Yama Rising

Qin Ye surveyed the skeleton in silence with a calm expression.

So this place really is the Peach Blossom Spring! But why is it that there's an emissary who's clearly from one of the western underworlds here? 

Never did he think that the teleportation formation would be connected to the extremely elusive Peach Blossom Spring!

He quickly examined Wang Zhao's memories again, and around 10 seconds later, his eyes abruptly lit up.

None of the smugglers who arrived here would say anything to anyone, and they would immediately leave after dropping off their merchandise.

There was a gap of 15 minutes between each teleportation, and according to Wang Zhao's memories, he had been here twice with the first and second occasions separated by a season. On each occasion, he had been greeted by a different underworld emissary.

On the first occasion, he had encountered an emissary from the Aegyptian Underworld, and it was Teana on this occasion.

Qin Ye took a surreptitious glance at her to find that she was an intermediate Infernal Judge, and her Yin energy was very dense. Furthermore, it carried an extremely bloody aura, indicating that she had consumed a vast amount of blood food in the past. It was most likely the case that she was an extremely notorious figure in the western world. Why was a being as powerful as her initiating conversation with a Yin soldier who wasn't even a Netherworld Operative?

At this point, he had already completely calmed down, and he suddenly said in a hushed voice, "I want to speak to you in private."

The netherflames in Teana's eyes flickered slightly, and she replied in a barely audible voice, "As you wish."

Water was unable to prevent the dissemination of energy, and in particular, the seawater of the mortal realm certainly didn't possess properties that would allow it to prevent the dissemination of Yin energy. There were two Emissaries of Hell who had arrived here alongside Wang Zhao through the teleportation formation, and they were all keeping an eye on one another, but in the face of an intermediate Infernal Judge, they may as well have been blind.

As soon as her voice trailed off, countless black shadows emerged from beneath Teana's dress to envelop Wang Zhao's body. The shadows were inky-black in color, but as soon as they climbed onto Wang Zhao's body, they immediately turned the same color as the sections of Wang Zhao's body that they were adhered to, making them impossible to discern. No more than several seconds later, a shell had appeared outside of Wang Zhao's body.

Teana and Wang Zhao were standing side by side, and they seemed to be engaging in an amicable conversation. However, Teana had already reached a hand around Wang Zhao's back before performing an abrupt tugging motion. As a result of this, Wang Zhao was dragged out into the open, leaving only the shell behind. In the instant that the true Wang Zhao was dragged out of the identical shell, a Yin energy vortex appeared to devour him.

Qin Ye didn't resist, and his vision blurred slightly before becoming clear again, upon which he found himself situated in a brightly lit church.

The church's decor was extremely lavish, and countless marine fish were swimming through it. Netherflame candles were lit on the walls, sitting on candlesticks that were forged from pure gold. However, the entire church and all of the furniture inside it were constructed from bones!

Furthermore, all of the nuns and priests here were also just clothed skeletons, presenting a harrowing sight to behold under the illumination of the green netherflames.

Is this the interior of Mirage City? Qin Ye swept an intrigued gaze across his surroundings. After making up his mind on what he was going to do, he wasn't nervous or tense in the slightest.

Right at this moment, Teana's voice rang out beside him. "You are the first emissary of the Cathayan Underworld to have responded to me. You are very smart, far more so than your companions."

Yin wind and netherflames converged, and Teana reappeared, gently flapping her hand fan to cover her skeletal face, as if she were smiling behind her fan like a prim lady. She waved a hand and said, "In order to celebrate the first contact between the Cathayan Underworld and Mirage City, I've prepared a lavish afternoon tea. You know, we've been waiting for this day for a very long time. Rest assured about your companions outside, my puppetry skills will be more than enough to fool them, so they won't notice that you're gone. Please come with me."

A door at the back of the church swung open at her behest, and Qin Ye followed behind her as they made their way toward the back. After entering through the doorway, they arrived in a small praying chamber. There were gold-plated candlesticks lining the walls, and the candles that they were carrying were burning with faint netherflames. It was an extremely ironic sight considering there was a mural of the Holy Father on the wall.

There was no furniture in the praying chamber aside from a round table, around which were placed a pair of chairs.

Teana sat down on one of the chairs, and Qin Ye could sense that her Yin energy was fluctuating very violently for some reason, as if she were extremely excited. She leaned back against the soft and plush cushion as she asked in a joyful voice, "May I ask your name?"

"You can call me the King of Emissaries of Hell," Qin Ye replied. "Madam Teana, we don't have much time, so pardon me for cutting straight to the chase. I really want to know why you've approached us over and over again."

The fluctuation in Teana's Yin energy subsided, and she seemed to have calmed down. She was under the impression that she had disguised her emotions very well, but to Qin Ye, her emotional fluctuations were as clear as a neon sign in the night.

"Indeed, we have no time to waste, and I don't want to engage in idle chatter, either. The owner of the Peach Blossom Spring has a suggestion, which involves you telling us the true situation in the Cathayan Underworld, and in exchange, we'll give you compensation beyond your wildest dreams."

Before Qin Ye had a chance to say anything, Teana opened her hand fan as she continued, "Let me emphasize here that we only want to know the truth, so you must provide evidence for your claims in order to convince us that you're not just making things up on the spot. For example, you have to provide newspapers of the Cathayan Underworld, documents issued by Hell... No matter what it is, it has to be sound evidence. If you can bring those things to us, the reward you'll receive will be beyond the scope of your imagination."

Under the table, Qin Ye wrung his hands together in a white-knuckled grip, yet his expression remained unchanged. He had to act in accordance with the image of someone betraying their nation.

He hadn't immediately pulled Teana's soul out of her body to search her memories because of the first thing that she had said, which was that this was the largest city of the Peach Blossom Spring, Mirage City.

