Yama Rising

Qin Ye flew directly into Aokigahara as a gust of Yin wind, causing the canopies of the trees in his wake to rustle audibly.

He spread open his palm, and the finger bone in his hand was pointed resolutely in a certain direction. After flying in that direction for 10 minutes, a rock face appeared before him.

He had arrived at the foot of Mount Fuji, and there were mountain ranges of different sizes everywhere here. However, this mountain range was a little different.

In the eyes of normal humans, this was just another mountain face, and the only minute difference was that there seemed to be slightly fewer trees nearby. However, from Qin Ye's perspective, he could see a hole in the mountain face that had clearly been drilled through artificial means!

The hole was very large, roughly 10 meters in diameter, and there was a pair of skeletons wearing onmyouji attire standing at its entrance.

Wisps of Yin energy were seeping out of the hole, and the finger bone was also pointed directly at it!

Interesting... A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye's face as he slowly made his way toward the mountain face.

……………………………………………………

At the entrance of the hole, the two skeletons were standing like statues while holding hand fans, but in this instant, both of them raised their heads in unison.

"Hmm?" They cast a perplexed gaze toward the approaching Qin Ye, then turned to one another in a surprised manner.

"Is he here to commit suicide and just so happened to arrive here?" one of the skeletons asked.

"Why do I get the feeling... that he can see us?" the other skeleton mused. "He's been looking in this direction this entire time."

"How is that possible?" the first skeleton scoffed. "There's no Yin energy coming from his body, and there's no way normal humans can see underworld emissaries..."

Before the skeleton even had a chance to finish its sentence, Qin Ye abruptly vanished on the spot, and by the time he reappeared, he was already standing right beside them.

The two skeletons turned toward him in a wooden manner, and they were so frightened that their teeth were chattering uncontrollably, while the netherfire in their eyes had turned bright red. Before they had a chance to say anything, Qin Ye laid his hands onto their shoulders before asking in a calm voice, "Is Amanozako in here?"

The two underworld emissaries nodded in unison.

It wasn't that they didn't want to hide the truth, they were simply too terrified to do so!

As soon as they nodded in response, they immediately realized what they had just done, and their mouths abruptly sprang open. "Who are y..."

In the blink of an eye, the two of them were reduced to a flurry of black butterflies that vanished on the spot, while Qin Ye continued onward like a gust of Yin wind.

Inside the mountain face was a pitch-black passageway with human-skin lanterns hanging on either side, and all of the underworld emissaries in the wake of the gust of Yin wind were instantly reduced to ashes.

The passageway wasn't very long, only several dozen meters in length, and Qin Ye quickly emerged on the other side, upon which he was greeted by the sight of a wilted forest.

There were no wilted sections of Aokigahara on any satellite images, but one had appeared here.

The ground was completely covered in a thick layer of dead leaves, and as they were blown up into the air by the gusts of Yin wind, they resembled paper money for the dead. Beneath the fallen leaves were countless skeletons that had been partially devoured, and there were also countless bodies hanging from the wilted trees, swaying slightly in the wind as if they had sprung back to life.

As the gust of Yin wind continued onward, a murder of crows squawked as they flew up into the air, and there was such a massive number of them that they resembled a dark cloud. This place was a tomb that had been abandoned even by the gods. There seemed to be something constantly watching Qin Ye from behind the wilted branches and dead leaves, but Qin Ye was completely unfazed.

He had seen far more terrifying sights than this, and his gaze was focused entirely on the center of the forest, where there were two giant trees extending up into the heavens, between which was a black shimenawa.

It was as if all of the vitality in this part of the forest had been robbed by these two trees. The entire forest was wilted and dead, but these two trees were thriving, and their enormous canopies were casting massive shadows onto the undergrowth, giving the place an even more eerie and sinister aura.

Beyond the pair of trees was an abyss of pure darkness, but Qin Ye certainly wasn't afraid of something like this.

A cold smile appeared on his face, and with a wave of his arm, all of the fallen leaves were sent flying like countless black and yellow butterflies. At the same time, a series of Soul Shackles flew directly toward the shimenawa like speeding arrows.

"You're a Yama-King?!" An astonished voice rang out from behind the shimenawa, and in the next instant, a pair of bright golden eyes lit up within the darkness. Countless gusts of Yin wind blew out from the area between the shimenawa in a frenzy, following which an enormous creature slowly extended its head out of the darkness.

It was also at the same time that Qin Ye drew to a halt in front of the shimenawa, and countless dead leaves were falling around him as he clasped his hands behind his back. "Are you Amanozako?"

The shimenawa was around 20 meters above the ground, and within the darkness above the rope, there was a massive monster with a huge nose and sharp, hooked fangs staring intently at him with its mouth gaped wide open.

It was wearing a court noble hat, and only its head, neck, and hands were revealed, as well as a small section of its scarlet clothes. It had a pair of golden eyeballs and azure skin, and the flesh on its face was bulging in a grotesque manner, while thin strands of hair were trailing down from either side of its hat.

It was a massive monster, standing at over 10 meters in size, and its hands were instinctively placed in front of it for protection while its body was writhing in an uneasy manner.

She really is hideous...

That was Qin Ye's first thought.

His second thought was: If I were Susanoo-no-Mikoto, I would definitely abandon you as well...

Qin Ye repressed the disgust in his heart as he said, "I'm sure you recognize me."

Amanozako was jerked out of her astonished stupor upon hearing this, and in the next instant, a deafening scream rang out across the entire forest, causing all of the trees to sway violently.

