Yama Rising

As Qin Ye left the police station, he glanced at his cell phone. It was already midnight.

Qin Ye sighed in his heart as they checked into a decent-looking hotel. Qin Ye, Wang One Tail and Oda Nobutada each had one room to themselves. As soon as Qin Ye entered his own room, he set up a barrier sequestering him from the rest of the mortal realm, and then pulled out the spirit pen.

The spirit pen didn’t respond. Qin Ye frowned and promptly tightened his grip around the pen. At once, his arm moved as though he had a life of its own, and the pen began to write on a piece of paper.

“The closer we are, the clearer the sensation will get. Besides, I was nearly reduced to dust in the battle with Crow Tengu and Black Yaksha earlier. Please understand my situation, my Lord.”

“Yes.”

His entire body appeared pale and pasty, almost as though he’d been soaking in the waters for far too long. The rims of his eyes were dark, while bloody tears trickled out of the dark crevices in his eyes. A stream of black blood also poured out from his slightly agape lips. It was an incomparably hideous sight.

What a strong aura of resentment…

Bloop… bloop… Qin Ye frowned. It was the sound of people breathing out underwater.

“Save me…”

“There’s a demon here… I don’t want to die… I’m only 15…”

He abhorred the living.

He became a Hellguard as soon as he passed on?

“Logically speaking, you shouldn’t be filled with that much resentment even if you’d died by drowning.” Qin Ye didn’t have the slightest fear of the spirit pen. Instead, he simply stared at the mirror in front of him with great interest, “I’d initially thought that it was only a weak benign spirit that had attached itself to Xia Jinse. Who would’ve thought it would be an evil ghost as powerful as you are? But it stands to reason as well. The lord and master of the Hanyang Underworld is only an Infernal Judge. I can’t believe you’ve managed to survive for such a long time as an Anitya Hellguard without being caught by the underworld. You must have died a horrific death in order to progress that quickly. What is your name?”

“How did you die?” Qin Ye opened a bottle of water and continued his line of questioning placidly.

Unfortunately, Kwon Kyung-ho remained silent.

Just like human beings, ghosts had their grievances and regrets as well. Qin Ye didn’t intend to press the point either. He lay back onto the bed and nodded softly, “How long have you been following Lee Jung-sook?”

He’d clearly been following Lee Jung-sook for some time.

Qin Ye wasn’t interested to find out just how one lady and one ghost had encountered each other. Rather, what he was more curious about was the fact that if Xia Jinse had encountered a true evil ghost, then there was a high chance that she would have been in touch with the forces dealing with the supernatural in Daehan as well!

Incidentally, that would be Qin Ye’s best bet if he were to uncover the truth about the living hell plaguing Gyeonggi Province in Daehan!

“I’ve been following her for three years. She was first exposed to these things in a small church in Hanyang. Zion City Church…” Kwon Kyung-ho spoke raspily, “The pastor is called Ahn Jun-ho, a devout clergyman. You know, it’s possible to tell at a glance whether a man was pious and devout or not. All you had to do is to look behind that man and see if there were any spirits following him. And to this end, that man didn’t have a single spirit within a ten meter radius of his presence.”

Qin Ye lowered his eyes and pondered for some time, “Has he always been at Zion City Church?”

“And how are the defenses of the church like?”

Excellent… Qin Ye tapped his fingers gently on his bedside table, before adding, “Incheon is only approximately 50 kilometers from Hanyang. We’ll head straight there tomorrow morning.”

The second day. Qin Ye got up at 8.00 a.m. sharp, and took a taxi straight to Hanyang. Soon, a bustling city appeared on the horizon.

That said, it wasn’t quite as prosperous as Eastsea. After all Eastsea was well-known for its construction and infrastructure mania. As far as Hanyang was concerned, its infrastructure and urban facilities were probably comparable to some of the second-tier cities in Cathay at best. Even then, the streets were still bustling with activity.

Their complexion and the colour of their pupils were all similar to that of Cathayan people. Qin Ye was initially curious as to the sights that he would behold, but he soon got used to the fresh ‘scenery’ around him.

“Things aren’t too different around these parts…” Wang Chenghao was clearly dismayed by the lack of freshness in his surroundings, and he continued to mumble and grumble, “I mean, that’s all there is to Hanyang. The city centre is located near Namsan, and Myeongdong is located in the vicinity as well. You’ll see many schools around, including Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, and Changyonggung… Eh, speaking of which, isn’t our cab travelling in the direction of Myeongdong? I recall taking this highway that runs around the mountainous region the last time I’ve come here…”

“It’s situated next to Hanyang Eagle Peak Elementary School and Kwanghee Middle School. The Yingchunghwa Park and Eagle Mountain are situated just behind, together with… Zion City Church.”

“There’s… a building?!” The young child of a landlord was incredibly startled, “Please be mindful of the words you’re using…”

Qin Ye pulled out his phone and booted up the map of Hanyang, located Daelim One Apartments, and then pointed to the map, “6B is this building. The entire building is owned by a lady called Kim Tae-ji, who is known to be as close as a sister to Lee Jung-sook, and incidentally also one of the minor directors of Samsung. Even then, the true owner of this building is in fact Lee Jung-sook. The layout of this building is completely different to that of other buildings around.”

Wang One Tail gulped nervously. His pride as the prodigal son of a landlord had crumbled in an instant.

To think that I’d still acted all high and mighty back in Clear Creek County. Sister Lee would’ve guffawed at my naivete…

Wang Chenghao scanned through the contents of his phone, desperately searching for a way to change the topic of their conversation, “Speaking of which, don’t you think there are many churches in Daehan? There’s practically a church in every neighbourhood… Catholicism seems to be rife around these parts…”

Just then, the car finally came to a halt. The Daelim One Apartments development was now located right in front of them.

Things here weren’t vastly different from a regular Cathayan development. The security guard was merely ceremonial in nature. All they had to do was to hang around outside the gate, before tailgating the ajummas returning from their marketing into the development. And then, they simply waltzed right up to the front of Building 6B.

Building 6B was ostensibly different from any other buildings around. The entrance to the building was protected by an electronic lock mounted on a fiberglass door.

“The access code is Irewi54#@. There’s likely nobody around right now. Kim Tae-ji generally comes by once every six months. If no one is in, you can punch in the code and enter the building directly.”

Neither Qin Ye nor the lady said a single word. Qin Ye hadn’t expected someone to be around, nor had she expected any visitors today. After a few seconds of awkward silence, she finally spoke with unmistakable wariness, “Who sent you?”