Yama Rising

Qin Ye's eyes sprang open in the darkness, and he abruptly pushed the coffin lid above him aside before sitting bolt upright.

This was a black hearse, and around the coffin were countless white prayer flags and funeral wreaths. At this moment, Qin Ye was seated in the coffin.

The surrounding "mourners" weren't surprised or horrified by the sudden reanimation of the corpse in the slightest, and one of them even accidentally burped as he had stopped his fake crying too abruptly. "Is there something wrong, Mr. Qin?"

The hearse was on the way to Yuncheng from Zhaozhou Province.

This was the method that Qin Ye had devised. He was using the origin runes of emotions and desires to conceal his emotions and desires, then travel to Yuncheng in a hearse. The drivers and "mourners" were all personnel from the Special Investigations Department, and he had examined them using the origin runes of emotions and desires to ensure that they hadn't been possessed by the inner demon in the past.

Qin Ye offered no reply to the question. Instead, his brows furrowed slightly as he continued to look up at the sky.

What immense power… This is true energy! The group is led by an advanced Infernal Judge, and there are 10 Anitya Hellguards as well. They're humans, but they possess something that can even pose a threat to a Yama-King!

Right at this moment, a shadow flashed through the sky. It was traveling so quickly that it generated a fierce gale, flattening all of the grass in its wake, and even the clouds in the sky were disrupted by the flying figure.

Qin Ye's brows furrowed tightly upon seeing this.

It was a Taoist priest with a long beard, holding a horsetail whisk.

He was wearing a blue robe, upon which was inscribed the pattern of a Yin Yang, and his robes were flapping incessantly around him, giving him an ethereal appearance.

It was clear that this was no ordinary person, and he was the one carrying the thing that Qin Ye sensed could pose a threat to a Yama-King.

Right as the middle-aged Taoist priest flew past, 10 figures followed along closely behind him like a squad of fighter aircrafts, generating such fierce wind that all of the clouds in their wake were rapidly parting.

They made no attempt to disguise their killing intent whatsoever as they flew directly toward Yuncheng.

Damn it!

Qin Ye cursed internally as he withdrew his gaze, then laid back down into the coffin.

He didn't know what the mortal realm was doing, and he didn't have the time to check. All he could do was place his full trust in them and do everything in his own power from his end.

These types of perilous situations were ones that all rulers hated the most. There was no way to have complete control, and this was an example of the unforeseen circumstances that could arise.

Right at this moment, the voice of an investigator suddenly rang out in the earpiece that Qin Ye was wearing. "We've clarified the situation, Mr. Qin. Half an hour ago, Taoist Master Zhang of Mount Longhu took the Heavenly Teacher Seal and traveled to Yuncheng with all 10 of the Zhengyi Dao's elders."

"Why have they done that?"

"We're not sure," the voice in the earpiece replied.

All of a sudden, the hearse drew to a very abrupt halt amid a flurry of cries of surprise. Two seconds later, the voice in the earpiece rang out again. "Mr. Qin, the road up ahead has been sealed off."

Qin Ye's eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this, and right as he was about to lift the coffin lid again to take a look, he suddenly fell completely still, closing his eyes as he laid motionless in the coffin like a true corpse.

Right in this instant, all sound seemed to have faded from the world.

The investigator who was communicating with him fell silent, and even the sounds of the wind outside and the hearse's running engine had completely vanished. An extremely eerie and oppressive silence had suddenly descended upon the hearse.

A faint sound rang out, but it didn't inspire any hope or evoke any relief. Instead, it was like walking through a pitch-black alleyway at night with no one else around, only for the sound of another voice to suddenly ring out!

Qin Ye knew that he and the investigators were the only people in the hearse, so if anyone had entered the vehicle, then the investigators would've definitely alerted him.

However, they hadn't done that.

In fact, he couldn't even hear the breathing of the investigators. It was as if all of them had been suddenly muted somehow!

A burst of icy Yin energy permeated throughout the entire hearse, immediately following which the sound of heavy panting rang out, alongside the sound of a cane tapping itself against the ground. It sounded as if there were an elderly man walking through the hearse in a labored manner with his feet dragging behind him.