"You're the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld!" Unadulterated horror appeared in Amanozako's eyes as she frantically retreated into the darkness, but she wasn't as fast as Qin Ye's Soul Shackles.

The sound of chains plunging into flesh rang out incessantly as the Soul Shackles pierced into the darkness, and Amanozako howled with agony as bursts of Yin energy erupted out of her body like fountains.

"You're not going anywhere!" A cold look appeared in Qin Ye's eyes as he tugged vigorously on his Soul Shackles, and a black shadow passed over his head as a giant figure was pulled out of the darkness, then crashed down onto the ground, sending dead leaves flying in all directions.

It was Amanozako.

She was wearing a scarlet kimono with the Hyakki Yagyō embroidered upon it, and her sparse hair was arranged into a knot on the back of head with several hairpins attached to it. The lower half of her body was that of a snake, and it was still concealed within the darkness, but rotten and putrid pus was flowing out from under every single one of her scales.

Qin Ye suddenly felt a sense of sympathy toward her, and he heaved a faint sigh before patting her hand. "Don't be afraid, I bear no ill will toward you."

She hadn't chosen to look like this.

Judging from her hair and her attire, it was clear that she strived for beauty as well, but unfortunately, she simply wasn't born with the natural gifts required.

On top of that, her father had abandoned her right after she was born, leaving her in this godforsaken place. It really was an extremely unfortunate existence.

Amanozako gritted her teeth as she slowly clambered up from the ground. As soon as she raised her upper body, she immediately got down into a dogeza pose. "Amanozako welcomes Yanluo Qin of the Cathayan Underworld! May I ask how I have caused offense to you, Your Excellency? State your order and I will immediately execute it!"

The sound of leather boots crunching down onto fallen leaves rang out, and she looked up ever so slightly, just so she could see the pair of shiny shoes before her.

"Raise your head."

"Yes..." Amanozako was extremely reluctant to follow this order. She was partially relegating herself here in order to hide from the rest of the world.

Even her parents had abandoned her for her looks, and she didn't want anyone else to see her, but she was forced to display her face now.

However, as soon as she raised her head, a surprised look immediately appeared in her eyes.

She saw a handsome young man without any disgust or pity in his eyes, only a sense of regal majesty.

He only sees me as a lower underworld emissary, not a monster...

At times, it only took a single look to convey many things, and words weren't necessarily always required.

Neither of them said anything, but Amanozako was suddenly struck by a sense of acceptance, something that she hadn't felt for a very long time, and it was making her quite emotional.

With that change in mindset, she extended a genuine bow toward Qin Ye before asking, "What instructions do you have for me, Your Excellency?"

Qin Ye looked intently at her for a long while before finally asking, "Is there hatred in your heart?"

There was no need to ask her what or who exactly she hated. Amanozako gritted her teeth as she replied in a trembling voice, "There is... I hate Susanoo-no-Mikoto for abandoning me! I hate Izanami for not allowing me to enter the underworld, relegating me to the mortal realm to be ridiculed! I hate those underworld emissaries! They always look at me with pity and disgust instead of the reverence afforded to gods!"

Qin Ye nodded in response. "The Nipponese Underworld is only a third-rate underworld. You are already only half a step away from becoming an Abyssal Prefect, so they don't have the ability to place you into the cycle of reincarnation, just like how Yama-Kings can't be reincarnated in the Cathayan Underworld. However, we can allow Abyssal Prefects to be reincarnated."

Amanozako shuddered violently upon hearing this, and her giant mouth sprang open as if she wanted to say something, but she was unable to utter even a single word.

"I can allow you to be reincarnated, and you can even be the most beautiful woman in the world in your next life if you want. However, I need you to do something for me in return."

Before Amanozako had a chance to reply, Qin Ye extended a hand forward, and a sheet of parchment paper that was riddled with text appeared in his grasp. "I don't want to waste any time. This is a Heavenly Dao Contract written by Ghost King Zhao, and no one can revoke it unless they're more powerful than him. Write down your name or die here."

All of the Soul Shackles reared like giant pythons from beneath the fallen leaves as he spoke, and they aimed themselves directly at Amanozako.

"You have 10 minutes to think."

The sound of a countdown timer seemed to be ringing out inside the forest, and Amanozako's giant eyes were swiveling from side to side in a hesitant manner, but after only seven minutes, she kowtowed as she said, "I'm willing to do your bidding."

"Oh? You're not going to take more time to think about it?"

Amanozako shook her head in response. "I don't want to die. The fact that you're here means that you have a way to enter Nippon without being detected. Seeing as Izanami still has appeared, it's clear that you've managed to remain concealed to her. In other words, given my relationship with the Nipponese Underworld, it would perhaps be centuries for me to be discovered if I were to die here. In contrast, if I agree to serve you, then I still have a chance at reincarnation, while the alternative is instant death without any chance at reincarnation. I may be ugly, but I'm not stupid."

A smile appeared on Qin Ye's face. "You're going to trust me just like that?"

Amanozako raised her head and looked directly into his eyes as she murmured, "My intuition is telling me that you're trustworthy."

Qin Ye was the first person to have regarded her without any pity or disgust, and that was an extremely precious thing to her.

"May I ask what your plans are, Your Excellency?" Amanozako asked as she wrote her name down on the Heavenly Dao Contract.

Qin Ye stowed the contract away as a cold smile appeared on his face. "It's very simple, really. I want to conquer the Nipponese Underworld."