Yama Rising

In the Special Investigations Department, there was a tall and broad man wearing camouflage clothing. He was arranging his disheveled hair with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, and he turned toward some people in white lab coats who had just emerged from the secret chamber across from him as he asked, "How's it going?"

He appeared to be around 185 to 186 centimeters in height, and as for special characteristics, he didn't really have any of note. If one had to pinpoint something special about him, then it would have to be how handsome he was. He was extremely handsome, so much so that he was practically oozing pheromones...

All of the people wearing white lab coats in front of him were doctors, and their gloves were stained with blood, while all of them wore exhausted expressions. Upon hearing the questions raised by the man, the doctor at the forefront shook his head, and his face was slightly pale as he sighed in response. "We couldn't find out anything. Please come with me, Captain Lin."

The gate off to the side was opened, and despite how old and outdated the building appeared, the equipment it housed was so cutting-edge that few people would be able to understand it, and virtually all of the pieces of equipment had never appeared on the market before. The wall between this room and the next one was a massive pane of floor-to-ceiling armored glass.

Through the glass, a silver surgery platform could be clearly seen in the other room, and there were currently many doctors gathered around the platform, taking notes and making records. It seemed that aside from the science-fiction-like equipment, this entire scene was no different from the surgery room in a normal hospital. However, the subject lying on the platform was the stuff of nightmares.

It was a ball of flesh, one that was already completely twisted and warped.

It was slightly larger than a grown human, and it had a fist-sized human face with countless closed eyes all over its body. There were so many of these eyes that it would be enough to drive a trypophobia sufferer insane. Furthermore, through the eyes of cultivators, it could be clearly seen that there was dense Yin energy emanating from its body.

"It's still displaying signs of life." That sentence alone from the doctor was enough to make the cigarette almost slip out of the mouth of the man in the camouflage clothing.

He turned to the doctor with a stunned expression and asked, "Are you sure you haven't made a mistake? How could a living being possess Yin energy?"

The doctor's brows were also tightly furrowed. "I don't know, but according to the tests that we ran on it, it seems to be in a pseudo-death state. We've employed many tactics to try and stimulate it back to life, but it's displayed no reaction at all. The only thing that can stimulate it at all is Yin energy. I must say, this is extremely perplexing. I've never seen such a strange being before. Captain Lin, you came straight from Yanjing, did you bring some records from the headquarters?"

Captain Lin had almost completely flattened the butt of his cigarette between his front teeth, and a female doctor blushed slightly as she said, "Mr. Lin, smoking is prohibited here..."

"Oh." The man nodded in response before pulling out another cigarette and lighting it.

The room fell silent thereafter, and only after a long while did Captain Lin heave a faint sigh. "Put it in an SSS grade safe, and I'll take it with me."

"Yes."

Right at this moment, his phone suddenly began to ring.

"Fuck... Who the hell's messaging me at this time of night? Do they not sleep?" Captain Lin pulled out his phone amid a short, profanity-laden rant, and as he opened the phone and saw the messenger ID, he was rooted to the spot for a full five seconds. Immediately thereafter, he drew a sharp breath before hurriedly opening his Momo app.

Muscular Pretty Boy: “Look up.”

Captain Lin immediately did as he was told, and right at this moment, a burst of Yin energy suddenly erupted within the room, but the warning devices displayed no reaction whatsoever. The Yin energy plunged the entire room into complete darkness like a veil of mist in the night.

The Yin energy was very dense, denser than any he had ever felt before. However, Captain Lin wasn't fearful at all. Instead, tears had welled up in his eyes as he stared intently up ahead.

Is it him?

As soon as this thought surfaced in his mind, a flood of thoughts and emotions immediately followed.

So many years have passed since then... His picture was still hanging in the first edition of the corridor of teachers in the Academy of Cultivators. During the first mentor conference the year before, there had even been people asking about him, wondering why they hadn't heard his name in the Special Investigations Department.

Among the entire Special Investigations Department, only very few people were aware of what they had seen that night.

"Qin Ye?" Captain Lin tried to repress his excitement to the best of his abilities, but his voice was still trembling with a hint of scorching anticipation.

Right at this moment, the mist of Yin energy rippled slightly, and as soon as his voice trailed off, a hand abruptly shot out of the Yin energy before grabbing onto his cheeks and giving them a gentle squeeze. As a result, his face was immediately pressed into an amusing state, and a familiar voice rang out.

