Yama Rising

"My name is Liu Qing, Your Excellency," the female ghost replied in a trembling voice.

"Who is supporting you?" Qin Ye asked.

Liu Qing faltered slightly upon hearing this, yet before she had a chance to think, Arthis's Yin energy swept toward her like a sharp blade, instantly slicing through her shoulder-length hair right before her horrified eyes.

"Ye Xianguo!" she screamed with all her might without any hesitation. "It's Ye Xianguo from the county party standing committee! He's County Magistrate Li's right-hand man and the administrator of the agricultural bureau!"

Under extreme fear and duress, it was extremely unlikely that she would still have the presence of mind to lie.

Qin Ye didn't need to ask any follow-up questions, and Liu Qing was already telling her everything that she knew. She forcibly repressed the horror in her heart as she said in a trembling voice, "I sensed the contract for the posthumous wedding in the underworld. I initially didn't want to go... I've always abided by all of the laws implemented by Hell..."

"We have no interest in hearing your life story!" Arthis interjected in a cold voice. "Get to the point."

Liu Qing bit down onto her own lower lip before continuing, "When I arrived at the mortal realm, I wasn't met with a corpse for the posthumous wedding. Instead, I was met with around a dozen humans. They were all very powerful, and they were led by Ye Xianguo, who is an Anitya Hellguard. Also, he's very familiar with the laws of Hell, and he gave me a choice..."

Her breathing was beginning to become more and more labored, and she was trembling uncontrollably as she continued, "As I'm sure you're aware, if I accept the contract for a posthumous wedding but am unable to find a corpse to possess, then I would soon cease to exist. I could've never imagined that this would be the situation that I would be getting myself into! I had no choice, Your Excellency! I really had no choice! You have to believe me!"

She suddenly burst into sobs as she spoke. "He told me to stay here and possess this body, and I didn't have to do anything. All I had to do was stay in this room, and it's been three whole years since then!"

Arthis didn't say anything as she stole a glance at Qin Ye.

The situation was not looking very optimistic. The inner demon was far more cautious than they anticipated. Even Liu Qing, who was a completely inconsequential pawn, had been completely kept in the dark, locked in this room for three years, so there was no way that she would know anything.

However, instead of being disappointed, Qin Ye scrutinized Liu Qing intently as he asked, "Are you sure that his name is Ye Xianguo?"

"I am!" Every single question was an opportunity for Liu Qin to redeem herself, and she was eagerly grabbing those opportunities with both hands. "I'm sure of it! He only told me his name once, but there's no way I'd misremember it! He's the only person I've seen during the past three years!"

As expected, she had been locked in this room for three years and didn't know anything. However, it made sense that she had a clear recollection of the only person she had seen during this time.

"Alright, that's all I need to know. Take her away," Qin Ye said as he rose to his feet.

He didn't give Liu Qing a chance to speak again. Several underworld emissaries immediately stepped forward, releasing Soul Shackles that shot directly into the joints of Liu Qing's limbs and the top of her head. An anguished cry rang out, and a soul sphere emerged before flying into the grasp of one of the underworld emissaries.

Qin Ye casually stepped out of the room. Given that huge eruption of Yin energy earlier, there were already personnel from the Special Investigations Department gathered outside the funeral home. However, they were still far from being able to see a Yama-King.

"What did you think of?" Arthis asked as she walked along beside him.

Qin Ye didn't immediately reply. Only after the two of them had already emerged from the funeral home did he explain, "I think this should be a matter of setting an anchor. Since the beginning of time, the foundation of death gods has always been faith. If it weren't for the collapse of the new continent's religions, Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa wouldn't have set their sights on space. What the inner demon is trying to do right now is the exact same thing as them. The term 'inner demon' is a commonly used one, but there's no faith or belief attached to it. In order to stake a foothold in the underworld, it'll definitely write its own grand script of death to try and attain godhood. If I'm not mistaken, the Yiguandao is the most important part of his grand script of death."

