Chapter 1169: First Middle School

Since the early morning, the entirety of Yuncheng had been placed into complete lockdown.

The news broadcasts were repeating over and over again that the lockdown was due to a chemical spill from a factory in the city, but barely anyone was stupid enough to believe that.

The air temperature was rapidly plummeting, and some people had seen reflections of countless soldiers wearing antiquated armor on their windows. Some had taken photographs of people that couldn't be seen in the lens, and some had clearly heard the sound of clanging footsteps ringing out on the empty streets outside. The decade of supernatural disasters had only passed by not long ago, so it was still very much fresh in many people's memories.

Everyone began to pull out their talismans before hanging them up at their doorway with red thread, and in no more than three hours, the entire city seemed to have returned to the days of the supernatural disasters. Talismans were swaying in front of every household, and all windows and doors were tightly shut as everyone stayed indoors in fear and unease.

Thankfully for them, no one disturbed them.

Neither side wanted to make the situation more complex than it already was, particularly the inner demon. They didn't want to have to deal with the mortal realm while also facing Hell.

Four hours after all of the Divine Heavenly Guardians had appeared, they transformed into sheets of paper that drifted down all over the city.

It was as if they had gone into standby mode, having not received any orders for too long.

The white skeletal wall that ran across the entire city was an extremely eye-catching sight. A battle was about to break out between the two sides, but they had been forcibly separated by the wall. As a result, they were forced to calm down, but at the same time, this only meant that the battle was going to be even more ferocious when it did commence.

The wall was like a dam that was keeping out a flood.

The longer it held the flood at bay, the more the pressure was going to build.

The municipal government had done everything in its power to keep the citizens of the city safe. Everyone was staying indoors, so Yuncheng was made to appear like a completely dead and deserted city.

A boot gently stepped onto the ground, and Qin Ye slowly emerged amid a gust of Yin wind. Right behind him was Zhao Yun, who was virtually always by his side.

"There was no need for you to follow me here," Qin Ye said.

Zhao Yun shook his head in response, but didn't say anything.

Qin Ye was already an advanced Yama-King, so there were very few beings in the world who could pose a threat to him, but Zhao Yun still insisted on following him in case any unforeseen circumstances arose.

The two of them had arrived at an abandoned playground.

This was a playground that was purchased for 100,000 in 1955, which was a massive sum back then. Several supernatural events had taken place here, so no one dared to purchase this plot of land, and thus, it had been abandoned this entire time.

The playground wasn't paved with concrete as modern playgrounds were. Instead, it was a dirt playground, and the removal of rocks had been done very well, so it was clear that the person who had built this school had put in a lot of love and effort.

Unfortunately, in the face of the power of capitalism, the school had fallen into ruin.

The playground wasn't very big, and at its center was a tall pole. That was a pole used to mount the national flag, and its color had already completely faded. A tattered national flag was hung up at half-mast, and it was flapping in the wind in a pathetic manner, as if it were lamenting its past glory days.

The school building was constructed from red bricks, and at the time, this would've been quite a nice school. At this point, half of it had already collapsed, and the remaining half was covered in vines, giving it a particularly decrepit and eerie appearance.

This was the first digging site that the Jiang Group had invested in.

Qin Ye closed his eyes to inspect the surrounding area with his consciousness, and several seconds later, he reopened his eyes. "The Yin energy here is very pronounced, but it's not very powerful."

This was quite strange. Most of these evil ghosts had only been released recently, and there was no way that their Yin energy should've dissipated in such a short time. The Yin energy that belonged to them would have clear signs through which their owners could be identified, but that wasn't the case here.

"Perhaps it's been tampered with," Zhao Yun suggested with a grim expression. "They wouldn't want the Special Investigations Department to grow suspicious. Normal people can't enter this place, but if the Special Investigations Department finds out what's happening here, Hell would be quickly notified as well."

Before Zhao Yun had a chance to continue, Qin Ye shook his head as he interjected, "That doesn't make sense! The timeline is off!"

All of these evil ghosts had only been released recently, which meant that the inner demon would've definitely already realized that the Emissaries of Hell were no longer present in the mortal realm. As such, it wouldn't care if the Special Investigations Department detected anything or not.

Furthermore, the inner demon had to dig over 1,000 of these bottomless holes on its own, and it was very unlikely that it would've had the time to carefully conceal the secrets below them.

At the very most, it would only be able to make some rough concealments.

"Brother Zhao." He turned to Zhao Yun before giving him a nod, then stepped aside.

Zhao Yun took a deep breath, and his Yin energy surged out of his body in a frenzy.

The terrifying Yin energy swept through the entire area like fierce wind blowing away the mist, and the things that were concealed here were no longer able to remain hidden. No more than three seconds later, Zhao Yun abruptly raised his head before gently stomping his foot onto the ground.

A series of cracks extended from his feet, and they were growing larger and deeper by the second, while wisps of reddish-black Yin energy were already beginning to seep upward.

