Chapter 984: Arthis’s Transformation
The arrival of
Qin Ye with the Harken on his shoulder didn"t attract any attention, and
neither of them turned their attention toward the city that was just
beginning to be established. Instead, both of them cast their gaze into
the six paths of reincarnation.
"Is that... Arthis?" Qin Ye asked in a surprised voice as he raised an eyebrow.
"It
seems like it..." The Harken was also quite taken aback. "But how did
this happen? Her Yin energy has increased by 1% in just a few months!
This rate of growth is incredible!"
What on earth is going on?!
High-grade
underworld emissaries could no longer achieve cultivation progression
through Hell"s Record. If they wanted to reach the Yama-King level,
there would only be two options available to them.
The first
option was to do so through a grand script of death. They would have to
establish their own mythology in the mortal realm, then accumulate
followers over the course of centuries until they could finally complete
their metamorphosis.
The second option was to constantly
accumulate more accolades in order to progress through Hell"s
administrative system. High-grade underworld emissaries were different
from their low-grade counterparts in that many belonging to the latter
category only had official titles but no actual administrative power. In
contrast, virtually all high-grade underworld emissaries had
substantial administrative power, and if they could make a breakthrough,
they would be perfectly deserving and justified Yama-Kings.
However,
these accolades couldn"t just be accumulated quietly, they had to be
reported to the higher-ups as well and be seen by King Yanluo.
Presentations had to be made, and these accolades were built up over the course of lengthy political careers!
Thus, never had there been an instance like this one, where an underworld emissary had rapidly improved their powers in silence!
Qin
Ye and the Harken exchanged a glance before both of them swept directly
toward the core of the six paths of reincarnation as a gust of Yin
wind.
Within the massive mountain of fire, one passageway after
another was split up by the karmic flames. In contrast with how empty
the six paths of reincarnation had been several months ago, there were
countless Yin spirits that had come down from the mortal realm here, and
through a constant process of selection, hundreds of underworld
emissaries were quickly selected to fill the various roles in the six
paths of reincarnation. At this point, the six paths of reincarnation
were already bustling with activity with low-grade underworld emissaries
regularly entering and exiting the premises.
Qin Ye and the
Harken were intentionally concealing themselves, so no one could sense
their arrival. They had witnessed the creation of the six paths of
reincarnation in person, so they weren"t unfamiliar with the passageways
within it. Soon, they passed through an area with densely packed office
buildings and arrived behind the area.
There, they were greeted
by the sight of a massive Ksitigarbha statue with golden Buddhist
lanterns hanging all over its body. Behind the statue was a tightly shut
black wooden door, upon which was engraved a piece of artwork depicting
Zhong Kui capturing ghosts. [Zhong Kui is a deity in Chinese mythology
that is said to protect homes and ward off evil.] Bursts of Yin energy
were surging out from the gaps around the door, and in the blink of an
eye, Qin Ye and the Harken had already passed through the door.
Beyond the door was a massive path that was 200 meters wide and over a kilometer in length.
There
were giant red pillars situated at intervals of 100 meters on either
side of the path, upon which were engraved reliefs of all Hell"s Abyssal
Prefects and Yama-Kings. These pillars were connected by angular beams,
and strings of lit lanterns trailing down by about 30 to 40 meters were
hanging at 10-meter intervals along these beams, burning with green
netherflames.
It was as if these giant pillars had formed a
boundary, and beyond these pillars was a sea of Yin spirits, all of whom
had died terrible deaths. Some of them were missing limbs, some of them
were missing heads, some of them only had half their bodies intact, and
they were wearing attire from all eras. It was like witnessing a sea of
agony, and all of the Yin spirits were frantically trying to pass
through the boundary formed by the giant pillars with all their might,
yet none of them were able to succeed.
"Looks like Arthis has really done her homework." Qin Ye was quite impressed.
However,
the Harken shook its head with disapproval as it said, "There"s no
originality or creativity at all. This is the renowned "Inner Demon
Path" of Fengdu, and she"s copied it to a tee. On this path, one would
be scrutinized by countless agonized Yin spirits, and no matter how
brave or brazen they are, they"ll be sure to be struck by a sense of
fear. All those who are put onto this path were extremely controversial
or heinous figures during their lifetimes. These people are unable to be
judged by the Department of Prudence and can only be sent here to be
judged by the warden in person."
It pointed its chin forward, and
right at the end of the path, a bright red gate swung open. The gate was
also extremely massive in size, and one could just barely make out the
outlines of a palace beyond the gate. Even though there wasn"t a single
person in sight, the gate still struck the beholder with an instinctive
sense of awe and fear.
"Can you feel it?" the Harken asked as it cast its gaze toward the palace through narrowed eyes.
Qin
Ye nodded in response with a solemn expression. "I can sense a very
strange type of power that definitely doesn"t belong to Arthis herself."
Furthermore, Arthis"s Yin energy was becoming more and more powerful by the second!
It
wasn"t just her Yin energy, there was another type of indescribable
power involved, as if something were being smelted and fused as one with
her spiritual body.
This was extremely strange. It was
exceedingly difficult to become a Yama-King. Otherwise, the Cathayan
Underworld would"ve produced more than just 20 or so Yama-Kings during
its history of several thousand years. However, at this rate, Arthis was
definitely going to be able to become a Yama-King within the next
century or so!
"Something"s definitely gone wrong..." the Harken
mused as it swept its gaze around the completely deserted path. "This is
the core of the entire six paths of reincarnation, so there should be
guards everywhere here, yet not a single guard is present."
"There"s
only one possibility," Qin Ye analyzed. "Arthis knows that something"s
gone wrong with her, so she sent the guards away before they could get
hurt."
What exactly is going on?
The two of them exchanged a wary glance, then rushed directly toward the gate as a streak of black light.