He didn't say anything further, but he was sure that Arthis could understand the situation.

The grand script of death of the inner demon was different from all other grand scripts of death.

Thus far, Qin Ye had encountered two grand scripts of death, one of which was in Daehan, while the other was on the new continent. One was written by the nameless god of death, while the other had been written by Medes. These two grand scripts of death shared a similarity, which was that both had been written by vastly renowned figures in history. With those grand scripts of death, anyone would have a chance at attaining godhood, given the right circumstances.

If Liu Yu had been born in a nation like Silla or Baekje rather than the most powerful nation in Asia, he definitely would've had a good chance at attaining godhood with the grand script of death.

As for the three death gods of the Caribbean, they had developed their underworld for over 1,000 years before they hatched the ambition to strive for godhood. At that point, their reputation in the Caribbean Sea had already formed the foundation of their religion.

In contrast, what about the inner demon? It had nothing!

Of course, it was incredibly powerful, but it had no foundation, and no one was going to believe in it. Thus, the objective for its grand script of death had to be to make itself renowned across the entire nation. Perhaps the ultimate goal was to make the religion of the inner demon the national religion.

"This means that its grand script of death must have an extremely grand scale. However, unfortunately for it, the Yiguandao faced stern resistance from the Cathayan government. At the time, it was already powerful enough to play a role in the conflict between the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party, but it missed that opportunity. I'm guessing that this is its attempt at a comeback," Qin Ye analyzed. "On this occasion, he has my grandfather's soul, so he's able to establish an anchor point in the underworld. Thus, he completely relinquished his plans to become a god in the mortal realm, choosing instead to try and conquer the Cathayan Underworld through brute force. However, it knows that no matter how powerful it is, the Cathayan Underworld certainly won't be a pushover. Thus, it doesn't want to initiate a direct attack. Instead, it wants to take advantage of human desires, using humans to create a bridge between the two realms. Yin spirits who are tempted by the prospect of returning to the mortal realm will create anchor points in some parts of the Cathayan Underworld, and it doesn't even need to know where those anchor points are. Once an anchor point is secured, it'll perform an instantaneous divine descent to make everyone's desires erupt at once."

Arthis didn't reply, and her brows also furrowed tightly.

In the face of a fearsome opponent that they had never dealt with before, it was imperative to figure out the opponent's plan of attack. Otherwise, they would have no idea where the attacks were going to come from, and even a sound defense would be difficult to achieve, let alone retaliation.

Qin Ye had just analyzed the inner demon's plan of attack in detail, and only after that did she come to realize just how difficult this opponent was to deal with.

It was impossible to defend against or predict its attacks!

Furthermore, as the inner demon fused more and more completely with Qin Zhongguo's soul, the intervals between the attacks will become shorter and shorter. Even at the height of its powers, Hell wouldn't have been able to withstand something like this, let alone the current Hell!

As the attacks became more and more frequent, more and more of the Cathayan Underworld would be razed to the ground. That would undoubtedly strike fear and panic into the hearts of the netherworldly citizens, inevitably leading to their criticism of the current administration. Thus, Qin Ye's anchor point would begin to waver, and that would be the perfect opportunity for the inner demon to strike!

"The only solution is to kill everyone," Qin Ye sighed with a wry smile.

That was clearly not feasible.

Arthis gently tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear, then said, "Alternatively, we can perhaps determine its location, then lure it into our trap."

Qin Ye offered no response to this.

This was far easier said than done.

The inner demon had everything under its control, and even what seemed to be the most inconsequential of leads, such as that ghost bride, had been accounted for.

It would be an extremely difficult task to lure such a powerful and cautious old monster into a trap. In fact, it was nigh on impossible!

"At the very least, he did leave behind another lead in the form of Ye Xianguo," Qin Ye said.

"Who is that?"

