Yama Rising

Chapter 607: Ancient Reception (2)

Historically speaking, the change of dynasties in Cathay had always been accompanied by bloodshed and massacre. Most newly-ascended incumbents would never leave the lackeys of their predecessors around. After all, it was the instinct of the new emperor to jealously guard his throne and weed out all potential sources of strife.

“Yes. This way.” The hearts of the ghosts were still filled with suspicion and doubt. Nevertheless, they plastered a kind and warm expression to their faces and made a gesture of invitation, before promptly leading the way in.

“What’s this?” Qin Ye asked curiously. Lu Ban smiled and explained everything, “These people here aren’t your usual rabble on the street. They are the research teams that have accompanied us on our foreign assignment years ago. They’ve all learned a thing or two of their own, and they’re more than happy to return to their home country and serve Hell.”

Maintain your persona! Maintain your persona!!! He cried several times to himself before he finally managed to suppress the desire to cheer and dance in his heart.

They’re practically geniuses in their own rights - the kind that are raring to put their knowledge into practise and change the world as we see it! And if that’s the case, how could Hell possibly have sent them out to foreign underworlds on their own?

And now… the time has finally come for them to return home, take root and blossom as beautiful flowers!

At once, hundreds of voices erupted with their response in unison, “We’re willing to serve Hell until we die!!!”

Truth be told, it was a little contrived saying that this was a great hall. After all, having witnessed the great hall of the Forbidden City, few palaces out there could compare in terms of their magnitude and splendour. To this end, Qin Ye had always considered the Palace of Versailles, Buckingham Palace, the Kremlin, the White House and the Forbidden City ranked among the five top palaces in the world.

It looked exactly the same as it did in the day. However, the table and stools were already set up with a jug of jade-coloured wine. Lu Ban remarked with some measure of embarrassment, “Apologies for the lacking reception. Time was tight, and we wanted to keep things low profile. Thus, these were the only things that we had managed to prepare thus far. Please forgive us.”

Zhang Zhongjing, a thin Yin spirit with greying temples gently stroked his beard and sighed softly, “It wasn’t easy.”

Li Chun’s expressions were ordinary. He had a slightly droopy nose and a head full of black hair. He looked the youngest of the six Yin spirits at the table. He poured himself a glass of wine and gently sipped at it, before reminiscing about the past, “We obviously aren’t going to join them. But, as time went by, and as they continued to attempt to reach out to Hell and discovered Hell to be unresponsive, they gradually became more and more aggressive in their attempts at persuasion. There came a point where it became so difficult for us, because there would be darkfeathers knocking on our doors almost every other day… Sigh…”

Hang on… did you say arranged for transportation? WeChat?

That said, he didn’t interject, and simply continued listening intently. Zu Chongzhi bowed slightly and sighed, “We located all the scholars we could find using the contacts we had in the mortal realm. Then, 60 years after Hell first closed its borders, we leveraged on an international conference and left the underworlds that we were at.”

And if they had indeed been posted to the top underworlds in the netherworld, then there was no doubt that they would be placed under close surveillance. It would have been incredibly difficult for them to find the right opportunity to leave.

He gulped down the rest of the wine in his cup, and then sighed with relief, “Today arrived.”

When Hell is finally strong.

There will come a time when the words “by Hell’s Dictum, all rabble shall disperse” shall strike fear in the hearts of all Yin spirits once more!

Every single Yin spirit at the table tightened their grip around their glasses. Nobody said a word, but they knew that this was just like the Hell that they had always known.

The somewhat somber atmosphere eased up slightly with this question, and Shang Yang chuckled, “Because the Second King Yanluo of Hell had enchanted all of us with a spell of protection. All whose power does not exceed his would never be able to perceive our presence. In fact, this was critical in our escape plans. It was the key to how we were able to elude the major underworlds all this while.”

Just then, he suddenly noticed Lu Ban winking at him, and he immediately drew a deep breath and asked respectfully, “Speaking of which, I wonder how the Second King Yanluo is doing?”

“He’s doing well.” Qin Ye smiled and continued, “If you return now, you might just be in time to see him before he goes.”

Everyone stared at Qin Ye with a complex gaze. Meanwhile, Qin Ye couldn’t help but develop the urge to give himself two tight slaps across the cheeks.

Are you trying to tell them that he’s on the verge of death, and you should hurry back if you want to see him for the last time?!

Forget it. I guess I’ll have to apprise them of the ongoings in Hell sooner or later. With that, Qin Ye waved his hand, and the doors suddenly shut. Outside, Wang Chenghao and Oda Nobutada immediately stood guard to ensure nobody entered the room. The Yin spirits in the room immediately exchanged glances, and their expressions turned somber.

“Your Excellency, don’t, please.” “Sir, you’re--?” “My Lord, you’re a ruler! How can a ruler be bowing to his subjects?”

These words exploded like a mighty bombshell, rendering all of the Yin spirits completely flabbergasted.

Dead silence.

After some time, Lu Ban finally asked with great trembling in his voice, “Lord Ksitigarbha… has gained ascension?”

He shifted his gaze away from Lu Ban and turned to everyone else, “What’s worse is that everything in Hell has to be completely rebuilt from scratch. Therefore, you guys should know just what your return to Hell would mean to us right now.”

It was like a morgue filled with Yin spirits.

Thud… Zhang Zhongjing lost his balance and fell to the ground. His eyes were somewhat blank and listless, “3,000 years of Fengdu is gone… just like that?”

Zhang Zhongjing turned back to Qin Ye and stroked his beard with great trembling, “The Yama-Kings of the Ten Palaces, the Sixfold Ghost Kings, and the hundreds of Abyssal Prefects are all gone, just like that?”

“Technically speaking, I’m the only Abyssal Prefect in the new Hell right now.”

Besides, if these people harboured the slightest bit of ulterior motives in their hearts, would the Second King Yanluo ever pardon them?

“30 million.” Qin Ye glanced around, “We’re currently working on claiming Eastmount Province and Insignia Province for ourselves. The Book of Life and Death, the Mirror of Eminence, and Fate have already been reclaimed to Hell. We’ve got leads on the whereabouts of the next shard of King Yanluo’s Seal, but the location of the Judgment Pen is still unknown to us.”

As he spoke, a thread of Yin energy slowly began to congeal around his fingertip.

Sure, Qin Ye might have a whole host of weaknesses, but the one thing he was most adept at was his clarity of mind on the things he needed to do for Hell.

As far as these Yin spirits were concerned, he wanted to be sure of them all!