Back when he had searched through Bu Wantian's memories, the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring had detected what he was doing, and he wasn't sure if the same restrictions had also been placed upon the memories of everyone else in this city.

"What kind of reward are we talking about here?"

"How about... cultivation progression by the magnitude of an entire major rank?" Two balls of scarlet netherflames appeared in Teana's eyes as she said in an extremely alluring voice, "Think carefully about this, Mr. Wang. Why did your superiors send you to transport these things instead of doing the job themselves? Are you not aware that you're committing treason? Do you not know what consequences await a traitor of the Cathayan Underworld if you're caught? Did your superiors not tell you about this?"

She leaned back slightly as she continued, "I can tell you that you'll be executed for sure. You were chosen because you're far too weak and can be abandoned at any time. You're not even a Netherworld Operative, so it would be extremely easy to kill you. Thus, you have no choice but to cooperate with us if you want to attain the power to be able to resist your superiors. For a Yin spirit like you, your cultivation rank is everything. If you don't want to die, then you can only strive to progress up the ranks."

Her voice was like that of a viper, holding allure and venom in equal measure. "If you become a Soul Hunter or even an Anitya Hellguard and receive the support of our Peach Blossom Spring, you'll have the power to speak on equal terms with your superiors. They fear you. Trust me, they live in constant fear of us revealing the truth. We can leave whenever we want. After all, we've been here for thousands of years without being discovered by Hell, but in contrast, your superiors can only stay within the Cathayan Underworld. They can't leave, so if you want to be able to speak to them as equals and be the master of your own fate, then why wouldn't you ally yourself with us? You've already committed treason, all you can do now is fight for your survival. Alternatively, do you think you'll be able to contend with your superiors and even the Cathayan Underworld on your own?"

Qin Ye didn't say anything. After a long while, he finally broke the silence. "Tell me the truth behind the Peach Blossom Spring and Mirage City."

Teana didn't immediately reply. Instead, she merely observed him in silence.

Qin Ye heaved a faint sigh and said, "I have to know what makes it possible for you to protect me. Is the Peach Blossom Spring alone enough to contend with Hell? Would you dare to face the emissaries of the Cathayan Underworld?"

Wang Zhao wasn't even a Netherworld Operative, yet he was speaking to an Infernal Judge in an extremely disrespectful manner. Under normal circumstances, he would be wiped out of existence in the blink of an eye, but instead of becoming enraged, Teana began to chuckle instead. 

He's on the hook... 

She knew that only those willing to negotiate terms were actually interested in what she was proposing. She wasn't worried about being spoken to in a disrespectful manner, what she was worried about was that all of the Emissaries of Hell would continue to remain silent like planks of wood.

As long as there was a willingness to negotiate, there would be a chance for her.

"It seems you have some type of misunderstanding toward the Peach Blossom Spring." Teana wasn't flaunting her superiority as an Infernal Judge in the slightest as she said in a patient voice, "This isn't actually the main city of the Peach Blossom Spring. In reality, no one knows where the main city of the Peach Blossom Spring is. This is Mirage City, and the power that this city possesses..."

She leaned in a little closer as she spoke, and a hint of fanaticism crept into her voice as she continued, "Is completely beyond your imagination! Guess how many powers are gathered here? Let me count them off for you. There are Jack the Ripper and the Zodiac Killer of the Usonian Underworld, each of which has a bounty of five million Yin jade on their heads, there is the Latin Usonian S-rank fugitive, Rasayana, with a bounty of eight million Yin jade, there's also Carlo Lute with a bounty of 7.6 million, as well as the likes of Tomie, Sadako Yamamura, and Otakemaru, all of whom have bounties in excess of ten million..."

Qin Ye's eyes abruptly lit up upon hearing this, and he lowered his head slightly to hide his expression.

All of the leads in his mind were finally strung together into a clear and cohesive line.

From the very beginning, the city on the sea beast's back and the Peach Blossom Spring were two leads that didn't completely intersect one another.

Yes, there were many similarities between them. For example, the city on the sea beast's back was constructed in the style of the Qin and Han Dynasty, which was also the construction style clearly preferred by the owner of the Peach Blossom Spring.

The owner of the Peach Blossom Spring was a Yama-King who had devoured the Taisui fungus, and the experience he had accrued over the 2,000 years that he had been alive would be enough for him to create a moving city.

In order to remain hidden, he only dared to reside in Limbo, not daring to venture into the territorial sea of the Cathayan Underworld. Furthermore, only a moving city like this would allow him to constantly evade Hell by ensuring mobility at all times.

Judging from the timeline and general logic, there was a very good chance that these two were the same person, as evidenced by all of the aforementioned similarities.

However, he didn't have concrete evidence, but just now, Teana had provided him with the evidence that he needed.

Otakemaru was here, and this place was called the Peach Blossom Spring! This created an undeniable link between the two!

"So this place is called the Peach Blossom Spring because it's a paradise for evil ghosts?" Qin Ye's head remained lowered as he spoke as he worried that he wouldn't be able to keep his killing intent from showing in his eyes. The existence of the Peach Blossom Spring and everything that it had done was a direct provocation to him as a ruler!

This was a nation outside of a nation, and it was something that no ruler could tolerate.

The top priority of virtually any ruler in history had been to maintain a unified nation. This was absolutely non-negotiable, and anyone who dared to go against this objective had to die!

Furthermore, that wasn't even taking into account the fact that this place was a sanctuary for heinous evil ghosts like Teana. All of the evil ghosts who had engaged in too much slaughter and were no longer tolerated in their respective underworlds had gathered here!

This was a place beyond the law.

This was no paradise, it was clearly a city of sin!