There’s something…

There’s actually something!

Both Infernal Judges stared at the mound with bloodshot eyes - 

Yama-class… A Yama-class artifact has finally surfaced since the collapse of Hell! This… is akin to fitting out the racecar of Hell with nitrous in order to boost its efforts at overtaking the others!

“Hang on!” Qin Ye was the first to come to his senses. He slapped himself hard and forced himself to calm down, “There’s something amiss… We’re talking about a Yama-class artifact that has just been revealed, so why can’t I sense its existence?”

It was only then that Arthis returned to her senses as well. She studied the artifact for the next few moments, and then softly murmured, “I don’t know… My best guess is that it might have something to do with the fact that its owner has been whisked off into paradise by Lord Ksitigarbha, and its connection is now lost. Has a conjunct Yin artifact lost function?”

“Are you saying that conjunct Yin artifacts don’t lose their function?”

Arthis shook her head, “No. Conjunct Yin artifacts, also known as origin Yin artifacts, are known to exist and perish together with their master. Anyone who touches such Yin artifacts would immediately see where the master was in the final moments of his life. But if the artifact’s master is still alive, then no matter where he might be in the three realms of the world, the artifact would never lose its function.”

So, it’s not an origin Yin artifact…

 Qin Ye sighed, but then immediately thought to slap himself to his senses.

So what if it’s not?

It’s still a Yama-class Yin artifact that’s placed right in front of me now! These are things that I would previously have only dreamed about! In fact, I would have gone gaga in the past at the sight of a Judge-class artifact, so how is it right that I’m feeling displeased at a Yama-class artifact?

He drew a deep breath, transformed into a stream of nethergale and rushed forward. Then, with great trembling in his arms, he wrapped his hand around the spear tip and pulled it forcefully.

Clatter…

 The entire hexagonal platform collapsed instantly, revealing the fact that there wasn’t anything more than the tip of the spear. Arthis sighed, “It looks like this is an incomplete Yin artifact. No wonder we couldn’t sense its existence--…”

Arthis suddenly shrieked mid-sentence and immediately rushed back to the safety of one of the stone chambers, before slowly peeking out at Qin Ye with great trembling all over her body.

Just a moment ago, she had heard a shrill and ethereal shriek from the depths of the abyss. It was completely silent, and yet she felt it reverberating through every corner of her mind.

The shriek was soft and distant, and yet it was so authoritative that it appeared to demand the submission of all Yin spirits who heard the cry.

It stirred fear from the innermost parts. It was overbearing by virtue of the authority of its bloodline.

“This is… this is…” Her entire body trembled as she stared at Qin Ye, because she could see wisps of pure white Yin energy wrapping around Qin Ye’s entire body, forming a white Han Dynasty armor that was damaged and tattered. It had also caused Qin Ye’s gaze to grow deep, abstruse and majestic beyond belief.

This definitely wasn’t the Dogballs that she knew!

Whoosh!

 Countless strands of hair immediately surged from her head and stuffed up the entrance to the stone chamber she was in. Her body trembled violently as she leaned heavily against the walls of the chambers, “Sixfold Ghost King… It’s the Sixfold Ghost King!!!”

“It’s the very same one that sealed me into the depths of the abysses back then! He was the one that took over custody of me from Granny Meng!!”

Unfortunately, Qin Ye could no longer hear her cries anymore.

He was locked in a trance, almost as though the world had gone dark for a moment. Then, when he opened his eyes once more, he suddenly found himself… on a battlefield.

There were at least 100,000 soldiers on the battlefield.

Some of them were wearing simple leather armor, but there were more that were completely unarmored. Everyone wielded their own spears or sabers, shouting valiantly as they tore at their enemies’ jugulars. Devastation abounded on the battlefield. The grounds were littered with corpses and bleeding skulls.

Swathes of lands were dyed dark red from the blood that was spilt.

Qin Ye scanned through the horrific battlegrounds from a bird’s eye view. And then, he suddenly paused, and did a double take at the banners flying high.

Logically speaking, a battle on this scale would have been fought between two mighty armies.

But it wasn’t.

The entire army appeared to be in pursuit of something, and only a small part of it appeared to be moving vigorously, as though attempting to surround its target. The rest of the army simply followed closely behind. The banners were all black in colour, and had the embroidered words ‘Cao’ displayed prominently on them.

Where the hell is this supposed to be?