The
black mist up ahead gradually began to clear up as if they were passing
through a tunnel of black mist, and right as the black mist completely
faded, both Qin Ye and the Harken were stunned by what they saw.
Inside
the main palace, Arthis had already reverted back to her true form,
which was the head of a gorgeous woman with Yin energy surging out of
all of its orifices. The head was several dozen meters in size with a
pair of bright red eyes, and it was hanging in mid-air like a miniature
sun. The hair on the head was spread in all directions like silken
threads, extending into the sea of Yin spirits beyond the rows of
pillars before pulling back bright white balls of light that were
frantically stuffed into Arthis"s mouth.
The intricately designed
warden"s office around her had been completely demolished with the desk,
screens, tables, and chairs all smashed into countless scraps of broken
wood. The sound of chewing could be heard alongside the anguished howls
of countless Yin spirits, and Arthis"s teeth were chomping down
incessantly as Yin energy and threads of white light erupted forth in a
frenzy. Arthis"s eyes were completely bloodshot from starvation, and it
was as if she couldn"t stuff the balls of light into her own mouth
quickly enough.
"I"m so hungry!!" She had also seen Qin Ye and the
Harken, but she was too busy eating to talk. Each time she opened and
clothed her mouth, hundreds of balls of light were devoured, and it
seemed that she had already been doing this for quite a while.
"That"s light of worship!" Qin Ye exclaimed in an incredulous manner. He was far too familiar with these balls of light!
Light
of worship would only appear from a religion, and he was certainly no
stranger to this as he had just landed a massive bounty of worship in
the new continent!
The quantity of light of worship that Arthis
was devouring couldn"t compare with that stemming from the grand script
of death, but the power of light of worship was determined by the faith
of a religion"s followers. Qin Ye had been able to progress to the mid
Yama-King level off the back of the worship and faith from Dax"s
hundreds of thousands of followers, but where was this light of worship
coming from in the six paths of reincarnation?
Was it coming from the sinful Yin spirits here?
"Have you ever seen something like this before?" Qin Ye asked as he stared at the ravenous Arthis in a slack-jawed manner.
The Harken was also completely rooted to the spot as it shook its head in response. "Never..."
Right
at this moment, slight tremors ran through Qin Ye"s chest, and before
he had a chance to react, Xu Fu"s notepad flew out of his chest without
any warning before flying rapidly toward the center of the hall as fast
as a bolt of lightning!
This was a very abrupt development, but Qin Ye and the Harken also reacted extremely quickly.
Right
as the notepad flew out of Qin Ye"s chest, a chain erupted out of his
sleeve like a venomous viper, shooting directly toward the notepad.
However, in the instant the chain came into contact with the notepad, a
clear clang rang out, and the chain was unable to wrap itself around the
notepad!
At the same time, an indistinct layer of scarlet light
had already arisen from the surface of the notepad, and the light was
rapidly becoming brighter and brighter before finally imploding into a
cloud of red mist that transformed into countless complex runes.
"What"s
going on?" All of the Harken"s fur had stood up on end as it stared at
the notepad with a stunned expression before swinging around to face Qin
Ye. "You can"t grab it with your chain?"
Qin Ye looked down at
his own hand with a shocked expression. In the instant that the chain
had come into the notepad, he had felt an extremely strong burst of
recoil power that was definitely not below the Yama-King level!
However,
this wasn"t the time to be pondering that. This notepad was far too
significant, and his top priority was to recover it. With that in mind,
he instantly swept a sleeve through the air, and hundreds of chins shot
forth like lightning in unison. At the same time, the Harken opened its
mouth to expel a streak of golden light that surged toward the notepad
like a golden serpent.
They definitely couldn"t allow any mishaps to take place when it came to this notepad!
The
chains and the streak of light surged rapidly through the air, yet
right at this moment, a burst of golden light suddenly appeared up ahead
to intercept both of them. Immediately thereafter, a tall figure
emerged in front of the notepad.
It was Zhao Yun.
"It"s alright, my Lord," Zhao Yun said as he scrutinized the notepad intently. "This is a very good thing!"
Qin
Ye was very relieved and reassured to see Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun was also
aware of just how important this notepad was, and he definitely wouldn"t
make jokes on such an important matter.
Meanwhile, more and more
runes were rising up into the air from the notepad, and as more runes
appeared, the color of the notepad also began to gradually lighten. At
the same time, Qin Ye noticed with lation that the cover of the notepad
was beginning to gently vibrate!
It was as if a film that had been in place for a long time was about to come off!
"What"s
going on?" Qin Ye asked as he turned to Zhao Yun. "What"s happened to
Arthis, and what is happening to Xu Fu"s notepad? Xu Fu has cast a
bloodline restriction on the notepad, making it very difficult to
access, so why..."
A hint of disbelief appeared on his face as the
vibration of the notepad"s surface became more and more pronounced, and
some of the pages were even beginning to bulge upward.
Was it being affected by power that was about the Yama-King level?
A
smile appeared on Zhao Yun"s face as he replied, "Indeed, Xu Fu has
placed a bloodline restriction on the notepad, making it impossible to
access for anyone aside from himself. Even I would struggle greatly to
undo the restriction. However, just because I can"t do it doesn"t mean
that the six paths of reincarnation are also incapable of such a feat.
Don"t forget that our six paths of reincarnation are the most special
areas of life and death in this world."
Qin Ye"s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this. "What about the six paths of reincarnation make them..."
His voice suddenly cut off as a thought abruptly occurred to him.
What
he had forgotten was that they hadn"t constructed the six paths of
reincarnation exclusively by themselves. Instead, it also contained not
only the body of the ancient god, Yu Kiang, but also the Chalice of
Preiddeu Annwn!
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