Yama Rising

Countless thoughts were quickly flashing through Qin Ye's mind. Not only did he have to deal with the Yama-King that was quickly approaching him, he also had to consider the next set of orders that he was going to issue.

The inner demon was possessing a new host while completely oblivious to the fact that the Yama-Kings of Hell were nearby, and this was a brilliant opportunity!

However, if he decided to go ahead with the hit job, then that would lead to a direct battle against the inner demon! If they couldn't kill it, then they would have to face fierce retaliation from it, which would undoubtedly lead to more cities falling to the same fate as Safesoul City.

He only had 10 minutes at most to think. This was a conclusion that he had drawn from the Safesoul City riot. Within 10 minutes, the inner demon was capable of possessing all living beings within a certain area, whether that be an individual or a group.

What do I do? Should I risk it?

A bead of sweat began to flow down Qin Ye's forehead, and he had stopped cold in his tracks. He didn't dare to waste any time with unnecessary thoughts.

The decision that he was about to make was going to decide the actions of Hell's four Yama-Kings and hundreds of thousands of Yin soldiers.

All of a sudden, he raised his head and cast his gaze forward with fierce killing intent in his eyes.

"Get out of my way!" An enraged voice rang out up ahead.

Not only were the paper figures standing in Qin Ye's way, they were also posing an obstacle to the oncoming figure.

As soon as the furious voice rang out, all of the paper figures up ahead were sent flying, but to Qin Ye's surprise, they didn't converge, and they merely allowed the oncoming figure to pass through without any impediment!

The approaching figure was like Moses parting the Red Sea, and he instantly passed over a distance of several hundred meters.

Upon catching sight of Qin Ye, the figure was clearly very much taken aback.

It was a Taoist priest wearing a blue robe, upon which was embroidered the image of the eight trigrams. His beard was swaying in the wind along with his long sleeves, and he would've appeared quite elegant and refined were it not for the blood all over his body.

Their eyes met amid the sea of paper figures, and half a second later, Qin Ye exclaimed, "Taoist Master Zhang?"

"Yanluo Qin?!" A hint of hope surfaced in Taoist Master Zhang's lifeless eyes, and he immediately flew over to Qin Ye, who swept a sleeve through the air, upon which both of them descended onto the ground. Using his Yin energy, he was able to conceal the Yang energy of Taoist Master Zhang.

The quickly approaching Yama-King was most likely pursuing Taoist Master Zhang. Even with the Heavenly Teacher Seal to assist him, it was clear that Taoist Master Zhang had suffered a heavy defeat, and if Qin Ye didn't conceal his Yin energy, he would be tracked down even if he were to flee to the corners of the world.

Strangely enough, with Taoist Master Zhang accompanying him, all of the threads that they encountered quickly parted, and the paper figures ceased to chase them as well.

Qin Ye turned toward Taoist Master Zhang with a stunned expression, wondering how he was doing this.

Was it the Heavenly Teacher Seal? Was it because he was a prominent figure in traditional Taoism?

Qin Ye cursed internally as he gnashed his teeth together.

There was too much information to process, and he didn't know what to do, yet he couldn't afford even the slightest delay or distraction at a time like this!

Should he flee or should he fight?

Should he pretend to not have seen the inner demon's possession, or risk it all in an attempt to hunt down the inner demon once and for all?

Both sides had four Yama-Kings, but Hell had hundreds of thousands of Yin soldiers with the Wumu military formation to enhance them, so they certainly weren't completely without chances!

He was biting down onto his own lower lip with such force that he was almost drawing blood. Several minutes had already passed by, and the inner demon's possession was most likely about to conclude soon. After all, it was only possessing a normal human.

Some decisions had to be made in a split-second, but he simply wasn't decisive enough to do that.

He gritted his teeth as he checked his watch, upon which he was surprised by the fact that the inner demon's possession was taking so long.

A Soul Shackle was linking Qin Ye and Taoist Master Zhang together, and the latter panted in a strained voice, "It won't finish that quickly! This is the Bodhimaṇḍa of Lishan Laomu, one of the Six Royals, who rank below only the Three Pure Ones in Taoism!"

He seemed to have gleaned Qin Ye's thoughts, and his hand was clasped over his own chest as he continued, "I've never seen anything as fearsome as that monster in the city, but even he can't do as he pleases in the Bodhimaṇḍa of Lishan Laomu!"

Lishan Laomu? That's such a familiar name...

He felt so frustrated that his head was about to explode! One piece of information after another was flooding into mind, and all of them were important pieces of information that he had to take into consideration for the decision that he was about to make. He couldn't just ignore any of those pieces of information, but he was also unable to consider them all at once.

All of a sudden, he tugged on the Soul Shackle, and the two of them ducked into the mist off to the side. There just so happened to be a green belt there, so they were perfectly concealed.

Almost at the exact same moment, a gust of fierce Yin wind swept over above them, followed by countless specks of netherfire, then continued onward without pause.