His eyes ran across the pursuing soldiers and landed directly on the pursued. To his amazement, he saw a red-and-white figure attempting to shake off an army of pursuers.

He rode a white horse, and his entire body was red - not because it was the natural colour of his armor, but because it was dyed red with blood. His cloak was torn and tattered. He wore a long sword on his waist, and wielded a spear with such proficiency that it looked like the dance of a dragon whenever he thrusted at his enemies. He appeared to be riding freely away from his enemy forces. No matter what the Cao forces did, they were unable to stand in his way!

The Cao forces would from time to time manage to form a wall of shields to obstruct his approach, and yet he would unleash a series of spear thrusts that appeared to slither and slip between the minutest gaps like a venomous viper, cutting down all obstacles and forging for himself a new path of blood.

“Holy shit…” Qin Ye stared at the figure almost as though he had just seen a ghost. Li Bai’s poem came to mind - ‘Silver-saddled horse, valiant as a meteor. A life with every ten steps, onwards for a thousand miles.’ 

I used to think that Li Bai’s poetry was just a figment of his imagination. But… it’s actually true?!

Moreover, this isn’t even ‘a life with every ten steps’... we’re practically talking about ten lives with every single step! Just look at the path of blood you’re leaving behind! Do you know you’ve already killed hundreds of people on end?!

Just then, the man suddenly turned around.

“Bloody hell…” Qin Ye’s heart skipped a beat - 

How striking…

Sharp brows and deep eyes, a tall figure and well-proportioned build. He’s practically a walking aphrodisiac… how could people possibly keep their legs closed at the sight of that?!

I hate people who look as handsome as that!!!

For instance, people such as Wang Chenghao and Lin Han.

Then, just as he was about to explode with cuss and swear words, something caught his eye, and he immediately did a double take at the bulging muscles of the rider’s chest--… Sorry - I mean - at what lay just in front of his breastplate.

There was a baby swaddled in cloth.

A living baby.

The foul winds and bloodbath around the baby made him wail at the top of his voice. The rider’s entire body was covered with wounds, and yet the one single location that remained completely unscathed was the area right in front of his chest. 

“This is…” He stared at the valiant warrior, “Zhao Yun?! Zhao Zilong?! One of the Sixfold Ghost Kings?!! This is his Yin artifact?!”

“This is Adou, the child of Liu Bei?!”

[1]

“I’ll be damned…” He stared blankly ahead and murmured with great disbelief, “This is… the Battle of Changban?”

[2]

Boom!!

As soon as he spoke of the Battle of Changban, the perspective in front of him instantly shattered, and then slowly began to dissipate like wisps of smoke.

Moments later, he discovered that he was still hovering in the air, holding the tip of the spear in his hands. He could even smell the faint stench of rust from it.

After a long time, he stared blankly at the spear tip in his hands and murmured softly, “What’s this?” 

“This is… the Sixfold Ghost King’s origin Yin artifact…” A hoarse voice responded from within a stone chamber. Qin Ye glanced over, only to realize that there was now a crack in the wall of hair that had sealed up the entrance to the chamber. Arthis looked at the spear tip with palpable fear in her eyes, “If my guess is right, then that must be the origin Yin artifact of Lord Zhao Zilong, one of the Sixfold Ghost Kings, the Courage of Dragons Silver Spear…”

Qin Ye nodded his head, and then suddenly looked up once more, completely startled, “Origin Yin artifact? You’re saying that this is Zhao Zilong’s conjunct Yin artifact?”

Arthis nodded. Her hair had been completely white in colour, and it was only now that it slowly began to regain its black hue. She hissed back softly, “Furthermore… the fact that the origin Yin artifact is still around tells us that… Lord Zhao Zilong is still around in one of the three realms of the world!”

Silence.

None of them said a single word.

Both Arthis and Qin Ye were astounded by the implications of such a postiluation.

One of the Sixfold Ghost Kings, a Yama-class entity, is still alive?

There was yet another pair of eyes that had been watching the developments in the mortal realm and the underworld all this while?

A minute later, Qin Ye exclaimed, “Impossible! If Zhao Zilong is still around, he cannot possibly be oblivious to the fact that the new Hell has been formed! And if that’s the case, why didn’t he drop by? Unless… he’s thinking of revolting?”

“Pah!!” Arthis’ eyes raged with intense netherflames and she immediately hissed back to Qin Ye, “My darling hero would never do something like that!! Can you please be a little bit more respectful of what you say?!!”

Abrupt silence.

