Yama Rising

Emotional, affectionate and steadfast… just like the two dolphins in the drama serial “At the Dolphin Bay”.

“Couldn’t you just shift your disgusting gaze away a little?” Qin Ye had the look of a bodhi on his face as he drew something on some paper in front of him. He continued with a deep, unwavering voice, “I’m a straight man, thank you very much. Ramrod straight. It doesn’t matter what position you use or whether you attack me with the Durex KY Jelly lube. I’ll still refuse your advances.”

Qin Ye’s stoic expression faded away, and he immediately grew displeased, “I don’t like what I’m hearing - what do you mean by ‘just your looks’? I’ve always been the benchmark of attractiveness before you came along, alright?!”

Qin Ye couldn’t be bothered to pay anymore attention to the hot commodity in front of him that was a ramshackle of muscles, and he subconsciously twirled the pen in his hands. There were several sheets of paper in front of him right now, each of which depicted the facades of several buildings of Hell. He was currently drawing up the buildings of Hell with the aid of his limited drawing abilities.

It had been five days since he had delved into the topological map of Hell. Over the last few nights, save for three to four hours of sleep a night, Qin Ye had been painstakingly recalling and recording the specifications of every building and structure he had seen in the village of the old Hell. His eye bags were so large that present appearances were no different from that of a

Soul induction platform.

Without this, there was simply no telling how much obstruction Emissaries of Hell would encounter when they reaped souls in future. Few people, if any, were willing to leave the mortal realm of their own volition, especially when they have just passed on. After all, who in their right mind would be willing to be strung up with rope and led to Hell like a row of ants? If one or two of Yin spirits end up escaping, or if an Emissary of Hell fails to arrive on scene in time, the consequences could well be dire.

Some Yin spirits, such as the spirits of cultivators, become too powerful after death. These special Yin spirits are able to remain in the mortal realm for a protracted period of time, or even awaken from their stupor and regain their consciousness as soon as they reach the entrance to Hell. These Yin spirits might even develop the notion that they shouldn’t go down to Hell. Whenever something like that happens, the soul induction platform would have to be activated in order to forcibly drag these Yin spirits down to Hell.

“And what makes my balls ache is the fact that the soul induction platform draws its power from the six paths of reincarnation. It’s almost as though the six paths are the mainframe, while the soul induction platform is merely an extension of it - it would be equipped with certain functions of the mainframe, but it could never compare with the mainframe at all.” Qin Ye nearly broke the tip of his pen in frustration, “The soul induction platform is supposed to be able to suppress the memories of the Yin spirit until they arrive at the Naraka Bridge. But as things stand right now… its power will last for one full day at best…”

Should he still construct the weakened version of the soul induction platform?

“Uh-huh?” Lin Han grunted with a stern, no-nonsense expression, as though he were seriously paying attention in class right now.

Lin Han stared back at Qin Ye as though he’d just seen a ghost, and yet there was also an expression of “been there, done that” written all over his face, “I can’t believe you’ve got such an antiquated mindset…”

“I’m saying ‘what if’! Don’t you know what ‘what if’ means?”

He coughed lightly, “Although I’m not sure which college girl this is, the first thing you’ve got to know is that it’s simply irresponsible to have a child while she’s still in college. We’re as good as agents of the law, and it’s not right if we know the law yet break it… What the hell, where did your saber come from? Put it down, dear, let’s talk things through nicely…”

Qin Ye was so annoyed by how ludicrous Lin Han’s responses were that he became tickled by it instead. He should have known better than to have broached the issue with such a silly analogy. Qin Ye sneered coldly, “Why didn’t you get a vasectomy?”

How did you even pass the Special Investigations Department’s test and interviews to begin with?!

They were clearly operating on different wavelengths, so Qin Ye gave up this line of inquiry with Lin Han. His eyes fell back onto the exercise book in front of him. After a long time, he sighed once more, and crossed out two of the three buildings drawn on it.

