Yama Rising

Chapter 704: Drum of a Mountain God (2)

Meanwhile, the Harken’s voice only grew louder and louder like crackling thunder, “... Objects of origin, before Heaven and the Earth came into being. Silent and lonesome, independent and immutable, around and uninhibited…”

“The door to the sundered world has now opened.” The Harken walked ahead, “Follow closely, because Ghost King Zhao lies right within this place.”

It was an ordinary countryside.

Because the village was located at a mountaintop.

And there appeared to be no way down into the depths.

It was supposed to be devoid of any living persons. But, right now, there appeared to be seven people gathered in the center of the village. They appeared jaundiced and thin, with ragged clothes and shoulder-length hair. Every single one of them looked like an exile or a vagabond that had been wandering the wilderness for countless years on end.

It was 4.55 p.m. Nobody said a word as they all glanced nervously around their surroundings, trembling slightly as their teeth chattered.

He didn’t say much more than he needed to, almost as though he felt the need to conserve as much of his energy as he could. Beside him, a teenager who appeared to be in his early twenties gritted his teeth and responded, “He… looks less human with every day that passes… I-I don’t want to die…”

After all, how could anyone respond when they could barely even take care of themselves?

Right then, the entire mountain peak shook, and an earth-shattering war drum sounded in succession, almost as though a divine army had gathered under the dense fog of the mountain peak!

Rumble! It was deafening, and it sounded almost as though it was all stirring from beneath the mountain peak and rushing straight up the path leading to the village. The grass and trees around them rustled and swayed wildly. Meanwhile, a lady among the seven gasped in horror, “They’re coming… They’ve advanced by another half a meter!!”

“Then so be it…” An old man responded placidly, staring at the distant skies with a numb expression on his face, “We should’ve been dead a long time ago anyway. Besides, can you really say that we’re still living right now? Hahaha… It’s been so long, so what difference does it make if this misery finally comes to an end? Had we had the courage to commit suicide, would we still be standing here in this place right now?”

The old man glanced around with an ashen heart. He was astonished when he first discovered this place. But now, the only thing that lingered on in his heart was endless terror.

Perhaps… it might not be a bad thing to let those monsters outside rush into this place after all…

He rubbed his eyes violently, and then stared with great disbelief at a particular location. His jaws dropped, and his lips trembled. He raised a hand and pointed to that location, almost as though he wanted to say something, but he simply couldn’t find any words, “Ah… ah, ah!!!”

Two seconds later, he screamed at the top of his voice, “Look! Over there! Over there!!!”

Someone?

Everyone glanced at each other. Even Old Li, whose heart had grown completely numb after all this time, revealed a glimmer of hope in his eyes. Everyone watched with bated breaths as the silhouette approached them. Seconds later, a teenager emerged from the fog, holding a dog in his hands.

Silence. The air was filled with despair.

“You know us?” A young man in his twenties let out a muffled laugh, before sighing once more and gazing deep into the skies, “Then you must be a new investigator of the Special Investigations Department. Count yourself unlucky… To think that you’d be buried here in this place only several months after taking on this assignment.”

Naturally, Qin Ye couldn\'t be bothered with making small talk with the rest of them. His shard of King Yanluo’s Seal had concealed the Yin energy flowing out of his body, and the group of survivors in the village clearly didn’t think that a young man of his age could possibly do anything to extricate them from this bind. He glanced around, and then raised a brow quizzically.

There’s a lot of them. Their numbers are terrifying. We’re easily talking about a hundred thousand or more, but none of these forces are individually strong. So how did they get so powerful as a whole unit? Furthermore, they appear to be crashing repeatedly into the barriers around this place!

“Brother Zhao, I’ve finally found you…” Qin Ye licked his lips and slowly approached the heart of the village.

Qin Ye ignored them. From here, he could see the crumbling ruins of the buildings at the end of the road. The original shape of the building had completely faded away, and the only way he could tell what used to be in this palace was the words “Martyr’s Shrine” dangling from a crooked signboard hanging above what remained of the doorway. The surroundings were all covered with grass and cobwebs, and an immensely suffocating source of Yin energy flowed from within.

It wasn’t as though none of them had tried approaching the Martyr’s Shrine before.

That’s right, changes.

“Martial brother…” A middle-aged man stood up abruptly and spoke with a quiver on his lips, “What are you--...”

But before he could even finish speaking, the Yin energy around Qin Ye and the Harken exploded at once, just like an avalanche falling from the mountaintops, or a rushing river breaking its banks! The surrounding houses were unable to withstand the sheer force of the violent rush of Yin energy, and everything was smashed to smithereens in an instant!

Buzz… The seven jaded cultivators immediately shot right up to their feet, and stared at Qin Ye’s back with great trembling. The eruption of Prefect-class Yin energy and Yama-class Yin energy at the exact same time caused the Yin energy around them to swirl madly, so much so that even the ground was starting to grow blurry. Qin Ye stared intently into the shrine. And as soon as the Yin energy erupted from their bodies, two spots of golden netherflame also ignited from the heart of the Martyr’s Shrine!

Rumble… Majestic Yin energy swept around them, causing their hair to flutter wildly in the winds. The tall weed growing out of the ground were practically lying horizontal due to the strength of the gale. Meanwhile, the expressions of the seven cultivators went from that of hopelessness to shock, to joy, and then to great disbelief.

To think that I would one day witness such an incredible spectacle!

No, no, no! What’s most important right now is the fact that… This is all coming to an end!

After Qin Ye called out to the Martyr’s Shrine, he waited for a response. But three minutes passed, and yet there was still no response.

“Do you still remember it?” Qin Ye called out into the Martyr’s Shrine, “This is your weapon, the Courage of Dragons Silver Spear. How can one of the Sixfold Ghost Kings be languishing in a place like this?”

Just then, the entire mountaintop trembled slightly. With a ferocious roar, a figure immediately bolted out of the Martyr’s Shrine and appeared in front of Qin Ye, where he promptly bent over and picked up the speartip on the ground, “Courage of Dragons Silver Spear…”

“Why… can’t I remember it? Where have I seen this before?”

It was a man.

How striking… Qin Ye’s jaws dropped, and he gasped in horror, “Look at his waist, and those thighs of his… Holy shit… I can’t even keep my legs closed right now…”

“Someone is trying to seize his body right now! What nerve!”