An awkward, abrupt silence.

“Darling hero?” Qin Ye’s thoughts lingered on the keywords of Arthis’ earlier statement, “Could you kindly repeat yourself?”

“What’s the big deal?!! Why wouldn’t I repeat myself?!” Arthis’ cheeks were completely flushed. Truth be told, this was the first time that Qin Ye had ever seen her this way. Even the roots of her hair were standing abashedly. Her expression looked no different from the one painted on the face of the silicone doll.

She forcibly suppressed the tremor in her voice, and then shouted in an almost-declaratory manner, “Lord Zhao Zilong is the number one male idol of Hell! Do you know how many female ghosts keep tabs on every single piece of news about him? Even the maidens of the Confucian Family, the Li Clan of the Tang Dynasty, the Zhao Clan of the Song Dynasty, are ardent followers of Lord Zhao! What’s the matter? Do you think I haven’t been young once?! Is an old woman not allowed to have a few idols?!”

Qin Ye nodded his head - 

I understand.

The fact that you’re even conceding the fact that you’re an old woman speaks volumes about the truth of these statements. Speaking of which, Arthis, do you know that you’re rather unorthodox? For more than four hundred chapters, you’ve acted in the same manner, putting me down with the sharpest tongue and the crassest language. Who would’ve thought that you would reveal this side of you today?

You, of all people!

The fact that Qin Ye had just uncovered the tip of a secret as important as this meant that he was bound to continue stabbing it deeper into Arthis’ heart. It wouldn’t be anything like his personality to let things slide just like that. Thus, he coughed dryly, and then began to rain on Arthis’ parade, “Don’t speak of it as though he’s got you in his sights… Look at that damned waist and legs of yours… Even I can’t help but close my legs involuntarily…”

“You. Piece. Of. Shit!!!” Arthis rushed at him with an unprecedented fiery gaze blazing from her eyes, “Who do you think you are?! How dare you even speak of yourself in the same breath as Lord Zhao Zilong?! We’re talking about a walking aphrodisiac! The embodiment of masculinity! How can someone as weak as you be even mentioned in the same breath as my darling Brother Zilong?!!”

Pfft… Brother Zilong… very good…

 Qin Ye nearly gagged at that statement.

“Haven’t you ever thought about how you’re going to explain everything to your future husband when he hears of such infatuation of yours?”

Arthis turned away shyly before whispering back, “What do you mean? Why can’t my future husband… be him?”

WTF?!

Qin Ye recoiled with a disgusted expression.

“Perhaps Brother Zilong fought to remain behind in the underworld precisely because he knew that I was still around in these parts…”

Disgusting!

Gross!

I’m getting goosebumps!!

Qin Ye sneered, “But think about it, you’re just a head. Wouldn’t you be making things difficult for Brother Zhao? He wouldn’t be able to--… I mean, where would he begin? Do you think he only wants someone who is good at… flapping her lips?”

“Get. Out. Right. NOW!!!” Arthis roared furiously. Qin Ye could tell that he had just inadvertently prodded her most sensitive spot…

Tsk, tsk… I can’t bear to watch on anymore…

Three minutes later. Arthis finally managed to calm herself down once more, “You there, Dogballs. Do you know the sheer magnitude of these implications?”

Of course I do!

Qin Ye finally set aside his venomous tongue and rubbed his chin as he began to delve deep into thought.

Why would the spear tip of the Courage of Dragons Silver Spear be in Kong Mo’s possession?

Did the Confucian Family send Kong Mo out… because of this matter with Zhao Zilong?

Furthermore, how did this origin Yin artifact come to be separated from its master? What the hell happened over there?

“There’s only one possible answer.” He glanced back into the depths of the stone chamber once more. In their earlier excitement, they had left something of great importance here, “The answer to all these mysteries must be hidden in the secret memorial right there.”

There was no doubt that the secret memorial was one of the main purposes of sending Kong Mo into exile in the first place!

The Confucian Family had even whipped out the Mythic Palace of Reflections, together with over thirty pieces of Yin artifacts for this mission!

“I’ve got a feeling that there’s an earth-shattering secret hidden within the secret memorial! Arthis…” He drew a deep breath and glanced at Arthis, “Immediately bring Three Lives, Three Worlds to the Harken. I want a response within the next three months.”

“Rest assured!” Arthis snorted, “After all, you can be sure that I’m far more anxious than anyone to get my hands on any clues on the whereabouts of Lord Zilong!”