Chapter 513: The Vortex of Fate (3)

However, the Yin spirits still had a handle of his last known location.

It was like the arrival of crashing waves!

Lee Jung-sook… How ruthless. To think that she would bide her time for an opportunity with such patience until that very instant when Black Yaksha’s mind was completely distracted. Black Yaksha must have been astounded by the fact that I was a living Emissary of Hell, and subconsciously let his guard down in that very instant. It was also at that time that she held up her pistols to Black Yaksha’s head.

Well done! Qin Ye smiled radiantly. Everything began to turn illusory, and a hellish nethergale began to swirl about him.

After ten arduous minutes of intense pursuit, he had finally caught the breathing room required to slip back to Hell.

Back in Limbo, where the Harken was.

Bit by bit, it wrote the script for the convergence of coincidences taking place back in the mortal realm. The Harken watched quietly from the sidelines, while an illusory figure leaned over the Harken’s head.

“Perhaps.” The Second King Yanluo of Hell spoke without hesitation, “People… would invariably encounter twists of fate in their lives. Some would bring joy, while others would bring sorrow. Nobody’s life can possibly be completely smooth sailing. He must feel incredibly vexed at the amalgamation of confluences. But even then, it’s far better that he should suffer from the immense vexation now, than have the entire Cathay be deeply frustrated at him for the rest of time to come.”

“You can rest assured with me around.”

“What’s this--...” The Harken was stunned. But before he could say anything, the illusory figure opened his eyes for the first time. Then, his body suddenly flickered, and he instantly appeared right next to Fate and held Fate in the cusp of his hand.

The golden light flowed right out of Fate like a roaring tide, sending the Second King Yanluo’s clothes scattering everywhere. Even the Harken’s scales rattled incessantly. Fate struggled desperately in the hands of the Second King Yanluo, and it even let out an ear-splitting scream.

The veins along the Second King Yanluo’s hand bulged as he forcibly wrested control of Fate in its entirety. This was the man known to be the strongest among the three realms. He drew a deep breath, gave it a hard thump, and then bellowed authoritatively, “How dare you!”

The Harken gasped, and then asked, “My Lord… what was that?”

“Earlier, he’d managed to find the time to activate the shard of King Yanluo’s Seal. However… I don’t want him to have it so easy.”

“Critical?” The Second King Yanluo sat like a statue and shut his eyes once more, “Critical is good…”

“Don’t worry, not even I can fully suppress a divine artifact. All I’ve done is to delay its effects… The destiny of a King Yanluo of Hell shouldn’t be written by Fate to begin with. Instead, we’ll let the natural order of fate take its course, whether it be the occurrence of an accident, or the resumption of Fate’s writing. Five minutes. If he can last for the next five minutes, then he’ll have the last laugh.”

The Second King Yanluo responded placidly, “Do you still recall the rules of Hell as far as external forces are concerned?”

The Second King Yanluo nodded, “Izanami’s biting off more than she can chew.”

Back in the mortal realm. Qin Ye’s smile suddenly froze.

“How is this possible?!” He glanced at his chest with disbelief. What could possibly interrupt the operation of the shard of King Yanluo’s Seal?

Without hesitation, Qin Ye turned and made off into the distance. It was clear that Lee Jung-sook had something that the two Nipponese emissaries needed. To that regard, it was also clear that one of the only things that both Qin Ye and Lee Jung-sook had in common was the fact that they had both consumed the taisui fungus. If Lee Jung-sook could no longer be located, the next best target was naturally Qin Ye!

Yet, to his dismay, the first thing he saw was the fact that the shard of King Yanluo’s Seal was covered with a layer of golden substance. It was neither Yin energy nor true energy, yet it was clearly of a quality far beyond anything that QIn Ye had seen before. And it was precisely this unique energy that had broken off the connection between Qin Ye and the shard of King Yanluo’s Seal, preventing him from operating it altogether.

Crow Tengu glanced at him, while Black Yaksha stared in the direction of Lee Jung-sook’s escape. A moment later, Black Yaksha raised his claws to the air and gnashed his teeth, “Damn it… DAMN IT!!!”

His clothes fluttered wildly with the terrifying roar of his. At once, he flew into action, making a series of hand seals so quickly that it left afterimages in its wake. Moments later, a black dot appeared underneath his foot.

To make matters worse, Black Yaksha was standing right next to Hell’s gate. Naturally, escape through Hell’s gate at this point was impossible. The next best thing for Qin Ye right now was to immediately rush out and to rendezvous with the rest of his Yin soldiers. After all, they were all elites in their own rights, and they should easily have detected the clamour back here.

“Are you… hoo… unleashing the Voyage of a Hundred Ghosts?! Are you mad?!”

“If we don’t find Lee Jung-sook, we’d all have to die!!” His mouth opened up a meter wide, and hundreds of scarlet eyes opened up in the void right behind him. At the same time, he grabbed Crow Tengu’s hand, and both figures instantly transformed into a nethergale that quickly melded deep into the swirling vortex around them.

And what was even more frightening was the fact that there were approximately one hundred spots in the vortex where Yin energy appeared to be rapidly coalescing, each of which exuded an aura bearing the qualities of an Anitya Hellguard!

The creature bore two heads, one resembling that of Crow Tengu, and one resembling that of Black Yaksha. Its entire body was bursting with sinewy, red muscles, while sparse white hair appeared to cover scant parts of its body. The creature was clothed with a tattered magus robe, and the Yin energy about its body… was actually in the realms of an Abyssal Prefect!

A deep sense of regret gnawed at his heart. He hadn’t expected things to go south so quickly during the Hungry Ghost Festivals. His preparation had been far too scant. In fact, exigencies like this were dime a dozen in the case files of the old Hell. The lack of preparation was clearly remiss of him.

It was horrific. He saw something right at his feet. The swirling black vortex appeared no different from an underworld on earth, and a bizarre figure had climbed right out of the vortex and appeared right underneath his feet!

It was a dwarf. The garments concealing his limbs appeared to be illusory, yet Qin Ye could tell from the Yin energy about them that they were a hundred percent real.

A bona fide Hellguard.

It was a Nurarihyon, a type of yokai. Legend had it that the Nurarihyon was a supreme commander among yokais, easily commanding a hundred yokais at once.

Some wore kimonos, some looked like spiders, some looked like succubi, some wore a terrifying Hannya, some were completely engulfed in netherflames, some carried a lantern and formed part of a procession of skeletons… At once, countless evil ghosts emerged in a chaotic dance of darkness!

A moment later, the chimera turned and looked right at Qin Ye.

1. Yokais are Japanese folk ghosts, of which Nurarihyon is a part of.

2. A type of Japanese mask used in Noh theatre. [ref]