Yama Rising

Arthis heaved a faint sigh as she shook her head with a forlorn expression.

What could they do? How could they defend against this threat?

There was no solution. All netherworldly citizens had a fundamental, instinctive desire to return to the mortal realm. Every year, there were always some who managed to return to the mortal realm through illicit means. This was obviously prohibited by Hell, but there was no way to ensure that everyone abided by the law.

The Cathayan Underworld seemed to be a stable fortress, but in the eyes of the inner demon, it was a massive net that was filled with holes. These holes were very small, yet through them, it was capable of destroying villages!

"I don't understand. Is everything I've done still not good enough?" Qin Ye's hair was flapping in the wind as he inspected the charred remains of the village.

Were the netherworldly citizens not happy? Was the Cathayan Underworld's international status too low? Was he not powerful enough? Why was it that even after all he had done, he was still being targeted by some almighty beings of the world? First, it was Xu Fu, now, it was the inner demon. Was it because he was too young? Was it because they thought they could do better than him?

"Perhaps it's simply because the position of King Yanluo is so alluring." He looked up at the sky with a dazed expression. He honestly couldn't understand. Had the inner demon never thought about what would happen if it really were to take over as King Yanluo? Did it think that Zhao Yun and the second King Yanluo would simply let things slide? Could it be that it had only met the second King Yanluo once and didn't know that he was the second King Yanluo? Could it be that the second King Yanluo letting it go during their last encounter led it to believe that the position of King Yanluo was there for the taking?

Little did it know just how much of an iron fist the second King Yanluo had ruled with. He didn't want to conform to the wishes of the eight major clans, thereby resulting in a civil conflict, which culminated in the second-generation forbidden arts startup module being leaked, and only then did he decide that enough was enough.

"There is no pinnacle when it comes to power, there will be loftier positions one could strive for," Arthis said. "The inner demon may not be aware of why the old Hell was destroyed, but it's definitely aware that Hell was destroyed at one point. It encountered the second King Yanluo and survived, so it naturally must've thought that the second King Yanluo held no objections to its actions. In fact, it may not even be aware that the man it had met was the second King Yanluo."

Qin Ye was looking up at the Yin runes drifting over the barrier in the sky as he asked, "Then why didn't the second King Yanluo kill it at the time?"

"Because you were still too young at the time," Arthis replied with a smile. "When any position of significant power is passed on, the heir to the position must undergo many trials and tribulations. You were chosen virtually out of the blue, and you were a blank slate with no influence or authority. Even more importantly, you didn't have any power or powerful backers, either. The first King Yanluo had exceptional courage and foresight, while the second King Yanluo's power was unmatched. You've only been in power for a very short time, to the extent that you haven't even experienced any military clashes with other nations. All of the personnel left over from the old Hell, including the Harken and myself, had endured many such wars in the past. Several centuries ago, Anubis's Aegyptian Dog Deity Legion suddenly attacked from the east. The Cathayan Underworld officially declared war on the Aegyptian Underworld, and several dozen Yama-Kings were involved in that conflict. 500 years ago, a border conflict erupted between the Hindustani Underworld and the Cathayan Underworld. The two nations were on the brink of launching forbidden arts at each other, and it took the twin death gods of the Argosian Underworld to travel to the border shared by the two nations and act as mediators to put an end to those tensions. That's not even to mention the attack that the Cathayan Underworld endured from seven powerful underworld 700 years ago. In the eyes of the first and second King Yanluos, you will never mature and grow to become a worthy ruler unless you've experienced crises that could bring about the demise of the nation."

A smile suddenly appeared on her face as she continued, "However, you've done much better than them when it comes to internal affairs. On top of that, you have far thicker skin than the two of them combined. In summary, you have a bright future ahead of you. It would be like if all of the rightful heirs to a major clan passed away, so that clan had to scramble to find an unworthy and untested candidate to take over..."

"Can you stop there? I know what you're saying is true, but I can't help but feel like this is going in a wrong direction..."

"That's not the point!" Arthis was also extremely well-versed in the usage of the "that's not the point" skill. "Think about it. We can equate the second King Yanluo to the past head of that aforementioned, hypothetical clan. All of a sudden, he discovered that the unworthy and useless candidate that he had found was doing a decent job."

"So you're just gonna pile on the insults, huh?" Qin Ye sighed with a wry smile.

Arthis shrugged in response. "Perhaps the second King Yanluo is only habitually throwing more trouble your way to observe how you'll overcome these trials. Trust me, he's constantly having to struggle with the urge to dethrone you and replace you with someone else."

Arthis continued, "Don't think that a trial like this is unfair. The higher you climb up the ranks, the more rigorous the trials that you must face, both to prove your worth and to help you improve. Back when my mentor, Gul'dan, tricked me to go to the Frozen Throne, he set a stern trial for me in the form of Illidan Stormrage..." [These are all World of Warcraft characters.]

That was where this conversation concluded, and Qin Ye turned to Arthis with a benevolent smile as he asked, "That report on my desk about the viability of internet research was written by you, right?"

