Yama Rising

Yin soldiers and skeletal warhorses were sent tumbling in all directions as the vast pagoda rose up from the ground, and in the blink of an eye, countless more Yin soldiers were reduced to netherfire that rose up into the sky.

"What's going on?" Guo Ziyi inspected his surroundings with a stunned expression to find a series of ancient corridors and walls. There were also countless pillars and altars around him, all of which were giving fearsome Yin energy.

The ground was trembling violently, and there was no way for him to remain mounted on his steed. Countless rocks were crashing down from above like shooting stars, and Guo Ziyi immediately ducked under his steed for protection.

The violent tremors lasted a full 10 minutes before finally subsiding, and only after several more minutes had passed did some underworld emissaries rise to their feet with fearful expressions.

Guo Ziyi gently brushed his hands over his armor. His armor was already covered in dust and dirt, but he didn't pay any heed to that as he immediately looked up forward, following which he instantly drew a sharp breath.

An enormous pagoda was standing before him.

It had to be at least 400 to 500 meters in height, and it was split up into four levels. Furthermore, the entire building was paved with bones!

The bones belonged to all types of creatures, including giant beasts, birds, and even human bones. At this point, the inner demon had already vanished, and the pagoda was the only thing left standing on the battlefield.

The entire pagoda was covered in unidentifiable text that was crimson in color, and it was extremely vast, taking up the entirety of Zhuolu.

The corkscrew staircase that Guo Ziyi was standing on was around 40 to 50 meters wide, and from where he was, he could clearly hear the sound of howling wind up above, while skeletal flags spread along the staircase flapped incessantly.

The fierce wind was blowing through the holes in the skeletal flags, and a murder of crows arrived on the scene, seemingly out of nowhere, before landing on the flags like harbingers of death. Tied beneath several human skulls was a tattered piece of beast hide, upon which was inscribed some type of crimson text, and the skulls that were swaying in the wind seemed to be cackling in silence.

"What on earth is this place..." Guo Ziyi took a few steps backward with an astonished look on his face. This building was far more ancient than anything even during his lifetime!

……………………………………………………

Resentment grabbed onto the inner demon's collar, then gave it an enraged tug as he glowered into the inner demon's eyes with a furious expression.

The inner demon was still using Bai Liangping's body, even though the body was as broken as a rag doll. Many sections of bone, flesh, and tendons had already been exposed beneath the skin.

"Why did you do this?!" Resentment roared in an enraged voice as Yin energy surged out of all of his orifices. "Why has the Myriad Soul Pagoda been activated early? How many times have we told you that these are the only remains left behind by our king! Unless we restore them to their perfect state, the Myriad Soul Pagoda won't be able to provide us with any protection!"

The inner demon's body was gently spasming, and its head had been twisted to an impossible angle. Its facial features were completely inhuman, and only the constantly moving eyeballs in its sockets indicated that it was alive.

Before Resentment had a chance to say anything further, a deathly white hand had already grabbed onto his mouth. The hand didn't appear to be exerting any force at all, but Resentment's skull was creaking audibly.

"Shut up," the inner demon said in a completely emotionless voice, then dragged its broken body slowly to the edge of this level before casting its gaze in Qin Ye's direction.

"Hell is regrouping right as we speak, so why are you not attacking now? What are you waiting for?!"

There was no response.

All of the Yama-Kings present were looking at the inner demon with suspicious eyes.

It was ridiculous to them that a group of Infernal Judges could've bypassed a being above the Yama-King level to launch a successful attack on Chiyou's remains. The situation had deteriorated to a point where there really wasn't much else that could go wrong.

Right at this moment, Lust's ghastly voice rang out from behind the inner demon. "You promised us that you would help us resurrect our king, and it's time for you to follow through on that promise!"

The inner demon turned to her with a stunned expression. "Now? You're going to bring that up now?"

There was still no response.

However, the four Yama-Kings had already silently surrounded the inner demon, and their answer was very apparent.

If the inner demon couldn't fulfill its promise, then there was no point for them to continue in this battle.

An alliance like theirs would completely fall apart if the agreement that the alliance was built upon were to be revoked.

The 73 immortals that served as the inner demon's subordinates had virtually been completely wiped out, and in the wake of that, the power balance between the inner demon and Chiyou's remnant forces was already slowly shifting toward parity.

It was exactly because of this that there was no clear leader in this group, thereby leading to the potential for a conflict.

All of a sudden, vast Yin energy erupted out of the inner demon's body, and in the next instant, its appearance began to rapidly change, as if it were going back in time to search through all of the humans it had possessed in the past.

A cold smile appeared on its face as it said, "Choosing to work with you lot was the most idiotic decision of my life. So be it, let me show you my trump card!"

……………………………………………………

The sound of a long horn rang out, and the flags of Hell's army were flapping in the wind as Yin soldiers converged toward the Myriad Soul Pagoda from all directions. The sudden emergence of the Myriad Soul Pagoda had completely shattered their formation, but they were quickly rallying.

As for Chiyou's forces, it was unclear why they weren't doing anything, but their inactivity granted both sides a brief period of peace. However, everyone could sense that this was only the calm before the storm.

