Yama Rising

“One of it belongs to Arthis… but I wonder who the other one is?” Qin Ye looked away from the ruins of the Pavilion of Transcendence and stared into the distance, where he could see the visible undulations of the ground rippling out as far as ten thousand meters away. Like a massive earthquake, the great roar sent a massive curtain of water surging out of the great lake in the distance.

The creature was completely pitch-black in colour, and it looked like a huge version of the blight vermin he had earlier encountered. A jade-green netherflame appeared to blaze underneath its shiny carapace, while a row of scarlet eyes stared menacingly at its surroundings. There was a large face of a woman located right underneath its wings, and she appeared to be crying and wailing in pain. And right in the center of this colossal blight vermin’s belly sat another scarlet. Yet this eye appeared somewhat different from the rest. It stared down condescendingly at this world as though it were a demonic beast intent on stirring up chaos in the broken old Hell.

Its position gave it a vantage point over a substantial portion of Fengdu Necropolis. Yet, its rows of eyes were all staring transfixed at the person that was positioned directly in front of it, and an intimidating, thunderous sound emanated from its body.

Gulp… Qin Ye gulped nervously. Then, with great resolution… he looked for a place to hide himself, carefully peeking out from under his cover as he continued to watch the duel of the Judges discreetly.

The other blight vermin are so cute and tiny, and they remind me of the good old days of chasing beetles. So what’s with the sudden sci-fi spin to this?!

Whoosh! Like a black spider lily in full bloom, her hair sublimated into wisps of Yin energy that quickly took the form of Yin spirits. Within moments, they converged together like a rushing tsunami of Yin spirits wailing with grievances as they rushed straight towards the monarch vermin!

BOOM!!!

It was an endless cycle of death and destruction, rebirth and suppression. Large numbers of blight vermin perished to the flames each second, only to act as fuel that encouraged the spread of the burgeoning inferno of netherflames. Within moments, the originally dark night sky lit up with brilliant splashes of gold, red, green, white and black like an enchanting light display.

Each of them possessed the power to alter the heavens and reshape the earth. The might of the clash left terrifying visions and illusions in its wake. A great inferno soared as high as the skies, while Yin energy poured out in all directions like a desolate field of devastation. Yet, despite all that, the incredible sight drew out a sense of awe and reverence from onlookers around.

Boom! Netherflames licked the canopy of the skies, while blight vermin scattered everywhere. The brilliant milky way in the night sky above cast a dappled shadow over Oda Nobunaga’s face. He gazed into the distance with a vacant stare for some time, before finally sighing wistfully, “Perhaps it’s not a bad thing to pledge allegiance to them after all.”

The inferno fuelled by the tides of Yin spirits and blight vermin rose high into the sky. Several minutes of stalemate resulted in a pillar of inferno that rose thousands of meters into the sky, spinning wildly as it inched closer to the monarch vermin, crushing everything in its path of travel.

A split-second later, the bloated blight vermin exploded all at the same time!

“Art--...” Qin Ye responded immediately. But before he could even finish speaking, Arthis interjected with great urgency, “Have you gathered everything?! If you have, we must leave right now!”

Qin Ye frowned in dismay, and he glanced at the old Hell with great reluctance.

I wonder how much of Hell’s legacy of thousands of years remains hidden in the deep recesses of Fengdu Necropolis?

Judge versus Judge. This was a duel that left no room for interference from the rest who were around.

Simultaneously, everyone felt their bodies being flung into the sky, shooting straight towards Arthis at lightning speed, almost as though they were being pulled by invisible threads.

Scree…. SCREEEE!!! After turning around several times in dismay, it finally sank back into the depths of the dark lake with great exasperation and vexation.

Arthis grabbed each person with her hair and shot across the sky like a dark meteorite. The surroundings rushed past them at breakneck speed. Ten minutes later, everyone found themselves landing softly right back at the start of the Yellow Springs Road once more.

He gazed into the vague silhouette that sat on the horizon and sighed wistfully, “What a pity…”

He paused and smiled, “Besides, we might have obtained more than you’ve expected on this trip back.”

Murai Sadakatsu looked sharply at Oda Nobunaga, before immediately shifting back to where he belonged. He was Nobunaga’s retainer, and so he hung his head low and stood humbly behind Nobunaga.

Oda Nobunaga’s gaze was calm and placid. Yet, for the very first time, he bowed respectfully to Qin Ye and cupped his hands respectfully like how a retainer would to his master. Nevertheless, he, too, sidestepped the question and unsheathed his katana, “I wonder if you know of this sword?”

“Kiku-ichimonji.” Nobunaga swung it lightly, “One of the most famous swords of the Nipponese Warring States era. After my death, it went on to be tempered by harsh Yin energy, and its strength and abilities already surpasses any average Hellguard-class Yin artifact out there. Yet, even with this sword in hand, I wasn’t able to cut through the carapace of the blight vermin.”

“When the blight vermin perishes, they dissipate into wisps of Yin energy, but… their carapace remains behind.”

What a novel idea!

No, in fact, there would be a mountain of excess despite dealing with that!

“That’s not all.” This time, it was Qin Ye who spoke up with a smile as he glanced at everyone, “Arakshasa, what Lord Nobunaga is saying is… to arm our Yin soldiers with carapace armor, and then use them to fight back against the onslaught of blight vermin and take back the old Hell.”

What ambition… But if he succeeds, it would enable us to return to seize more of Hell’s legacies that had been left behind! Additionally…

The establishment of the new Hell and the battle at the Strait of Tsushima had attracted far too much unwanted attention, and there were clearly some feudal officials who were already raring to move against Hell. Emperor Wu of Song was only the first one in line. Or perhaps he was just the one best suited for a showdown with the new Hell, selected by the coalition of feudal officials who had eyes on Cathay. Therefore, what Hell desperately needed was mighty armed forces that could hold their own against enemy incursion!

In other words, an elite division of troops was what it took to communicate a single message to these officials - that they should know their place in spite of the collapse of the old Hell!

1. This is a rather interesting sword that was made by thirteen swordsmiths who were in attendance to the Emperor Go-Toba in 1208.