"That's impossible, I'm illiterate."

Right at this moment, faint fluctuations erupted nearby, and several figures suddenly appeared around them.

They were underworld emissaries of the Netherworld Operative level, and they were among the netherworldly citizens to have benefitted from the implementation of the education industry.

"Who goes there? Ah, we pay our respects to Yanluo Qin and the Reincarnation King!" As soon as the underworld emissaries identified Qin Ye's trio, they immediately fell to their knees with respectful expressions.

"No need for formalities," Qin Ye said with a casual wave of his hand. "You're able to detect me?"

The leader of the underworld emissaries cupped his fist in a salute as he explained, "I'm naturally unable to sense your presence, but this array was set up by Ghost King Zhao, so even though your concealment abilities are extremely powerful, you'll still be detected by the core of the array within 10 minutes."

Qin Ye nodded in response. "According to the reports, the netherfire of the village's citizens still remain, so why have I not seen them?"

The fact that their netherfire still existed meant that the Yin spirits weren't eradicated. However, he couldn't sense any survivors in the village at the moment.

The group of underworld emissaries exchanged a few glances, following which their leader rose to his feet before sweeping a hand through the air, and an illusory light screen appeared in mid-air.

A stone plaque was depicted on the screen, and the plaque was riddled with several hundred names.

There was a speck of netherfire attached to every single name, but the netherfire seemed to have been trapped on the stone plaque by something. They were frantically bouncing around beside the stone plaque, but were unable to separate themselves from it.

"That's the Anitya Soul Trap technique!" Arthis's eyes narrowed slightly as she spoke. "During battles in the past, countless Yin spirits are destroyed, but a small portion is collected by other participants in the battles. These Yin spirits can be placed into the six paths of reincarnation to be refined for a few years, following which they'll be restored as netherworldly citizens. However, they'll lose all of their past memories. As expected of a monster who's witnessed the entire history of human civilization, I wonder where the inner demon learned this secret underworld technique from."

Arthis didn't have to continue for Qin Ye to know what was going on here.

This wasn't just a soul trapping technique performed for the sake of it, the inner demon was gathering citizens for its future kingdom!

The inner demon didn't require its citizens to have memories. So long as they had desires, it would eternally have control over them.

"You don't seem angry at all," Arthis remarked with a surprised expression. "That's not a reaction I would expect from a ruler."

Indeed, any ruler would be absolutely furious that anyone would dare to try and encroach upon their territory and people.

Qin Ye didn't say anything.

Arthis's brows furrowed slightly as she asked, "Are you thinking about giving up on targeting the inner demon?"

Is it because it's too difficult? Is it because the power difference is too great and you're worried for your own safety? That may all be true, but don't forget that you're the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld! How could you see such a massive threat to your authority, yet pretend as if nothing's ever happened?

Qin Ye could naturally hear the accusation in Arthis's words, but he didn't reply right away. Instead, he turned to her before asking, "Would you like to accompany me on a walk?"

As soon as his voice trailed off, he transformed into a gust of Yin wind and headed directly toward Limbo.

Arthis's brows furrowed slightly, and she swept a sleeve through the air, upon which all of the underworld emissaries flew into her grasp as gusts of Yin wind, then immediately followed along.

Directly above them was the place where the posthumous wedding was being held.

…………………………………

"My son... You were taken from us far too early!"

"I told you to be careful when crossing the road, but you never listened!"

This was an extremely spacious white mourning hall.

Qin Ye looked around with a rather surprised expression. It was clear that this was a funeral home, but it had been completely reserved by a single family. Funeral wreaths were placed all around the hall, at the foot of each of which was an inky-black "Li" character.

Qin Ye had thought that he would've emerged in a village. After all, not many people believed in things like posthumous weddings nowadays, and it had become almost exclusively a practice observed in rural villages. However, this setting was completely unexpected to him.

A funeral home of this scale wouldn't be found even in a county, so this was most likely a city, and a prefecture-level city, at that. At this moment, he was standing at the entrance to the funeral home, and the wreaths on either side of him extended for over 20 meters, while a long line of black hearses was parked outside.

"What's happening here?" he asked as he turned to an employee standing behind the front desk.

The man was extremely busy, rushing around to record the information of the guests, but he still retained his professionalism as he replied, "Someone died again. Starting from three years ago, someone has been dying at the exact same moment of the exact same day in each successive year."

Qin Ye's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he indicated toward the funeral home as he asked, "What are they doing here?"

He was referring to a group of monks and Taoist priests, who were gathered in front of a black coffin while chanting incessantly.

The employee finally turned to Qin Ye, and a hint of coldness crept into his voice as he replied, "You're not from around here, are you, sir? Have you not heard of the story about the incident that took place three years ago on the dreaded seventh carriage? At the time, the entire carriage and all of the passengers that it housed were sliced cleanly in half. From that point onward, someone has perished at that exact same spot at the exact same moment of each following year!"