in the region of tens of millions, but he didn’t know where to go about liquidating these assets either.

“Don’t think too much about these things. The problems you’re currently faced with are much better than what the old Hell faced in its nascent years, when they were constantly faced with incursions to their territories and conflicts and strife. In the very worst case…” A cold gleam flashed across Arthis’ eyes, “Slaughter them all, and wait for a new batch of Yin spirits to gather, and then start anew.”

As an upstanding citizen who has gone through nine years of quality education and lives in a burgeoning era of socialism, how could I possibly do something as tasteless as that?

Arthis stared at him as though she had seen a ghost. Then, several seconds later, she responded with slight twitches at her lips, “... That was no more than a passing remark, so don’t take it to heart… a hundred thousand Yin spirits aren’t easy to come by. You’ve got to cherish them. This can be considered one of the benefits you’ve started off with… Speaking of which, don’t you think your ego is a little bit over the top right now? As King Yanluo, how can you not show love and care for your beloved citizens and subjects…”

It’s pretty amazing you’re still able to keep a straight face right now. Arthis rolled her eyes and responded, “Hang on.”

The newly arrived Yin spirits stared blankly at the sky above the soul induction platform. The pitch-black sky canopy trembled slightly, and then suddenly swirled around, forming a hole in the sky that was dozens of meters tall. Thousands of spots of netherflames surged towards the hole and began to spin around it madly.

Whoosh… More and more netherflames gathered in the powerful vortex, and the lantern soon showed signs of cracking as it trembled more and more vigorously. Then, slowly but surely, a faint golden chain extending straight from the hole into the lantern below appeared, and the vortex of netherflames began to coil itself around the golden chain like a vicious fire serpent.

Ten seconds later, the crisp sound of shattering resounded through the surroundings. Simultaneously, the lantern on the soul induction platform collapsed, and a Yin spirit slowly rose in the wake of the vortex of flames with a long sigh. Its figure started out small, but it soon expanded to the size of a normal Yin spirit as it stepped out of the lantern.

The nethergale swept across, scattering the thousands of strands of hair on Arthis’ face. But she didn’t raise her hand to brush her hair away. Instead, she simply turned to look at Gu Qing’s dazed expression as she whispered somewhat emotionally, “All souls that had been seized by extraterritorial emissaries must have their seals broken like how I did earlier… This was a Yin artifact that had been blessed by the god of their underworld, and it’s naturally inextricably interlinked to their god. When the artifact was shattered, he would have felt it as well.”

Qin Ye nodded softly. Then, before he could respond, he suddenly felt a chill down his spine, and the hairs on the nape of his neck began to stand on ends. He gasped in horror and stared at Arthis, “Are you saying that… the god of another underworld is staring at Hell right now?!”

“Ahh--...” The Death Inquisitors who were watching this sight unfold before their very eyes cried out in astonishment, and they immediately knelt to the ground with fierce trembling. In fact, the other Yin spirits couldn’t even scream as they collapsed to their knees. Thud thud thud… Just like that, over one hundred thousand Yin spirits knelt down in an instant, and all of Hell was enshrouded in silence.

Shapeless.

Ka-ka-ka-ka-ka… The hole in the sky began to split open, revealing a crimson crevice. It looked almost as though somebody had slowly but forcibly torn open the void, pulling it wider and wider, until a wave of Yin energy poured in like mercury, filing every corner of the five square kilometers of Hell in an instant!

“You bloody…” The overbearing pressure completely restrained Qin Ye’s body. In that moment, Qin Ye felt as though he were being stalked by a mighty prehistoric beast. He turned his neck stiffly and glared at Arthis, “Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?!!”

Boom!!

Not a single person said a thing across all of Hell.

Bloody hell… Qin Ye desperately fought to adjust his mentality. What the hell is this?! The god of another underworld… Are not the surviving underworlds of this day and age all entities that have been forged from the flames of underworldly conflict through the test of time? I’m only an Anitya Hellguard! How could I possibly face something like that?!

It was blurry.

The quality of its Yin energy was on a completely different level!

Nobody said a single word.

This was already the best he could do in the circumstances.

It was light, and it was calm.

“Calm down! Hang in there!” Arthis lowered her head and whispered through gritted teeth, “This is only his projection! He’s not actually here! Thanatos… is the Argosian god of death! He’s far away in the underworld of Athenai! You’re as safe as it gets here!”

It had never occurred to Qin Ye how a single sentence, and the simple introduction of the self could strike such intense fear into the hearts of others.

Qin Ye didn’t respond. Thanatos continued, “Roman mythology knows me as Mors. I am the twin brother of Hypnos, the god of sleep; and I am the child of Nyx, the goddess of the night.”

Shit… Qin Ye’s back was soaked through by now. Several seconds, he lifted his head and faintly responded, “My name is Qin Ye, a Yanluo that represents the next generation of Hell. I am… the son of the former Yama-King of the first palace, King Qin Guang.”

“So, it’s him…” Thanatos’ voice lingered with a trace of reminiscence, as though he hardly minded the fact that he had failed in his attempt to seize Gu Qing’s soul, “The fact that you’re able to defeather these darkfeathers of mine suggests that Cathay’s underworld… isn’t as useless as I had thought it would be…”

“I’m guessing that your kingdom hasn’t forgotten the two holy wars between our kingdoms in the last millennium, have you?”

“Then, when the great powers invaded Cathay at the end of the Qing Dynasty, ten different factions of underworlds also rallied together and attacked Hell on all fronts, but to no avail. This was the second holy war… Hell’s greatness, and the indomitability of the ghost kings and Yama-Kings are unforgettable.”

A blood red eye suddenly lit up from the hole in the sky as he stared intently at Qin Ye, “Can you guys still do the same now?”

1. This was probably when the foreign powers invaded China in early 1900’s.