At the same time, the nauseating stench of a corpse spread through the entire vehicle.

Something had just walked into the hearse.

Furthermore, it was an Abyssal Prefect, so none of the investigators had been able to detect it.

An Abyssal Prefect won't be able to blow my cover…

Qin Ye's eyes were tightly shut, and his mind was already racing rapidly. The first thing that he thought of was that this had confirmed his suspicions.

As expected, as the Yin Yang Mezzanines continued to close, the inner demon was becoming more and more cautious. Was it waiting? Was it waiting to see if more darkfeathers would appear in order to verify whether it had been tracked down or not? It seemed that despite the caution that Hell had exercised, the darkfeathers that had been sent after the inner demon had still made it quite wary…

Perhaps for anyone else, it wouldn't be important to verify this, but that didn't apply to the inner demon as a good portion of its power stemmed from its untraceable nature.

With the Harken's spatial seal posing as a potent threat, any possibility that it had been tracked down could put it in lethal danger!

Amid the darkness, a faint smile appeared on Qin Ye's face.

Despite the inner demon's wiles and caution, there was no way that it would've guessed that it wasn't Hell that was targeting it on this occasion.

Right at this moment, a sharp screeching sound rang out from the coffin lid, following which Yin energy and that same nauseating corpse odor flooded into the coffin. Even with his eyes closed, Qin Ye could sense the change in light, and the disgusting smell almost made him vomit on the spot.

The intruder had opened his coffin.

"Tsk tsk, it's such a pity that he's died so young. Even his soul has already dissipated." A quiet voice rang out above Qin Ye, and a pair of icy hands gently stroked his face. He could even feel the intruder's sharp fingernails tracing over his cheeks.

The fingernails traced all the way down to his chest, then rested over his heart momentarily before abruptly piercing into his body!

There was no response.

The sound of licking and sucking rang out as the intruder devoured the blood on its fingers, and several seconds later, a forlorn sigh rang out. "So it really is a corpse… How boring…"

The sound of the tapping cane gradually faded into the distance, and the world seemed to have been reawakened as all sound returned. Inside the coffin, Qin Ye opened his eyes.

As a Yama-King, physical death couldn't count as death unless his soul was also destroyed.

He counted down the passing time internally, and 10 minutes later, he gently pushed the coffin lid aside before sitting up in the coffin.

The hearse was still stuck at the same place with cars all around them, and the voices of disgruntled drivers could be heard ringing out incessantly. All of the investigators in the hearse were observing their surroundings with cautious expressions, completely oblivious to the fact that they had just brushed shoulders with death no more than 10 minutes ago.

Qin Ye hadn't tried to alert them to what was happening as the massive disparity in power between them and the intruder would've rendered his cautionary words futile anyway.

What he really wanted to know was who exactly was that intruder just now.

It wasn't one of the 73 immortals. There were only several Abyssal Prefects among the 73 immortals, and he had already committed their Yin energy to memory, but that Abyssal Prefect was one that he had never met before.

Furthermore, the intruder's Yin energy was very strange. It was filled with an aura of rot and decay, as if it had been buried underground for thousands of years. It was as if he had just been visited by a mummy.

He was feeling very fortunate that he had chosen this course of action now. Given how cautious the inner demon was, there had to be powerful beings stationed beside all of the Yin Yang Mezzanines in the city.

What he had failed to anticipate was that the inner demon had also set up a backup plan even here in the mortal realm. However, there was no way that it would've been able to predict that King Yanluo would be here in person instead of more darkfeathers!

"So they've sealed off the road, eh?" He looked on ahead with tightly gritted teeth.

The rats that the inner demon had planted in the government were making their presence felt…

A stockade had already been erected right in front of them, but there was no one behind the stockade!

All of the people wearing police uniforms and high visibility vests were living corpses!

Damn it…

Qin Ye cursed internally as he glanced at his own watch, then laid back down into the coffin.

There were still 11 hours left.