In the short span of just 10 seconds, the cracks had already spread over the entire playground, and a resounding boom rang out as the ground gave out from under their feet, sending them falling downward.

A hole with a radius of around 20 meters had appeared at the center of the playground, and it was extremely deep.

Even after falling for a full minute, the bottom still wasn't in sight. Qin Ye raised his head to find that at this point, the sun had been reduced to around the size of a table tennis ball from his perspective, and there was nothing but complete darkness around them.

Within the darkness, there was a bone-chilling aura that was rapidly spreading. Darkness had no effect on underworld emissaries, and Qin Ye could clearly see that a type of reddish-black mist had already formed a bottomless vortex beneath them.

"This is Yin energy." He reached out a hand, and the mist rose up to meet him as if it had found its owner, wrapping around his finger to form a loop. Qin Ye shook his head as his brows furrowed slightly. "But at the same time, it's not Yin energy."

It was fundamentally the same as Yin energy, but it was behaving completely differently!

Yin energy for Yin spirits was equivalent to blood for humans. It was something that only Yin spirits possessed, but this particular type of Yin energy was filled with all types of negative emotions associated with war, causing it to change color into a third type of Yin energy that Qin Ye had never seen before.

The Yin energy of Limbo was azure, the Yin energy of the underworld was black, and this Yin energy was a reddish-black color.

The Yin energy had already formed a ball above Zhao Yun's palm, and after inspecting it for a long while, he said, "This is Yin energy from before Hell emerged. The Yin energy of Hell is black because it was formed by the remains of the Goddess Earth Mother. However, Yin energy that hasn't ever passed through Hell is different."

The ball of Yin energy disintegrated as he gently crushed it, and his brows furrowed tightly as he inspected the surrounding area with a cautious expression. "I can't think of who could've possibly been buried here. It has to have been a powerful ancient god whose physical body already ceases to exist. During the time they were around, Hell didn't exist yet, and no one realized that spirits could also cultivate. Their cultivation aptitude is definitely not inferior to mine, and over a long period of time, they found a way to cultivate. There's a very good chance that this has something to do with the official founding of Hell after the Goddess Earth Mother transformed into the six paths of reincarnation. The formation of Hell affected all of the living beings in the world, and the being that was buried here most likely sensed something, thereby allowing them to cultivate on their own to the Yama-King level."

A grim look appeared on Qin Ye's face. This was definitely not good news. Over the past several thousand years, only around 20 Yama-Kings had emerged in Hell, yet whoever had been buried here had reached that level on their own.

Just how fearsome would they have been during their living days?

Both Zhao Yun and Qin Ye fell silent. It felt as if there were a monster lurking within the darkness, ready to pounce at any moment, and there seemed to be no end to this darkness.

Half an hour later, Qin Ye's brows had become tightly furrowed.

There was no way that such a deep hole could possibly exist!

"It would take around seven minutes to complete a 5,00-meter fall, but we've already been falling for at least half an hour at this point, which would be equivalent to falling 25,000 meters." He raised his head and pointed upward as he spoke. "Look."

Zhao Yun looked up as he was told, and his pupils immediately contracted slightly. The sun was still around the size of a table tennis ball above their heads. If they really had already fallen for 25,000 meters, the sun would've faded out of view long ago!

"Could there be an array here that confounds the senses?" Qin Ye murmured with tightly furrowed brows. "The fact that it works on us means that the one who created the array has to at least be an advanced Yama-King. On top of that, an array that's this well concealed, yet able to affect Yama-Kings, must be extremely renowned, but I can't think of any that would fit this description..."

The one who had set up this array had to be extremely skilled in their craft, perhaps even unmatched throughout all of history!

Of course, the array wasn't impossible to dispel.

"It can confound the senses, but it can't conceal objects." A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye's face, and his Heavenly Dragnet abruptly erupted out of his sleeve, flying straight down for around half a minute before a clang finally rang out from down below.

However, that was immediately followed by a loud buzzing sound.

It was like the sound of a bee's nest, except amplified manifold, and in the instant that the sound rang out, Qin Ye and Zhao Yun's expressions both changed slightly as they released their emissary auras without any hesitation.

It appeared that they had just activated a trap. This was an array left behind by someone who was at least an advanced Yama-King, so it would certainly be unwise to underestimate the traps here.

Less than five seconds later, a burst of golden light appeared behind the reddish-black mist. The golden light was moving extremely fast, like a pack of starving wolves that had finally encountered some fresh meat. A deafening boom rang out, and tens of thousands of tiny black insects appeared around Qin Ye and Zhao Yun with wisps of reddish-black mist trailing along behind them.

At such close range, Qin Ye was able to see these insects clearly, and they resembled flying beetles with translucent green rings beneath their hard black shells. Their eyes were glowing with greedy, golden radiance, and drops of bright red liquid were dripping down from their mandibles.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"These are Soul Devouring Beetles!" Zhao Yun exclaimed, and in the next instant, the swarm of beetles converged toward them from all directions in a frenzy amid a sharp screeching sound!