Qin Ye closed his eyes as he recalled some information in his mind. "Among Cathay's 10 major supernatural events was the Lin Family Mansion incident, which took place in 1956, and was stored in the Special Investigations Department's records as an S-rank case. If my memory is correct, then Ye Xianzu is none other than Ye Xianguo! Ye Xianzu is his alias, but the name Ye Xianguo was recorded in all of the major search engines, while the alias of Ye Xianzu was recorded by the Special Investigations Department. That incident took place in 1956, which means that not long after he visited our village, he went to the old capital city!"

"How is that information useful to us?"

Qin Ye averted his gaze, and after hesitating for a long while, he finally replied, "Perhaps the inner demon will have left some traces behind."

Before he had a chance to say anything else, Arthis countered in a cold voice, "So that's why you're not planning to face off against the inner demon."

Qin Ye opened his mouth to speak, but Arthis raised a hand to silence him as she continued, "Say no more... When I was asking you those questions earlier, you didn't give me a clear answer, and now, you're talking about finding traces left behind by the inner demon. I know you too well to be fooled by that. If you think you can strike, then you definitely wouldn't hesitate. However, you're only interested in finding traces left behind by the inner demon, and that's because you're not even thinking about luring it into a trap anymore. You have no way of dealing with it, so you're choosing to avoid the issue. Let me guess, you're even planning to negotiate with the inner demon and perhaps even considering granting it some territory in exchange for a truce, right? Don't make me laugh!"

Her Yin energy erupted violently as she spoke, and she looked directly into Qin Ye's eyes as she continued, "Hell has never had a cowardly ruler! There are no King Yanluos in history who have bowed their heads to others, only King Yanluos who have perished in battle!"

Having had his thoughts exposed mercilessly by Arthis, Qin Ye was also beginning to grow rather enraged, and he countered, "Fine! Let's fight it then! Tell me what I should do! We know what the inner demon's plan is, but how can we stop it? At the very least, we're still in a position to negotiate now. If it decides to go all-out from the very beginning, the Cathayan Underworld will face a calamitous disaster! I constructed the new Hell bit by bit over the course of close to 20 years! We've only recently established the six paths of reincarnation, and everything has only just gone back onto the right track! Do you want to see all of our hard work razed to the ground again?!"

"So you want to split your territory with it in exchange for peace?!"

"Where are you even getting this idea from? We haven't even begun any negotiations yet, why is that the only possible outcome in your mind? You have to remember that you are now a Yama-King, not an Infernal Judge! You need to see things in the context of an entire nation, not just a province!"

A cold look appeared on Arthis's face as she countered, "All I know is that if I encounter the inner demon, I would engage it in battle right away. I would rather die in battle than live a coward!"

Qin Ye almost burst into laughter upon hearing this, and he made no attempt to hide his derision as he scoffed, "Oh wow, what a brilliant hero you are! Just throw away your life for honor and leave the entire nation to suffer! I am King Yanluo! If I die, who is going to take over from me?! Death is the easiest and most cowardly option you can take!"

Neither side was going to convince the other anytime soon, and after glowering at each other for a while, both of them turned away, following which Arthis vanished as a gust of Yin wind in a fit of rage.

Following her departure, Qin Ye stomped a foot violently down onto the ground, shattering the flooring instantly. He then ran his hands through his own hair in a frustrated manner a few times, and only then was he able to calm down a little.

In his eyes, Arthis was extremely naive.

As King Yanluo, his first priority was the safety and prosperity of his nation and his people. Going out in a blaze of glory was simply not an option for him!

The threat of the inner demon was like the Sword of Damocles, and the figurative horsehair keeping it suspended was about to snap! Dying in the line of duty for glory sounded all well and good, but all that would achieve would be to vacate the throne for the inner demon!

After a long while, he finally regained his ability to think rationally, and he shook his head as he murmured to himself, "Politics is all about constantly negotiating to try and find the best middle ground."

He didn't want to have to negotiate with the inner demon, either! He had already been humiliated once by the 12 envoys during their first meeting, and he certainly didn't want a repeat of that. Resorting to negotiation would be a sign of weakness that would bring shame to both him as King Yanluo and the Cathayan Underworld!