Yama Rising

Chapter 322: Choices (2)

Pssshhhh!

Is this the end of my road…

This evil ghost is totally out of my league… Did the academy screw up? And who tampered with my magical artifact? What a pity… To think I would be killed in the outskirts like this without even purging a single Yin spirit. I couldn’t even keep the promise I’d made to Brother Qin back then… What a pity… What an unacceptable outcome…

Yin spirits?

A split second later, the four Yin spirits charged straight onto the male Yin spirit behind Wang Chenghao’s body and began tearing away at its flesh.

Wang Chenghao was taken aback. In that instant, his desire to live erupted like a powerful volcano, and he mustered every remaining bit of true energy in his body, grabbed hold of every remaining talisman in his arsenal and began to send them smashing into the evil ghost behind him.

Just a moment ago, the four Yin spirits had clearly heard Qin Ye’s command booming in their minds - If anyone of you can prevent the death of this young man, you will immediately be conferred the title of an official Emissary of Hell!

ROAR! The evil ghost finally loosened its bite with a roar of frustration. Meanwhile, Wang Chenghao grasped every opportunity he was presented with to rush straight out of the door. And then, he glanced back and caught a glimpse of the face of the evil ghost for the very first time.

There were traces of bite marks all over the man’s mangled body, and only half of it remained right now. His abdominal cavity was completely empty and devoid of innards, half of his face was nothing but bones. Trails of black corpse fluid flowed out of his wounds and left streaks of marks everywhere, leaving his clothes in tatters, while copious amounts of Yin energy continued to pour out incessantly.

So far that… it could plunge straight through my stomach?

How… did this happen?

As his consciousness began to drift away, the excruciating pain in his abdomen engulfed him like a tidal wave. Yet, it was also right at that moment that a large vortex of Yin energy and netherflames suddenly began to converge right on the rooftop.

You’re here…

It was as though the tension in his heart had finally been released, and his head weakly landed on the ground with a thud.

And in that instant, it was also as though time had stopped for him.

Dead?

That tyrannical kid from Clear Creek County High School that had fled with me from Clear Creek County all the way to the City of Salvation… That very same teenager who begged me to be his friend… is dead? Just like that?

It wouldn’t be right to describe his feelings right now as heartbroken. After all, he had lived for a long time, and seen his fair share of death and departure. His heart had naturally already grown numb to these things.

And it was an intense ache at that.

Moments later, he slowly turned his head and glanced at the Yin spirit.

Then, just as they were on the verge of defeat and contemplating retreat, a wall of netherfire suddenly slammed straight down like a rushing waterfall.

Yet it was also filled with killing intent.

“I could have let you perish swiftly and painlessly…” Qin Ye’s face appeared incredibly calm, but the Yin energy around his body was twisting and roiling like an incredibly menacing aura. A split second later, all of the Yin energy within a 100 meter radius around him suddenly converged onto his body. Qin Ye’s eyes promptly inverted its colours, while copious amounts of Yin energy began to pour out of his body. In fact, one could even see illusory lotus flowers blossoming in the air where the Yin energy was densest.

As he spoke, the Yin energy contracted violently, and then, with a loud bang, a figure wearing a long black robe sporting a meter-long tongue and white hair that was scattering about menacingly descended from the sky like a god of all Yin spirits.

That was also the very same instant that all of the Yin energy monitoring devices within New Hale City began to blare with alarms of distress.

They were right in the middle of a meeting at the conference room, but the text on the LED screen behind him instantly vanished. Instead, there was simply a shrill voice speaking through the broadcast system.

“Perilous?” One of the officers in the room adjusted his glasses and shot to his feet, “Hellguard… that signifies the appearance of a Hellguard-class Yin spirit! Mobilize all troops!!”

Back in the surveillance room of Hunting Zone D-72.

Just then, the two ghosts that were gnawing on his body suddenly lifted his head. And then, they shrieked at the top of their voice and shrank back into the corner of the room, “Emissary of Hell! Emissary of Hell! It’s a genuine Emissary of Hell!! That’s our target!” “It’s him! He has finally appeared! There really was a genuine Emissary of Hell! His Excellency was right!”

Ssss!! Meanwhile, back in Hunting Zone D-69, the evil ghost was smacked several meters back, and he dug his foot into the ground to stabilize himself, leaving two half-foot deep grooves in the ground just a short moment before he slammed heavily into the wall. A web of cracks immediately appeared on the walls.

Furthermore… he could sense a primal fear rising from the innermost parts of his heart whenever he came within a five meter radius of his opponent.

The two remaining ghosts of Qin Ye’s Yoke of the Five Ghosts didn’t utter a single word. They simply hid in a corner, shivering uncontrollably - Our hunch was right… this man… is far too scary… It’s a good thing we’ve pledged our allegiance to him…

Curses… CURSES!

“Was this the very same move that killed Wang Chenghao?” Qin Ye glanced coldly at the evil ghost and flicked his spirit streamer. Clatter! Crunch! A split second later, the evil ghost grabbed hold of his right hand and screamed in pain.

The evil ghost’s hand was already twisted beyond belief. The bones in his hand were shattered into innumerable pieces, while his razor-sharp nails were scattered all over the floor. But he wasn’t given the room to breathe at all. A moment later, he suddenly felt… as though something was grabbing onto his hair.

Wang Chenghao knew that he was already on the verge of death, but he still managed to cling onto that very strand of life within by sheer willpower. And at this very moment, he laughed.

Blood sputtered and gurgled from his mouth like spring waters. Whenever it moved, some blood would spew out. However, his eyes gleamed brighter than ever as he watched Qin Ye subdue the evil ghost right in front of his eyes.

“Little Wang.” Qin Ye loosened his grip and stomped down hard on the evil ghost with his foot. A piercing cry resounded through the dark night as the evil ghost’s head was pummeled straight through the concrete of the roof.

Wang Chenghao continued to laugh feebly even as the entire world in front of him shook violently.

Qin Ye sighed. Not even the Book of Life and Death could reverse the situation right now. Sure, the Book of Life and Death might be a divine artifact of Hell, but that didn’t mean that anyone who got shot straight through the head would still be revived and healed back to the pink of health.

Go in peace… I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again soon…

Crack… That was the sound of the skull giving way.

“Don’t kill me… D-d-don’t… don’t… kill me…”

“You don’t want to die?” Qin Ye appeared to be calm and at peace, while the evil ghost continued to flail his arms about as he struggled desperately.

“On the other hand, it’s only right to repay a life for a life.”

Shk! With that, the spirit streamer plunged straight through the evil ghost’s skull, instantly extinguishing the remaining netherflame that blazed within him.