Yama Rising

In an instant, a terrifying wave of Yin energy erupted from the child’s body!

It was frigid and viscous, almost as though his Yin energy were a swamp pit that mired the feet of its enemies. It erupted with tyrannical force, and it filled the air with the stench of blood. Even then, the child clearly knew restraint, and resisted the urge to unleash all of its power at once.

Even then, the child’s bones clearly began to snap in various places as its body swelled and grew. Within moments, the child’s body grew to approximately two meters in size, ripping straight out of its feeble skin and revealing a luxurious coat of fur hidden within.

Moments later, a man stood tall where the child once was. He wore a clergyman’s uniform, and sported black hair on his head in contrast with the coat of white fur on the rest of his body. The oppressive aura filled the entire museum hall, and then some.

“This is…” Oda Nobutada froze for a moment. Then, an intense, electrifying fear rose from the depths of his spine, and he hollered at the top of his voice, “Run!!”

At once, the Umamawari horse guard turned around and rushed right back into the rift behind.

But to their dismay, they noticed an illusory Yin spirit dressed in a kimono of brilliant colours was already standing right in the heart of the vortex behind. Furthermore, this Yin spirit… had no face!

Her dark hair danced about like venomous vipers, obviously acting as an impediment to their path of retreat!

“[in Nipponese] Damn you!!” Oda Nobutada gnashed his teeth and tightened his grip around the reins of his war horse, forcing it to turn elsewhere.

Meanwhile, a sonic boom roared through the air. Zhang Zeguang shivered, and cold sweat emerged from every pore of his body.

A split second later, he saw every single tree around him collapse to the ground, revealing cuts that were as smooth as a mirror’s surface.

It was almost as though the evil ghost had just swept all around it with an invisible death scythe, levelling everything within a fifty meter radius with ease.

Whoosh! Oda Nobutada couldn’t care less about the destruction at this point. He bit down hard on his lips and rushed away as quickly as he could. Zhang Zeguang looked up with great trembling, “Sir… w-w-what is that thing?!”

“Black Yaksha… one of the most ferocious evil ghosts ever known in the history of all Nippon!” The wind whistled past Oda Nobutada’s ears as he continued speaking with a hoarse, drifty voice, “Legend has it that Black Yaksha was born only several hours after Izanami herself, and is one of the planetary existences of the Nipponese underworld. He can easily summon a hundred evil ghosts to do his bidding, no matter where he might be…”

“He’s killed countless people and ghosts alike, and has lived for over a thousand years on end! How can such a monstrosity be residing in such a remote part of Cathay?! Isn’t it already a stretch for any underworld to send Hellguard-class darkfeathers to other underworlds? How could an Infernal Judge like him be here?!”

Black Yaksha didn’t give chase. Instead, he simply watched the horses gallop into the distance as he assessed what measure of Yin energy to best employ in order to capture his target.

This is Cathay, and not Nippon!

If I go too far and inadvertently alert any other Emissaries of Hell, I’m afraid that it’s only going to be moments before the Cathayan Abyssal Prefects arrive. If that happens, then I’ll never be able to evade capture!

Kkkrrrrr… The bone structure in his body twisted and cracked, and an additional joint grew out of each of his lengthened limbs within moments. Then, a split second later, he kicked off ferociously with his legs and vanished from where he was standing!

Oda Nobutada heard the burst of Yin energy from behind and glanced back immediately, only to realize that Black Yaksha was still over a hundred meters away from them. Furthermore, he could sense that Black Yaksha’s energy levels had fallen to that of an Anitya Hellguard.

What’s going on with this?

But everything became clear to him in an instant, “He’s afraid of making his presence known in Cathay! He’s not going to summon any other evil ghosts to lend aid!” Oda Nobutada roared as he charged away as quickly as his war horse would go.

There was another rift merely thirty kilometers away from this place!

But… that’s a secluded location that is outside of the city and close to the sea. I’m afraid Black Yaksha would reveal its true form if we head there!

What should I do?!