"You must be doing quite well for yourself! To think that you even dare to refer to me directly by my name now. I'll give you 30 seconds to reflect on your mistake, what should you be calling me?"

The insanely handsome show-off that was Captain Lin blinked a few times upon hearing this before putting on a fawning smile, and he had no qualms whatsoever as he called out: "Daddy?"

"Good boy." Qin Ye gently stroked Captain Lin's head like a dog, and the Yin energy subsided to reveal him. "I just so happened to be passing through nearby, so I thought I'd come and pay you a visit."

Neither of them had anticipated that this would be the site of their reunion. The two of them looked into each other's eyes, and both were momentarily at a loss for words. Several seconds later, Qin Ye patted him on the shoulder and said, "Long time no see, Lin Han."

As soon as his voice trailed off, Lin Han immediately pounced on him and gave him a massive bear hug. "Holy shit! You had me worried sick! Were you injured that day? Are you a human or are you a ghost right now?"

Qin Ye patted Lin Han on the back as he replied, "Don't worry, I'm perfectly fine. If you miss me so much, then how about you die? I guarantee you that you'll be able to see me all the time after you die!"

"... That's not a good joke..."

"... It wasn't a joke at all..."

Why are you under the impression that I'm joking? I'm making a very serious suggestion here! You should consider dying every once in a while!

After separating for so many years, Lin Han clearly had countless things that he wanted to say to Qin Ye, and first and foremost, he vehemently asked why Qin Ye hadn't called him during these past years, and he was so worked up that there was spittle flying out of his mouth.

"What could I have done? I also really wanted to call you! My number is strictly confidential in the mortal realm. If I had sent you a message, my number would be tracked instantly by a bunch of people. They'll then find the contents of the message to be: 'Why are you still not dead yet, son? Daddy misses you' ... Wouldn't you die of shame? Oh wait, I forgot that you have no shame anyway. It's a pity that you're so shameless when you're so handsome, but I would be ashamed for the both of us!"

Strangely enough, the poise and disposition of the King Yanluo that Qin Ye had painstakingly developed these past few years instantly disappeared. Upon meeting with this close friend, his IQ was immediately dragged down to the same level...

He was like a husky dog, and now that he was with Qin Ye, the image suddenly turned into one depicting a pair of husky dogs...

Thus, Lin Han let him off the hook for not messaging him, but he then immediately countered by asking why Qin Ye hadn't come to see him. He had sorely missed his good friend during the past six years.

"I was busy," Qin Ye replied with a roll of his eyes. "Unifying a nation isn't child's play, it takes time to take over the reins in Hell! I've been so busy these past few years that I've barely had any time to myself, and everything has only just settled down. Seriously though, consider dying once in a while. Wang Chenghao is getting more and more serious every day, so it's really not fun being around him anymore. I feel like I desperately need a husky dog... No, specifically, I need you to liven up the atmosphere in Hell! What did you want to say just now? You wanted to say that I'm also a husky dog, right? In that case, you've missed a dog for six years! That's what I like most about you, Lin Han, you always have such unique perspectives on things..."

After fooling around for over 10 minutes, the joy of their reunion finally subsided a little.

The conversation that had taken place during the past span of over 10 minutes had been completely useless, and Qin Ye finally asked a serious question. "Why are you here?"

Lin Han's smile faded, and he gestured toward the surgery platform on the other side of the table.

Qin Ye raised an eyebrow and asked, "So you're researching that thing? Are there records of it in the Special Investigations Department?"

"... Can we not talk about this right now? Why ruin our joyful reunion by talking about that thing? Don't you think the atmosphere here is unworthy of people as handsome as us? Come on, let's go get some kebabs, it’ll be my treat."

Qin Ye shook his head as he made his way toward the window. "That can wait, I also came here specifically for that thing."

A grim look appeared on Lin Han's face upon hearing this. He was aware of Qin Ye's identity, so he knew that this had to be an extremely serious matter for Qin Ye to be here in person. "Is that thing really dangerous?"

"I'm not sure... Someone above the Yama-King level is currently on the way here, and I was hoping to get some information from him, so don't transport this thing away for now. What about the Special Investigations Department? Did it have any information on this thing?"

Lin Han didn't seem to have any qualms divulging highly confidential information to Qin Ye, and he replied without any hesitation, "Of course."