The oblation receptacle was something that enabled the offerings made during the three major ghost festivals to pass directly into Hell. And get this - they went straight to the government, and not into the possession of their intended recipients!

This was completely outrageous.

And mind you, this was an extremely lavish palace to boot, replete with proper pavilions and beautiful wall murals. Word even had it that the main palace gate was completely gilded with gold, and the tiles were all handcrafted glazed tiles. The technique for making such tiles was practically a lost art…

“I’ll admit your brilliance when it comes to profiteering from the dead…” Qin Ye sighed with resignation as he turned to the final building in his notebook.

This building had only one purpose… and that was to detect the possibility of mutations in the Yin spirits within its vicinity!

This was Hell’s radar.

“The City of Salvation is extremely safe, and there’s simply no need for this building at this point in time. It’s never too late to build it later on when I’m developing the next city of Hell. What’s most important now is to focus on settling the ghostly citizens in proper lodging, and then giving them something to do. Establishing a small community would kill two birds with one stone. Everything else… can be set aside for now.”

How vast were these reconstruction works of Hell? It could practically be described to be one of the greatest projects in the history of the world! In fact, it was simply impossible to estimate at this stage the amount of space they would have to set aside for future plans, or the specifications or dimension of the other special structures and buildings of Hell. All this while, it was as though he were treading precariously on thin ice in the dark. And yet, this moment of clarity felt like a brief moment of respite, like an autumn morning breeze sweeping away the gloomy darkness!

“Everything has now been sorted out. All we need now is for the east wind to blow in our favour.” He leaned back on his seat and immediately felt a tide of weariness surge straight into his body. His entire body felt like it had finally been loosened from its tightly wound state, and every single one of his cells cheered with elation at the moment of reprieve.

“Our Cathayan words have inked five thousand years of history, the world shall know…” A phone’s ringtone resounded. Qin Ye rubbed his reddened eyes, yawned loudly, and immediately answered the call without even checking who the caller was, “Hello?”

Qin Ye’s sleepiness immediately dissipated like smoke, and he wiped his face with his hands, “Have you managed to procure the construction equipment?”

“Yes. Do you want to inspect the goods now? They’re currently held in 231-4 Clearspring Street, where the former cable factory was located.”

Humans are strange creatures. Previously when there was no goal for him to work towards, Qin Ye would be so lethargic and laid back that he would constantly invite the finger from those around him. Yet as soon as he fixed his eyes on a goal, his body instinctually moved with incredible vigor.

One hour later, he finally arrived at the entrance to the factory. A man in his twenties was already waiting there for him with more than a dozen people around him. As soon as he saw Qin Ye’s arrival, he immediately extended his hand politely, “Mr Qin, Mr Sun has instructed us to serve you well. This is why we have mobilized our staff and the representatives of various companies to explain everything to your satisfaction.”

These premises had already been abandoned for some time now, and the factory installations had already been razed to the ground. It was evident that the remaining buildings had been regularly maintained by someone else.

Zhao Prefecture Industries, Tai Prefecture Instruments, Mistriver Steel… His eyes swept across the row of towering steel behemoths, and his heart immediately burned with passion as he looked at the names of the somewhat familiar heavy industrial groups. These were all names which he had heard of before.

He had come a long way - from denial, to acceptance, and to his present state of embracing initiatives. This tall order had even assumed centerstage as the core ambition of his life! It had taken several months, and there was a mountain of things to be done, but was finally on the road to being restored to its former glory right now!

It was a brand new start!

This was the prelude to a new era of glory that would cause the entire Cathay to tremble!

1. This is a variety of ancient chinese seal scripts. The name comes from the tadpole-shaped characters with big heads and tails. These scripts appeared after the Han Dynasty (202 BC-8 AD), and was rarely seen after the Tang Dynasty (618 AD - 907 AD).

2. These are lyrics to a song called 生僻字 (loosely translated as ‘Unfamiliar Words’), by 陈柯宇 (Chen Keyu)