Unfortunately, he didn’t have the luxury of time to contemplate his options at all. Black Yaksha had already sealed their path of retreat as soon as he discovered their existence. This was the only other escape route available to them right now! Besides, there was no way in hell that Oda Nobutada wanted to go up against a mythical existence like Black Yaksha himself!

The sheer thought about clashing with such a powerful existence caused an image to surface in his mind - one in which he was instantly torn to bits by a powerful strike.

The difference in our abilities is just too great…

This was a pursuit that was invisible to mere mortals. Twenty horses roared like the wind, carrying their riders away from the terrifying Black Yaksha that kept close to them like a relentless shadow. In an instant, they had already covered five kilometers.

The museum was already at the edge of the city to begin with. Naturally, the number of structures and buildings grew increasingly sparse. In fact, even the national highway had begun to come into sight!

They could also see countless wandering spirits drifting about them aimlessly, only to shriek and retreat as the torrent of horses ploughed through their midst. Then, these Yin spirits would peek out of their cover as soon as the horses passed, only to be greeted by an even more terrifying wave of Yin energy that bore down heavily on their souls. Every Yin spirit that was too close to the source of the second wave found themselves instantly reduced to ashes.

“Why bother running?” Black Yaksha glanced around at the increasingly remote surroundings as he licked his lips, “We’re going further and further away from the city… You’re clearly fleeing towards another rift, aren’t you? Do you really think you’ll be able to succeed?”

Tap! Tap! As he spoke, he accelerated yet even more, instantly closing the gap by more than 30 meters!

He was now no more than 70 meters from Oda Nobutada and his formation of horse guards!

“You’ve actually defected to the Cathayan underworld? You’re a samurai. Do you know no honour?” Black Yaksha chuckled coldly, “Come back to Amano-Iwato with me. If you kneel before Lady Izanami and confess your sins, you might just have a way out yet. Otherwise…”

Spots of netherflames began to converge on his location, as his voice grew to a shrill shriek, “Today would mark the death of your souls!!!”

Whoosh! The spots of netherflames instantly swelled and transformed into a series of large ‘mosquitoes’. These ‘mosquitoes’ appeared to be dressed in human clothes, save that their heads were instead replaced by the head of a Nipponese woman.

Voyage of a Hundred Ghosts - Succubus.

“SSS!!!” The succubi opened their mouths, revealing rows after rows of razor-sharp fangs, and their wings buzzed as they rushed over like bolts of lightning!

“Run, my liege!” The Umamawari horse guards following behind immediately stopped dead in their tracks and held their blades up valiantly as they took their last stand.

“Stop!!” Oda Nobutada’s eyes flickered wildly as he roared back at them, “You’re no match for him! Not even Lady Arakshasa would be able to stand tall against him! This is a mythical demon! Don’t--...”

Shk! The Umamawari horse guards roared at the top of their voices and swung their katanas masterfully, surprisingly cutting down over a dozen succubi in an instant!

But before they could even breathe a sigh of relief, a gargantuan shadow rushed right past their midst in the very next moment. Every single one of them that was covered by this shadow was instantly reduced to dust and ashes.

Copious amounts of Yin energy scattered in the air, before once again coalescing into the figure of Black Yaksha. Black butterflies composed entirely of Yin energy scattered everywhere behind him as he looked up with a vicious smile.

You can run… but you can’t run forever!

I know I’m strong enough to rank well among the top few Infernal Judges even of the Cathayan Hell. On the other hand, you’re just a measly Hellguard. Do you really think you’ve got a chance of escape?

It was bizarre, but he could sense a rush of playful mischief surge from his heart.

It was understandable, but inappropriate at this time.

It was understandable to expect a predator to play with his food before devouring it, but now was the worst time possible for an inclination like that to arise. After all, he was still in Cathayan territories, and he couldn’t afford to alert the Emissaries of Hell to his presence.

But despite all that, he still caved to his own desires.

And this was exactly why it could be called a coincidence in the first place. Everything came and went without a trace, and its influence was absolutely irresistible.