As soon as the figure passed through the area, Taoist Master Zhang immediately collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily as he did so.

"You won't die," Qin Ye said. "You're not going to die so long as I don't let you die. I have a few questions that I need to ask you. Firstly, who was that just now?"

Taoist Master Zhang gritted his teeth as he forced himself into a sitting position, then reached a trembling hand into his own robe before pulling out a jade vial. He tipped out a golden pill from the vial before swallowing it, and his complexion immediately began to improve at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye. After closing his eyes and catching his breath for a few seconds, he reopened his eyes as he replied, "It was Envy... Don't ask me who that is, I don't know the answer to that question myself. No such name has ever been recorded in the tomes of Taoism, and he's not the only Yama-King in this city right now!"

Qin Ye nodded in response. "Second question: why are these threads and paper cutouts letting you through?"

"You don't know why?" Taoist Master Zhang was quite taken aback to hear this. "I am one of the Divine Heavenly Guardians, and this is the Bodhimaṇḍa of Lishan Laomu!"

Before Qin Ye had a chance to say anything, he grabbed onto Qin Ye's sleeve as he continued in a fervent voice, "Lishan Laomu's tomb has always been below Yuncheng! As a result, all evil and demonic beings will be debilitated to a certain extent here. As for the Divine Heavenly Guardians, we are tasked with protecting the tomb of Lishan Laomu!"

Qin Ye took a glance at his watch again.

It had already been five minutes since the inner demon had begun its possession.

He didn't know when the possession was going to end, but time was most definitely of the essence here!

He forcibly repressed all of the negative emotions in his heart using the origin runes of desires, then took a deep breath before asking, "Was the shadow that appeared behind the toll station earlier the tomb of Lishan Laomu? Why is she helping you?"

The more urgent the situation was, the more important it became to remain calm and collected. Only then would he be able to make the best decisions as quickly as possible.

Never did he think that the tomb of Lishan Laomu actually existed!

There were countless tombs of vastly renowned figures littered all over Cathay, but it truly came as a surprise to him that Yuncheng, which was by no means an important city, would be the home of Lishan Laomu's tomb!

This was an extremely impactful piece of information!

It was said that she was the one who had felled the Chiyou in a historic battle. She wasn't all that renowned, and she didn't have many believers and worshippers. In fact, she didn't even have a name, which made it seem like she was only some lower god, but in reality, a strong argument could be made that she was worthy of a spot as one of the Three Pure Ones of Taoism.

The city that housed her tomb would definitely not be a place where normal evil ghosts dared to wreak havoc.

Of course, the inner demon and the four Yama-Kings were far from normal evil ghosts.

Taoist Master Zhang wiped away the blood at the corners of his lips with his sleeves, then asked, "Yanluo Qin, why do you think our Zhengyi Dao decided to split off from the main branch of Taoism to base ourselves in Mount Longhu?"

Qin Ye's eyes immediately lit up as he replied, "Is it because you're the guardians of Lishan Laomu's tomb?"

This was an important revelation, but it couldn’t resolve the issue that he was currently facing!

Right at this moment, his watch began to glow again.

He took a glance at it to find that the red dot that symbolized the inner demon was gradually growing dimmer, which indicated that its possession was about to conclude.

There was no time left, and he had to make a decision!

Qin Ye immediately rose to his feet, then waved a dismissive hand, indicating for Taoist Master Zhang to leave.

In one more minute at most, the inner demon's possession would definitely be complete, so he had to make a decision within the next 30 seconds, thereby leaving the Harken and the others 30 seconds to make the required preparations.

"Yanluo Qin!" Right at this moment, Taoist Master Zhang rushed over to Qin Ye before falling to his knees, then kowtowed heavily against the ground as he implored, "Please avenge the Zhengyi Dao!"

Qin Ye immediately grabbed Taoist Master Zhang and hoisted him to his feet.

Taoist Master Zhang's head was stained with blood, but his expression was very much at ease. Qin Ye gritted his teeth as he said, "Piss off! This is not something that an Infernal Judge like you can get yourself involved in! Do you know what's happened here? Do you know how many Yin soldiers will have to die to avenge your little sect? Do you know what's at stake here? Get out of my sight!"

The rage that was building up in Qin Ye's heart had to be vented somewhere, and he violently threw Taoist Master Zhang aside.

However, Taoist Master Zhang quickly struggled to his feet, and a wry smile appeared on his face as he said, "Don't lie to me, Yanluo Qin... I know what these injuries entail! How much longer will I have to live? No more than a month, right? I am the current master of the Zhengyi Dao, and once I die, my heir should replace me, but my heir is already dead! They killed my only son! He hasn't fathered any offspring yet, so his death signifies the end of our bloodline! I won't let them get away with this!"

Blood began to pour out of all of his orifices as Qin Ye looked on with an alarmed expression. "What are you doing?"

All of a sudden, a burst of dazzling golden light erupted out of the top of Taoist Master Zhang's head!