This was most definitely not the end. Instead, both sides were waiting for the opportunity to pounce at the enemy's throat!

Behind Hell's army, Qin Ye was holding the Judgment Pen and the Book of Life and Death, and the Yin energy of Hell's four Yama-Kings had already been released to encompass the Myriad Soul Pagoda in preparation for a counterattack. However, the inner demon and Chiyou's forces weren't doing anything.

"What are they doing?" Qin Ye mused. "How could they pass up an opportunity like this?"

The Harken shook its head in response. It was also unable to comprehend why the enemy wasn't attacking. If the four enemy Yama-Kings and all of their troops were to strike at a time like this, Hell's army would definitely suffer severe casualties.

However, they hadn't done that.

Qin Ye was on the constant lookout for an enemy attack while also quickly analyzing the Myriad Soul Pagoda. Even though he didn't know what era this building was from, he could still sense the domineering aura that it was giving off. It was like the sun in the sky, inspiring awe and veneration from all of its beholders.

However, this sun was broken.

There was a massive slope on the western side of the pagoda, as if that part of the pagoda had been sliced off by a sword, and the slope was so massive that an army of 10,000 troops could charge through it!

"Nothingness hasn't appeared. They said that They would help us break through the Myriad Soul Pagoda's defenses when it appeared, but the Myriad Soul Pagoda has no defenses at the moment," Qin Ye murmured to himself. "In that case, has that promise been postponed or revoked altogether?"

There was a very important distinction between the two. If the Heavenly Dao had only postponed the fulfillment of Their promise, then They would still step in when necessary. However, it was definitely unwise to pin one's hopes on an emotionless machine like the Heavenly Dao.

Right at this moment, the Harken's nose twitched slightly as it cast a perplexed gaze toward the Myriad Soul Pagoda. "I'm catching a really strong scent of blood."

As soon as its voice trailed off, streams of blood began to slowly flow down from the top level of the Myriad Soul Pagoda. They were like a series of bloody waterfalls, slowly draping a red coat over the entire pagoda.

Are they finally about to attack?

Everyone remained silent as they stared intently at the top of the pagoda. A Yama-King could easily inspect an entire nation with a single glance, so it was an easy feat for them to inspect the top of the pagoda, particularly when it had no defenses.

The damage sustained by the pagoda and its lack of defenses could all be attributed to that surprise attack from Qin Ye.

Inky-black Yin energy was revolving around the top of the Myriad Soul Pagoda, and QIn Ye could just barely make out the inner demon standing there. Its face was rapidly changing in appearance, and its attire was also quickly transitioning back through the eras. In less than a minute, it had gone back to the era of grass and beast hide garments.

All of a sudden, it withdrew all of its Yin energy, revealing a figure that was completely different in appearance to Bai Liangping. Instead, it was a man with a head of disheveled hair, wearing a beast hide garment and holding a whip in his hand.

The whip was very crude, woven from soft tree bark.

A sense of foreboding suddenly welled up in Qin Ye's heart without any warning, as if something terrible were about to happen. At the same time, the inner demon raised its hands and began to chant something.

There was clearly nothing happening, yet Qin Ye's heartbeat was rapidly accelerating.

He looked down at the assembling army down below, then asked, "How much longer will they take?"

"At least 20 more minutes," Zhao Yun replied. "Even with the losses suffered thus far, the army still has a total of at least 400,000 troops, and that's not even taking the Asura Legion and the Hungry Ghost legion into account."

The larger the army, the longer it would take to organize.

"Can the process be sped up somehow?"

"I'm afraid that would be very difficult... What's wrong, Your Excellency?" Zhao Yun could sense that Qin Ye was growing rather agitated.

Qin Ye shook his head in response.

He looked up at the inner demon, who was still chanting, then down at the troops gathering beneath his feet. More and more troops were flocking to the area, but he wasn't feeling any sense of security at all. Instead, the sense of foreboding in his heart was only growing more and more pronounced!

Right at this moment, the ground suddenly trembled slightly.

In the next instant, the sound of horse hooves began to approach from the distance.

Qin Ye felt as if the sound were resonating directly in his heart, and it wasn't coming from the ground. Instead...

Qin Ye abruptly raised his head to look up at the sky.

The sound of the horse hooves was coming from the heavens!

We can't keep waiting!

He immediately turned to Zhao Yun as he said, "Brother Zhao, stop him!"

Zhao Yun didn't ask why. Instead, his body abruptly transformed into a gust of Yin wind that swept directly toward the top of the pagoda. Right at this moment, the inner demon finally turned toward Qin Ye, and their eyes met.

No words were exchanged between them, but the tension in the air was palpable.

A faint smile appeared on the inner demon's face, and all of a sudden, the muscles on its arms bulged dramatically!

With a thunderous roar, the sound of horse hooves drew to an abrupt halt, and a white horse that was over 20 meters tall was pulled out of thin air.

To be accurate, this creature couldn't be referred to as a horse. Its body was covered in golden scales, and there was a pair of deer antlers on its head, while a white mane extended all the way from its head to its tail. Furthermore, there was a head that was around five meters in size tied to its tail!

It was the longma that was carrying Chiyou's head!