Fate… had stirred Black Yaksha into action.

He no longer sped up. Instead, he simply followed closely behind Oda Nobutada, enjoying every moment of abject fear on his face. He was waiting for the moment when the next rift appeared. He wanted to seal the next entrance right before Oda Nobutada’s very eyes and relish in his despair before finishing him off.

That moment of despondence… would be immensely satisfying…

On the other hand, Oda Nobutada didn’t even bother to pause and think of what was running through Black Yaksha’s mind. He was simply glad that he could maintain the distance between them. His heart was already numb to the overbearing fear. Then, after an inordinate amount of time, he suddenly noticed a black cliff appear on the horizon together with the faint sound of crashing waves of the sea.

“It’s right there!” Oda Nobutada gnashed his teeth, “That’s the other entrance set out in Kong Mo’s records! Minister Zhang, even if I must perish right now, you absolutely must return to Hell! My war horse knows the way. Tell Lord Qin about this place if you can!”

“Alright…” Zhang Zeguang clung tightly to his waist and nodded firmly.

He was terror stricken. It felt as though they were being relentlessly pursued by a shadow of death that was unshakable no matter what they did! To make matters worse, the source of their terror had a twisted idea of fun by keeping the pursuit going, almost as though he were intent of giving them a glimpse of hope at the end of the tunnel.

……………………………………………………………..

Limbo. The same cliffs separated the vast oceans from the sprawling lands. But in that moment, there was a huge mobile residence that stood right at the edge of the cliff.

There were no living beings in the near vicinity. Instead, all there was were humanoid paper effigies toting their palace lamps, standing around in fear.

The palace appeared incredibly old, yet its opulence transcended the effluxion of time. That said, the one thing new about it was the fact that there was a plaque hanging from the eaves of the palace with two words etched in powerful strokes - Qin Palace.

Just then, there was a sound from the palace hall, “Hmm?” The green veil surrounding the throne room fluttered softly as the man within lifted the veil.

“Is this… the scent of an Emissary of Hell?”

“What’s it doing here?”

The figure shrank back behind the veil, “I must be thinking too much. Hell might be aware of a rift leading to the mortal realm, but they can’t possibly know that this rift opens up directly to where Kong Mo used to have his forces arrayed.”

“That said, this is undoubtedly the aura of an Emissary of Hell... Is Yanluo arriving?”

“No… I can sense another aura far stronger than the Emissary hot on its tail. That’s… an advanced Infernal Judge? And a foreign one at that?”

“An Emissary of Hell has been waylaid by a foreign emissary, and is currently being hunted?”

He roughly grasped the situation back in the mortal realm, and the two specks of netherflames hidden in the depths of his eyes flickered wildly.

Should I make a move, or should I not?

Shadowless should still be on his way back to Martial City right now. Is this… a messenger sent by the new King Yanluo of Hell?

He tapped his fingers on his desk for some time, before finally chuckling softly, “Count yourself lucky.”

A split second later, a pitch-black pillar of light burst through the clouds with a cacophony of ghastly shrieks! The impact was so great that even the crashing waves rolled back to where they came from.

No… in fact, it wasn’t a pillar of light. Rather, it was a pillar of Yin spirits that were so densely packed that it was impossible to distinguish one from the other!

All of them were screaming and shrieking as they rushed into the sky amidst a colossal vortex of Yin energy.

The explosive force of this pillar was so immense that it surpassed that which an Infernal Judge could muster by several times!

Rumble!!! It soon breached the surface of the mortal realm and erupted out of the ground right in front of Oda Nobutada!

“What’s this--...” Oda Nobutada’s war horse immediately lifted its front hooves to halt its charge and neighed in terror. Meanwhile, Oda Nobutada froze for a moment, before laying prone on his war horse, trembling with fear.

This is… an Abyssal Prefect!

Just then, something occurred to him.

The daolord of the asura is currently in Azurewaters City!

Could this be him?

No way…

It couldn’t be so coincidental… could it?