Yama Rising

“What’s the meaning of this?” Qin Ye asked with a faint smile on his face.

Of course it was simple.

“You’ve got five minutes to make your decision.” Cao Youdao sat down, picked up his wine glass and swirled its contents leisurely.

Killing Zhang Baoguo was the most reliable means out of this predicament. The potential price to pay for any other answer was simply too large.

No… quite apart from whether he disclosed the existence of the shard in his possession, the moment he rejected Cao Youdao’s offer would be the moment that they shed off all pretension of cordiality with each other! free𝚠𝚎𝚋𝒏𝚘ѵ𝐞l.𝑐oｍ

“I don’t understand.” Cao Youdao sighed begrudgingly at the four-minute mark, “It’s just a mere mortal. I don’t know what kind of relationship you have with him, and I don’t understand why, given the limitless potential ahead of our partnership, you’d even consider the life of a mere mortal with such hesitance.”

“Oh?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t quite understand the references you’re making.”

Cao Youdao stopped smiling, yet he continued to swirl the contents of his glass about, “So?”

The hook ran straight through the wooden badge on the table.

Simultaneously, a massive tidal wave of Yin Energy engulfed Qin Ye’s body and swept straight towards Zhang Baoguo’s soul.

By Hell’s dictum, all rabble must disperse!

Back on the second floor, Cao Youdao stared at his own hand, completely stupefied. The soul shackle extended out of the void, piercing straight through his hand and nailing it down onto the table below. Unfortunately, not a trace of blood seeped out, and the only thing that continued to flow was the boundless Yin energy from his body.

Boom!!!

All of the Yin spirits trembled in fear and prostrated themselves in the ground. A dark figure emerged from the heart of the roiling Yin energy and shot straight towards Qin Ye, leaving a trail of dark light behind him.

“By Hell’s dictum, all rabble must disperse!!”

This was the furious pursuit between two Emissaries of Hell.

Qin Ye fled desperately. He knew just how powerful a Soul Hunter was. If he was caught, death would almost be certain. The only way out at that time would be to activate the shard of King Yanluo’s Seal. But even if he did that and got away this time, he would still have revealed his possession of the shard, and there was no doubt that Cao Youdao would come after him no matter what the cost!

Since that was the case, was there any possibility that Cao Youdao would spare Qin Ye after learning of the shard in Qin Ye’s possession?

Therefore, he must never activate the shard of King Yanluo’s Seal unless it was absolutely necessary!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh… The lights along the entire corridor were extinguished one after the other. A massive wave of Yin energy followed closely behind, and the cold gleam of the tip of a blade was pointed straight at Qin Ye’s back. It was as though Death itself had stepped out of the darkness and was hot on Qin Ye’s tail.

Hurry up… His eyes were somewhat bloodshot as he hammered hard on the mirrored wall. With a dull buzz, the number ‘-6’ appeared faintly on the mirror once more. The door shut promptly, and the elevator began to ascend quickly.

“Naive.” Cao Youdao’s voice echoed from all around the lift, “This place is my territory after all. Don’t you think that it’s far too disrespectful to leave as and when you wish, without giving a proper account?”

That said, even if he were given a chance for a re-do, he would probably still have done the same thing.

The temperature in the elevator suddenly dipped, and a bone-chilling gale began to blow. If a human were around right now, the bizarre events in the elevator would most certainly cause him to scream at the top of his lungs and break out with profuse, cold sweat.

It was almost as though a ghost were drawing these marks with a brush, stroke after stroke. What was initially nothing more than an ordinary mirror reflecting his image suddenly transformed into a long, endless corridor that was devoid of any sources of light apart from the miserable jade-coloured glow of netherworldly flames. Black clouds of Yin energy continued to billow menacingly like a growling beast, Just then, a figure appeared in every panel of mirror around, shooting straight towards him with something aimed straight for Qin Ye’s throat.

In the very next moment, Cao Youdao’s clearly discernible figure appeared in every panel of mirror around. Qin Ye’s heart skipped a beat, and he swung his demonhead saber horizontally with wanton disregard as to whether he struck anything or not. Shortly after that, he immediately felt an excruciating pain surge from his shoulder.

Qin Ye didn’t even have time to care about the blood that was now flowing profusely from his shoulder. Cao Youdao’s appearance in the mirror was simply incredible - he stood upside down on the ceiling, and he appeared to be hidden in the realm of mirrors.

“Your future… is completely non-existent.”

I can’t avoid it…

WHOOOSH! The Yin energy arrived before the sword. Qin Ye’s uniform fluttered wildly, and the void around him even began to crack. Gritting his teeth, Qin Ye no longer hesitated. The shard of King Yanluo’s Seal erupted instantly!

A wave of violent black light erupted, causing the entire lift to quake violently for a moment. Seconds later, the talismans on the wall settled down, and the blood-red number in the mirrors began to rise once again.

Ding dong… As the elevator doors opened, Qin Ye hobbled out, gasping for breath. He could finally heave a sigh of relief. All of the mirrors in the elevator-room were completely shattered in pieces, revealing an ink-black wall behind them.

Meanwhile, back at where -6 was located, Cao Youdao stared blankly at his sword, before turning his equally blank gaze into the empty elevator shaft in front of him.

A mere Operative-class Emissary… has actually eluded me?

“Shard of a primordial treasure!” His arm wielding the sword trembled vigorously as he growled hoarsely, “This is one of the shards of Hell’s primordial treasures!!”

“No wonder… no wonder he had the guts to enter this place to begin with. And here I was, wondering how exactly he survived Hell’s collapse too! You may have escaped today, but do you really think you’ll be able to escape from the City of Salvation?”

“I will find you, even if I have to go to the ends of the earth!”

“I told you… that it wasn’t wise to mingle with humans for too long…”

“The first principle of survival is to learn to turn a blind eye to things around you. How could you have entertained such dangerous thoughts?”

Old Man Liu was no more than a medium.

Qin Ye chuckled bitterly and examined himself - his clothes were covered in blood, the lighting around was dim, and he even dragged his feet, walking as though he had a limp on his foot. He truly looked no different from the ghosts portrayed in modern horror films...

1. Both references to animes.