Chapter 393: Misgivings

Now you’re talking.

Oda Nobunaga cupped his hands respectfully towards Qin Ye, “Lord Qin, I’ve once asked Lady Arthis about battles between Yin soldiers, and her response was that the level of their cultivation doesn’t matter very much. What is more important is the strength of the military formation, spell arrays, as well as the armaments at their disposal. I wonder if you’ve seen anything noteworthy about their Yin soldiers on your clash against them?”

“Military formation?!” Arthis gasped in horror, “How is that possible--... No, it’s possible after all. If the great sinner of the Confucian Family is among their midst, then it stands to reason that they know a thing or two about drawing up military formations.”

Qin Ye blinked his eyes, “Hang on, you don’t know about military formations?”

Silence.

The silence was awkward.

“There are too many.” Gu Qing chuckled bitterly, “The Confucian Family comprises several factions, each of whom alleges that the other is more evil than them. Furthermore, every dynasty has seen the emergence of their own sets of scholars who subscribe to Confucianism. How are we supposed to distinguish between them all?”

“After all, the military formation means nothing in light of the Karmic Fire Divine Crossbows at our disposal. We’ve still got approximately nine hundred thousand bolts in our arsenal to boot. If we clash head on right now, we might not be able to gain a flawless victory, but we wouldn’t have any issues holding our ground and protecting ourselves either.”

He flicked his finger, and a matchbox-sized item flew straight into Oda Nobunaga’s hands.

“Armor?” Arthis was taken aback, “They’ve actually got something like that at their disposal?”

Silence.

Seconds later, Gu Qing coughed dryly, “Lady Arthis… I’ve personally read the Saint Seiya: Hades series when it was first released…”

Arthis coughed dryly, “Ahem… sorry about that. What I meant is that you shouldn’t underestimate the fact that this artifact is made entirely out of paper. The fact that it was strengthened and imbued with Yin energy means that it can exhibit properties that are no different from refined steel back in the mortal realm. Did you say that… they were all wearing armor similar to this?”

“Then that makes things even worse than it already is.” Oda Nobunaga finally looked up with an incomparably grim expression, “My lord, my lady, this time… I’m afraid we might have encountered the greatest obstacle Hell has seen since its reestablishment!”

Oda Nobunaga flipped up the paper armor in his hand and immediately infused it with his Yin energy. At once, the paper armor glowed with a bright sheen as though it were steel. Then, Oda Nobunaga struck it with a powerful palm strike. To everyone’s great surprise, the armor didn’t shatter into pieces as they had expected. Instead, only a small part of it broke off, almost like it was made out of steel.

Nobunaga’s actions caused everyone to tense up their spirits. Arthis promptly shook her head in response, “Not possible.”

Without missing a beat, he immediately continued, “Furthermore, that very same entity also possesses the ability to train Yin soldiers. They’re basically equipped for the industrial production of Yin soldiers, from training straight through to equipping works. They even have the backing of an alliance of Judge-class entities behind them!”

Everyone was in deep thought, including Qin Ye himself. Then, moments later, something clicked in Qin Ye’s mind, and an electrifying sense of fear surged throughout every corner of his body!

He finally understood the full implications of what Oda Nobunaga was trying to communicate to them all. He also finally understood why he had earlier felt as though something was amiss. The implications of these matters were so grave that not even Nobunaga dared to speak openly about it!

Only a secret of this level was worth Ksitigarbha’s time making the trip down to the mortal realm just to warn Qin Ye about it!

“Here.” Oda Nobunaga cupped his hands back respectfully.

“Yes!” Oda Nobunaga immediately knelt down on one knee and responded with gusto.

“I’ve already decided.” Qin Ye turned to the two who were still befuddled and responded with categorical determination, “This battle must be fought.”

Nobody dared to raise any objections after his decision because Qin Ye had the final say in these matters. With that, Qin Ye laid back down on his bed and waved his hands, “Mr Gu shall take over my work in Hell for now. The rest of you may take your leave. Mr Oda, please remain behind.”

However, Qin Ye simply remained silent. He glanced out of the window and into the distance skies, reeling from shock by the matters that had struck him just moments ago.

What location could possibly train such multitudes of Yin soldiers like that?

A city.

Apart from the new Hell… ghost cities had already begun to sprout up across the rest of Cathay!

The bunching effect!

And the new Hell… was no different from Liu Bei of the period of Three Kingdoms. It was undoubtedly the true lord of the lands, but they were still relegated to the same treatment as though they were but another vassal state in the region.

Right now, Qin Ye had a namesake that was passed on to him through the legatic inheritance bestowed upon him by Granny Meng, but Hell most certainly didn’t have the strength to live up to its name!

This concerned the movement of powers within Cathay’s netherworld!

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

He was still in the dark as to just how many ghost cities had appeared in Cathay’s netherworld. Hell was still nestled away in a remote corner known as the City of Salvation. If not for Ksitigarbha’s warning, and Oda Nobunaga’s astute deductions, he would still have been none the wiser despite having seen the sheer extent to which the Yin soldiers were all clothed with armor.

Especially since… the great sinner of the Confucian Family would immediately have been able to identify Qin Ye as a genuine Emissary of Hell.

So that’s how it is… That’s how it is…

“It is said that the first King Yanluo of Hell had fought for a thousand long years before finally establishing Fengdu Necropolis as the core of Hell. But how many ghost cities did he have to get through at that time? And how many are there now? Even if there are others, my guess is that there can’t possibly be more than four or five out there. And these are only speculations at that. The truth about this matter…”

“There will definitely be clues left behind in the wake of an army’s march, and it’s from these clues that we would be able to infer and deduce many things about the state of the netherworld right now. Therefore, this battle must absolutely be fought at all costs! To protect Hell’s integrity and reputation, as well as to uncover the truth about this horrific speculation of ours!”

It’s a good thing that we discovered these things early on. The earlier we learn of the bigger picture out there, the more advantage we have to work with. At the very least… we’d be able to stem all potential sources of rebellion before they even rise up against Hell!

And most importantly…

No matter how Qin Ye thought about it, there was only one answer.

It was a location that was only three cities away from Martial City!

The blade… must be drawn!

1. Gank is a MOBA term used to refer to ambushing others and taking them by surprise.

2. This is where the hometown of Confucius, the Confucius mausoleum, and the official residence of his descendants are all located.