Yama Rising

Qin Ye smiled, “I’m an orphan, and I’ve been wandering the world since I was a kid. I was born with the Yin-Yang Eyes, and I’ve seen many things in my travels. The term ‘nightmare spirit’ is something that I’ve come up with, because… the spirit is just like a nightmare - pervasive and formless.”

“Every time he woke up, he would always yell at the top of his voice, ‘There’s a ghost… a ghost is coming to kill me!’ This man began to grow visibly emaciated. You might not know this, but vagabonds live from hand to mouth, and nobody has the capacity to care for others at all. In fact, the life of a vagabond is dictated by the doctrine of every man for himself, and one would even need to keep an eye out for others snatching food from them. That’s why… I hid myself extremely well - so well that few people could uncover my location.”

“This air-raid shelter was built a long time ago. They’re not even recorded in our building plans from thirty years ago. Furthermore, these shelters are twelve meters underground, well below the level of most foundations. It’s probably not constructed by Cathayans to begin with. This is probably why we’d failed to discover its existence all this while.”

“That man was mutilated by several knife wounds, and his death was incredibly tragic. Despite that, the air-raid shelter was too good a shelter to pass up, and nobody wanted to leave at all. Therefore, after disposing of the corpse, we continued to live in the shelter.”

“From that day on, someone died everyday for three days straight! I immediately made up my mind to leave the shelter. But just as I was leaving, I suddenly saw the man who had been having nightmares walk past a fire pit.”

Old Man Yu remarked, “Shadows are one of the key distinguishing factors between humans and ghosts. A man without shadows… must mean that he’s a ghost. Was he the nightmare spirit?”

Old Man Yu wasn’t listening to it as anyone would a mere story.

“After wandering about for the next ten months, I returned to the air-raid shelter once more.”

He breathed heavily, “With my eyes… I could see that there were a dozen souls hovering about just outside the shelter. Apart from the ones who had already died by the time I’d left the shelter, there were several others. In other words… the air-raid shelter had already become a nest of evil that devours all life.”

Old Man Yu nodded deeply. But in the next moment, his eyes immediately widened, and he stared at Qin Ye, “Are you saying… that it was already a Hellguard-class evil ghost?!”

“In a single year?!” Old Man Yu gasped, “Are you certain?!”

Old Man Yu probed further, “Do you still remember where that air-raid shelter is located?”

Even if they went down to Basil City to search the area, they would only be able to find an abandoned air-raid shelter, and possibly some traces of Qin Ye’s stay in the past.

Life was tragic back then…

“Quality is of far greater significance than quantity!”

Old Man Yu was deep in thought. That said, he also looked visibly excited.

Millions of people lived in a single city, and a provincial capital city housed more than ten million citizens! A single oversight leading to the emergence of an extremely rare Yin spirit in such a heavily populated location…

Furthermore… He couldn’t help but shudder uncontrollably.

It’s high time for the establishment of the Department of Yin Spirit Classification… This was rejected the last time I’d brought it up. But this time, I simply have to see things through by hook or by crook. This is no laughing matter! As these thoughts ran through Professor Yu’s mind, he looked at Qin Ye and smiled radiantly, “Little Qin, what plans do you have in mind for the future?”

Old Man Yu smiled.

“I’m referring to your plans after graduation.” He smiled casually, “S-class agents like you can’t possibly stay at the First Academy of Cultivators forever. You’d probably teach there for a full term of two years at best. And then you’ll be deployed back to the frontline with your usual investigator duties.”

“The SRC has a special division called the Operations Division. We can’t bother the Special Investigations Department for everything after all. Thus, the SRC has its own operative forces as well as its own set of cultivators. Furthermore…”

In other words, as long as you come to the SRC, you’ll immediately become a big shot who stands at the frontline of the battle against the supernatural forces!

Nobody had expected an outcome like this!

His first postulation was that Yin energy could be latently concealed in a person’s bloodline. No… Yin energy has always been a part of a person’s body. After all, the constitution of one’s body was founded upon a balance of both Yin and Yang energy. However, the idea that latent Yin energy could be triggered by external causes was a concept that was completely outrageous. Yet, upon closer inspection, it wasn’t completely impossible either!

Qin Ye’s third contribution was his conclusion. Even though his words didn’t carry much weight, he had nevertheless in his own ways affirmed Old Man Yu’s hypothesis, that there was diversity among Yin spirits. He had even gone one step further by saying that the harsher and more stringent the conditions for the conception of special Yin spirits, the stronger they would be when they appeared.

“Old Man Yu has personally invited him…” One of the men in white lab coats revealed a bitter smile as he conceded, “We’ve been here for several years now… but none of us have ever done enough to receive Old Man Yu’s personal recommendation. It looks like Qin Ye has completely outdone himself…”

Even though Lin Han wasn’t able to fully appreciate what the recommendation meant, he could still appreciate the gravitas of the person making the recommendation.

Everyone stared at the screen in silence, and they couldn’t help but wish that they were in Qin Ye’s shoes right now. At the same time, everyone also wanted to know what Qin Ye’s response would be.

Are you kidding?!

Do you think I’m looking to commit suicide…

I simply adore how you wish to immediately reciprocate my kindness!

“Alright then, we’ll be wrapping up the video and sending it to Yan Capital immediately. We shan’t hold you back any longer.” Old Man Yu stood up and sent off his guests with a simple statement.

Can’t you let others finish their statement first?

You’re not playing by the rules, old man!

“Bloody hell!!!” Su Feng and Lin Han cursed in unison below.

Where the hell has your face gone?!!

“This idiot…” Lin Han’s lips trembled, “Isn’t this the public lecture that everyone has to conduct?! Isn’t he just cheating right now?!”

What happened to fair play?

Are you going to wait for us there?

“Ahh? Aren’t we supposed to be asking him about his ‘Lost Tracks’ mission?” Lin Han couldn’t keep up with the developments.

He exploded with an ashen face, “Let’s go back and prepare for class!!”

“At least there’s hope of securing 100 credits if we take things seriously in our preparation work. If we continue to mess around… heh heh… do you really want to let this kid run us over like that?”

1. Referred to in chapter 9. In Chinese folklore, the Yin-Yang Eyes refer to a psychic ability to see or perceive ghosts or supernatural beings that are ordinarily invisible to normal people.

2. Approximately 1949