Given these precautionary measures, either something big was about to happen or the inner demon was already preparing to retreat.

If he couldn't enter Yuncheng in 11 hours, once the Yin Yang Mezzanines were completely shut, it would all be too late. What exactly was the inner demon doing? How had it suddenly recruited several Yama-Kings as allies? Who were these unfamiliar high-grade underworld emissaries? The mystery was only continuing to thicken.

For the sake of himself and Safesoul City, there was no way he could allow this prime opportunity to slip through his fingers!

……………………………………

True energy surged violently through the air, and the eyes of the Taoist priest at the forefront were completely bloodshot. His robes were flapping incessantly as he focused his gaze intently on a certain part of Yuncheng.

Several hours ago, the soul lamp belonging to his direct lineal disciple, Yun Kong, had been snuffed out.

If it were only his direct lineal descendant, perhaps he wouldn't have been so enraged. However, the Zhengyi Dao was a sect of Taoism in which one could marry, and Yun Kong was his son!

Mount Longhu didn't possess any powerful cultivators on par with high-grade emissaries, but it did have the Heavenly Teacher Seal left behind by the original Heavenly Teacher Zhang. In his fit of vengeful fury, he had stormed into the ancestral hall without any hesitation, bringing out the Heavenly Teacher Seal and inviting the 10 elders of the Zhengyi Dao to travel to Yuncheng right away.

He was gritting his teeth with such force that it felt as if his teeth were about to shatter. "I don't care who you are, you will pay for this!"

In the face of the Heavenly Teacher Seal, even an Abyssal Prefect would be in significant danger!

Right at this moment, his gaze abruptly settled on a certain place, and he descended rapidly from the heavens. The 10 elders descended behind him like graceful cranes, and they landed on the ground one after another.

"You! You are the one who killed my son!" The middle-aged Taoist priest's lips were trembling as he pointed his horsetail whisk directly forward.

This was an extremely rural area on the outskirts of Yuncheng.

There were almost no trees on the vast and empty landscape, and there were certainly no farms or houses. There, in the middle of nowhere, stood a man with a pale complexion and a head of long hair.

From this man's body, the Taoist priest could sense the aura of his son's soul!

A faint smile appeared on the man's face. "Greetings, Taoist Master Zhang."

Taoist Master Zhang wasted no time with words as the horsetail whisk in his hand expanded rapidly, crossing a span of several dozen meters as it lashed out viciously toward the long-haired man.

He had no intention of chatting with the murderer of his own son!

However, as the horsetail whisk crashed into the long-haired man's body, the strands of horsehair erupted in all directions and left him completely unharmed. A furious roar rang out as Taoist Master Zhang sprang up into the heavens, then swooped down like an eagle hunting its prey. With a gentle flourish of his horsetail whisk, countless silver threads parted, and a longsword appeared in his grasp.

The sword was giving off extremely fierce sword energy, slicing a trench that was several meters deep into the ground.

"Die!!!"

The air seemed to have congealed, and Taoist Master Zhang's fierce killing intent was causing the long-haired man's hair to flap incessantly, while his skin was rippling like the surface of a disturbed pond. However, in the face of Taoist Master Zhang's furious, all-out attack, a smile appeared on the long-haired man's face.

"Mount Longhu is several hundred kilometers away from here, so I must commend you for making the long journey."

He slowly rose up into the air, and inky-black Yin energy surged out of all his orifices. The Yin energy was so powerful and violent that it formed a dark vortex spanning a radius in excess of a kilometer around him.

The vortex had taken shape in no more than a second!

"For your troubles, how about I send you to reunite with your son?"

The Yin energy exploded violently, and the entire heavens were stained black. Amid the suffocating darkness, a twisted figure that was over 10 meters tall slowly rose to its feet.

"I am one of the four ominous stars, Envy."

Taoist Master Zhang stopped cold in his tracks in mid-air as he stared at the dark Yin energy up ahead with an incredulous expression, as well as the terrifying figure within the Yin energy. Several seconds later, he shuddered as he murmured to himself, "How is this possible… This is… a Yama-King level evil ghost!"