He was relaying the information so naturally that it was as if Qin Ye was his direct superior. It had to be said that the bond between father and son was a very special one...

He didn't pause in the slightest before divulging the information that Qin Ye wanted to hear. "Something similar to this has appeared in each of the Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, and they only appeared once per dynasty. Information surrounding this thing is placed in the highest level of confidentiality, and whenever it appears, major disasters are sure to follow. When I say disasters, I'm referring to disasters of the supernatural nature. There have been records of some villages, counties, and even cities being completely transformed into dead hellscapes in a matter of months. Put it this way, this thing is like nuclear radiation, and if you ignore it, you're going to suffer the consequences. In the Special Investigations Department, its serial number is SSS07. You've worked at the Special Investigations Department before, so I'm sure you're aware of the importance of this serial number. The vast majority of people are under the opinion that S tier is the highest level of confidentiality, but there are actually the SS and SSS tiers above it..."

Qin Ye cleared his throat before asking, "What about the SSR and SP tiers?"

"We didn't apply for those tiers. Money has to be spent to enter the draw to secure those tiers, and if you're unlucky, your money will have been spent for nothing. Unfortunately, money can't buy luck..."

The two of them exchanged a derisive glance, expressing mutual disdain through their body language.

Why is it that nothing serious ever comes out of your mouth? This is a very important and serious matter, why are you going around making Onmyoji references?

You're one to talk! Look at how naturally you replied to my Onmyoji reference! You clearly aren't taking this seriously, either!

You're trash...

In the end, both of them arrived at the same assessment of one another. Qin Ye's eyelids twitched slightly as he said in a stern voice, "Stop getting off-topic! This is serious stuff, do you understand?"

"Yes, my apolog... Hold on a minute, you're the one who went off topic! Shut your mouth and listen to your daddy speak!" Lin Han snapped. "SSS is the highest tier of danger in the Special Investigation Department, and there are only 15 subjects in this tier. On top of that, they're ranked according to the level of supernatural threat they entail, and this one is ranked seventh, which places it among the subjects that we currently have no countermeasures against. However, thankfully, it has an extremely low probability of spawning. Currently, the Special Investigations Department has already collected six similar subjects in different colors, and with this one thrown into the mix, we should be able to summon Shenron right away!"

Qin Ye felt like he was on the verge of throwing up blood.

He was truly amazed that Lei Jun hadn't passed away from a heart attack when he had trash subordinates like this...

"What's its codename?" Qin Ye asked as he gently skimmed his fingers along the glass and cast his gaze toward the twisted ball of flesh.

"Peach Blossom."

Qin Ye's eyes abruptly lit up upon hearing this.

Peach Blossom... Peach Blossom Spring... Is there some kind of correlation here?

Where did this thing come from? Had it really just washed on some beach someday like an alien?

"Why does it have this codename?"

Lin Han scratched his head in response. "It's probably because when you're in close proximity to it, there will be female ghosts coming out every night to seduce you..."

My god, how do you even think of these stupid things?! Qin Ye's lips were quivering with rage, and he was on the verge of ending this friendship with this idiot right then and there!

Right at this moment, a calm and mature voice rang out across the entire room. "That's not the case."

Qin Ye faltered slightly before looking with a surprised expression. "General Zhao?"

Zhao Yun slowly emerged out of thin air with a grim expression, and he appraised the twisted creature on the other side of the glass for quite a while before continuing, "Its codename is indeed Peach Blossom, and that applies even in Hell. That's because at the very core of the bodies of these creatures, there is always a six-petaled peach blossom symbol."

[1] [Onmyoji is a popular Chinese mobile game which I'm completely unacquainted with, but according to my brief research, there are characters, or Shikigami, that can be summoned in the game, and the highest levels of rarity for these summoned characters are SSR and SP.]

[2] [This is a reference to popular manga and anime series, Dragon Ball, in which seven dragon balls bearing different numbers of stars can be gathered to summon Shenron, a divine dragon capable of granting a wish.]

[3] [In Chinese culture, the peach blossom is closely tied with romantic affairs. In fact, there is a term "桃花运", which translates directly to peach blossom luck, that relates to your luck with the opposite sex. The more peach blossom luck you have, the more attractive and popular you'll be with the opposite sex, and this link between the peach blossom and romance is what's being alluded to here.]