Yama Rising

It was now early June. The sun shone radiantly.

Cruise ships drifted along the wide river, while thousands of foreign tourists held up their cameras on the opposite bank of the river, doing their level best to capture a panoramic view of the majestic city. Pedestrian traffic was heavy around these parts.

The city was clearly bustling, yet there was a peculiar sense of tranquility when one stood on the other side of the river bank.

“I’ll say, why do you have to pull such a long face in every photograph we take?” The three instructors were all dressed in ordinary civilian clothes, and Local Bully was flipping through the photographs with great dissatisfaction, “Is it really that painful being framed in the same photograph as me? I’ll have you know that I’ve always been ranked among the topmost good-looking men from elementary school all the way through to college. How can I not be good enough for you?”

“Where shall we go after this?” Local Bully asked with great excitement, to which Qin Ye responded lazily, “Back to the hotel, for a siesta.”

“Save it.” Su Feng was somewhat worn out as well. He sipped at his drink and basked in the warm sunlight like a relaxed cat, “We’ve got a whole month ahead of us. The academic forum isn’t going to take any more than a single week. We’ve got all the time we want in the remaining three weeks to hang out. That’s plenty.”

Qin Ye couldn’t have asked for anything more. With that, he got onto a cab with Su Feng and headed straight back to their hotel which was located along the riverbank. His room was on the 32nd floor. From there, he had a view of the sprawling economic district of the entire city.

The suitcase should have been filled with stacks of neatly arranged clothes, toiletries and other personal effects. The clothes were still there, but there were striking lines of red words scrawled across every single part of the suitcase, “Screw your mother!” “How dare you manhandle me?!” “I’m warning you! I’ll sue you for abusing the elderly if you don’t let me out right now!”

“I’m surprised you still remember my existence, huh.”

“Can’t! No way! Nothing doing! This isn’t going to end well! You think you’re really good aren’t you? You slip out to have fun on your own, and yet you don’t even think for a moment to let me out of the suitcase?! Are you even aware of how claustrophobic it is in there?! How are you going to make it up to me if I lose my mind there?!”

Holy crap?

Silence.

“Hey! Bring it on! Toss me! What are you, a coward?! Oh, I’m soooo scared. I’m trembling with fear. I dare you to do it!”

“Hahaha! I’m sooooo scared! Let me tell you something, you won’t be able to do anything without me on this trip! I don’t care. I’m not going to take this lying down! If I don’t make you apologize to me today, my surname isn’t Ming!”

Just like that, their exchange continued with great aggression, and neither was willing to back down. Perhaps Qin Ye realized that this was leading nowhere, and he motioned to pull back his arm after dozens more seconds of infuriated exchanges. Then, just as he was about to pull the mirror back and toss it hard back onto the bed, he accidentally slammed his hand onto the window frame, and reflexively loosened his grip in pain. Before he could react to the situation, Ming Shiyin was already falling through the sky with a great cry.

Holy shit?!

He simply couldn’t fathom what he was going to do against the army of the Nipponese underworld without the aid of Ming Shiyin!

But miracles rarely happen.

“Bloody hell…” His reality completely shattered, and he could feel his legs weaken. Then, one second later, Ming Shiyin slammed straight onto the person’s head with a loud crash!

Qin Ye let out an agonized groan as he ran his fingers through his hair helplessly and collapsed to his knees in pain.

“Eh?” Just then, his look of despondence gave way to a somber expression, and he abruptly shot to his feet and peered down once more.

“This is… Yin energy…” Qin Ye gasped, and his scalp went numb. The first notion that crossed his mind was that he should leave immediately!

Boom!

“No… this isn’t just Yin energy.” After scrutinizing the scene below for another two seconds, Qin Ye licked his lips and muttered aloud, “This is… Yin energy from an emissary!”

“They’ve… already arrived!”

“They are of the same view as I - that Guardian Auctions wouldn’t be entering the high seas through Yan Capital, and Eastsea is naturally the best option. Therefore…”

“If something goes wrong, the worst case scenario would be if Oda Nobunaga fully awakens, and I fail to seize his soul. But this is still Cathayan territory after all! It would be incredibly difficult for Oda Nobunaga to make it back to Nipponese territories. And such developments would essentially buy them all the time they need…”

“Emissary.” Qin Ye quickly stuffed the mirror back into his suitcase and made his way towards the front desk, “There’s a 99% chance that it’s a Nipponese emissary. They’re planning to make a move here! We’ve got to leave immediately. If we dally any longer… we’ll find ourselves the target of some unwanted attention!”

And right as he opened up the windows to his room, his eyes immediately narrowed.

There were a total of three prominent Yin energy signatures that were quickly converging in this location. Each energy signature had transformed into a powerful nethergale, and there was a humanoid figure located at the front of each nethergale. Each figure carried a banner on its back, and they screamed and wailed as they charged towards the hotel!

Qin Ye grew taciturn.

This was the subtle effects of Arthis’ influence on him. He had already come to terms with the fact that he would be the future King Yanluo of Hell. And now, having heard Arthis speak of the glories of the old Hell ever so often, and faced with the encroachment of Nipponese emissaries onto his own territory, he felt incredibly displeased.

What measure of disrespect is this?

1. Anyone getting the image of a headless man with bombs for hands running at you?