Yama Rising

Each one of them was about a meter in size, and their bodies were enclosed in a carapace which gleamed with a faint sheen. Their eyes blazed with intense, scarlet netherflames. On the surface, there didn’t seem to be anything particular extraordinary about their appearance. But when they started shrieking and struggling on the ground, one would then discover… that there was actually the appearance of a face hidden right underneath their wings!

Buzz… The twenty or so blight vermin were repelled by Qin Ye’s attack at once, and their wings vibrated with a loud buzz as they hovered about in place, as though confused. On the other hand, Qin Ye didn’t even bother to take a second look at them. Instead, he promptly turned his gaze to the end of the street.

Countless crimson lanterns and white, draping curtains hung all around the building, enshrouding it with an air of gravity and magnificence. The carved beams around the building were incredibly luxurious. Yet what was perhaps most eye-catching of all were the words ‘Pavilion of Transcendence’ that were etched in sprawling, scarlet lettering right above the main entrance to the building. One could only imagine how majestic the sight would be when Yin spirits came and went from the building on a regular working day in the old Hell. Unfortunately, it was quiet as a tomb right now, shrouded only by a sense of eerie serenity.

“You’re scaring this little kid… How are you going to take responsibility for it if you scare the kid to death?!” He tilted the spirit streamer and adjusted the angle of his thrust. It had to be mentioned that the exposed backs of the blight vermin were much softer and more vulnerable to attacks as compared to it’s hard carapace.

Ahh… Push! Keep Going!

“Argh… I might have gone a little bit too far…” He muttered with a playful tone of voice before retracting his spirit streamer and making a beeline straight for the tall building made of wood and stone. But just then, the blight vermin that Qin Ye had stabbed earlier suddenly expanded in a grotesque manner, and a fountain of Yin energy suddenly began spewing and spurting out of its body, reaching heights of several meters on end. And then, a split second later, it unleashed a heart-rending cry that was completely disproportionate to its size!

The cry was so loud and sonorous that the surface of the ground even trembled slightly. The miserable screech of the blight vermin seemed to reverberate endlessly. Kkkkkrrrrr… The ground and building around creaked and trembled softly. Qin Ye was completely flabbergasted by the turn of events. With a shocked gasp, he turned tail and began to dash away.

“Bloody hell… it can even do such a thing?!” Qin Ye’s expressions turned ashen - It’s all your stupid misbehaving hand’s fault! It’s fine to indulge in such pleasures of life once in a while, but… there’s just too much going on right now! Wouldn’t I die of exhaustion at this rate?!

Herd mentality.

He had come to realize that the blight vermin weren’t completely devoid of sentience at all. Rather, they were simply simple-minded creatures that were only able to act upon the most primal of their instincts.

What do I do… what should I do?!

The tide of Yin energy rushed straight into the main entrance of the Pavilion of Transcendence. Several seconds later, with a loud roar of vibrating wings, hundreds of blight vermin rushed straight into the building and permeated every part of it they could find. The doors and windows within the building were instantly shattered and crumbled to pieces.

Therefore, he knew that his best bet right now lay in a bottleneck strategy.

Otherwise, it would be nigh impossible to escape from their onslaught as soon as the blight vermin began to pile up on his body. How could he risk losing the great legacy of Hell to these creatures?

It was the entrance to the stairs leading straight up to the second floor.

There was no room for second thoughts. He took a deep breath and dashed straight towards the second floor. The buzzing of what sounded like a fleet of bomber-jets followed closely behind his back.

The entrance wasn’t too far away. As he dashed forward in the form of a nethergale, Qin Ye’s spirit streamer had already begun to materialize in front of him. Then, as soon as he arrived on the second floor, copious Yin energy instantly converged around him, and he reappeared in his Hell’s Emissary state once more, where he promptly… turned around.

He was going to confront the rushing tide for the very first time.

An oppressive dark light instantly erupted from the spirit streamer, and the innumerable talismans on it lit up in quick succession. When the black tide finally arrived before Qin Ye, there was already a small, one-inch tall man just in front of the spirit streamer. The man was congealed from dense Yin energy, and he stood in place, yawning lazily as though unfazed by the blight vermin.

The entire scene went completely silent in that instant.

It was as though everything froze in that single instant. And then, a split second later, the dozens of blight vermin that were leading the charge shrieked in terror, turned around, and frantically began to scramble to a retreat.

Whoosh… The massive tide of blight vermin appeared like a sloshing river that surrounded the Pavilion of Transcendence on the outside. However, it was too late.

Just then, the one-inch tall man slowly opened his eyes, and a majestic wave of Yin energy instantly rippled out and filled every corner of the Pavilion of Transcendence, distorting the air wherever it passed. It was as though an invisible netherflame were burning bright in the heart of the building. A moment later, the one-inch tall man opened its mouth and unleashed a violent roar.

Boom! Clink clink clink!

Clatter clatter… The ground of the Pavilion of Transcendence cracked. However, Qin Ye didn’t even bother to watch how the one-inch man dealt with the rest of the blight vermin. Instead, he immediately turned around and ran straight into the second floor and tossed the spirit streamer behind him, firmly bolting the doorway behind him to the exclusion of all other blight vermin around.

Moments later, he wiped the sweat off his forehead, before finally taking the time to look around the Pavilion of Transcendence.

It was grand and elegant, and it looked no different from what one would expect of such buildings in the mortal realm. The building was primarily constructed out of maroon-coloured wood. That said, the carvings here were different. Similar buildings in the mortal realm would have been decorated with carvings of nature, including birds, flora and fauna, while the Pavilion of Transcendence was instead decorated with carvings depicting the Eighteen Abysses of Punishment.

Just then, Qin Ye suddenly heard several sharp hisses coming from around the building. He cursed under his breath and scrambled to his feet - I knew things wouldn’t be resolved as easily as that!

There would at least be a few stragglers... These things are like drugs - once you start on them, you’ll never be able to shake it off. In fact, you’ll only need more and more until… it finally overwhelms you.

Buzz, buzz, buzz! Just as he began to search around for a directory, the light which illuminated the room suddenly became dappled and spotted. Furthermore, he could once again hear a loud buzzing sound approaching him, as though a bomber had just taken off.

He was gazing right out of the window, staring transfixed at a massive black cloud in the distance that was far greater than the one he had earlier encountered. And the massive cloud was charging straight towards the Pavilion of Transcendence right now!

He immediately crouched down and got low. The massive cloud of blight vermin arrived at the Pavilion of Transcendence within moments, surrounding it like massive black tethers that blotted out all sources of light from the building. It didn’t take long for the entire Pavilion of Transcendence to be completely wrapped up by terrifying blight vermins.

Then, a second later.

Craaaaaackk! Structural beams cracked, pillars snapped and windows shattered. The Pavilion of Transcendence was no longer shielded by the protective formation arrays of the old Hell, and it had actually begun to crumble under the sheer force of the mighty blows of thousands of blight vermin!