Chapter 984: Arthiss Transformation

The arrival of Qin Ye with the Harken on his shoulder didn't attract any attention, and neither of them turned their attention toward the city that was just beginning to be established. Instead, both of them cast their gaze into the six paths of reincarnation.

"Is that... Arthis?" Qin Ye asked in a surprised voice as he raised an eyebrow.

"It seems like it..." The Harken was also quite taken aback. "But how did this happen? Her Yin energy has increased by 1% in just a few months! This rate of growth is incredible!"

What on earth is going on?!

High-grade underworld emissaries could no longer achieve cultivation progression through Hell's Record. If they wanted to reach the Yama-King level, there would only be two options available to them.

The first option was to do so through a grand script of death. They would have to establish their own mythology in the mortal realm, then accumulate followers over the course of centuries until they could finally complete their metamorphosis.

The second option was to constantly accumulate more accolades in order to progress through Hell's administrative system. High-grade underworld emissaries were different from their low-grade counterparts in that many belonging to the latter category only had official titles but no actual administrative power. In contrast, virtually all high-grade underworld emissaries had substantial administrative power, and if they could make a breakthrough, they would be perfectly deserving and justified Yama-Kings.

However, these accolades couldn't just be accumulated quietly, they had to be reported to the higher-ups as well and be seen by King Yanluo.

Presentations had to be made, and these accolades were built up over the course of lengthy political careers!

Thus, never had there been an instance like this one, where an underworld emissary had rapidly improved their powers in silence!

Qin Ye and the Harken exchanged a glance before both of them swept directly toward the core of the six paths of reincarnation as a gust of Yin wind.

Within the massive mountain of fire, one passageway after another was split up by the karmic flames. In contrast with how empty the six paths of reincarnation had been several months ago, there were countless Yin spirits that had come down from the mortal realm here, and through a constant process of selection, hundreds of underworld emissaries were quickly selected to fill the various roles in the six paths of reincarnation. At this point, the six paths of reincarnation were already bustling with activity with low-grade underworld emissaries regularly entering and exiting the premises.

Qin Ye and the Harken were intentionally concealing themselves, so no one could sense their arrival. They had witnessed the creation of the six paths of reincarnation in person, so they weren't unfamiliar with the passageways within it. Soon, they passed through an area with densely packed office buildings and arrived behind the area.

There, they were greeted by the sight of a massive Ksitigarbha statue with golden Buddhist lanterns hanging all over its body. Behind the statue was a tightly shut black wooden door, upon which was engraved a piece of artwork depicting Zhong Kui capturing ghosts. [Zhong Kui is a deity in Chinese mythology that is said to protect homes and ward off evil.] Bursts of Yin energy were surging out from the gaps around the door, and in the blink of an eye, Qin Ye and the Harken had already passed through the door.

Beyond the door was a massive path that was 200 meters wide and over a kilometer in length.

There were giant red pillars situated at intervals of 100 meters on either side of the path, upon which were engraved reliefs of all Hell's Abyssal Prefects and Yama-Kings. These pillars were connected by angular beams, and strings of lit lanterns trailing down by about 30 to 40 meters were hanging at 10-meter intervals along these beams, burning with green netherflames.

It was as if these giant pillars had formed a boundary, and beyond these pillars was a sea of Yin spirits, all of whom had died terrible deaths. Some of them were missing limbs, some of them were missing heads, some of them only had half their bodies intact, and they were wearing attire from all eras. It was like witnessing a sea of agony, and all of the Yin spirits were frantically trying to pass through the boundary formed by the giant pillars with all their might, yet none of them were able to succeed.

"Looks like Arthis has really done her homework." Qin Ye was quite impressed.

However, the Harken shook its head with disapproval as it said, "There's no originality or creativity at all. This is the renowned 'Inner Demon Path' of Fengdu, and she's copied it to a tee. On this path, one would be scrutinized by countless agonized Yin spirits, and no matter how brave or brazen they are, they'll be sure to be struck by a sense of fear. All those who are put onto this path were extremely controversial or heinous figures during their lifetimes. These people are unable to be judged by the Department of Prudence and can only be sent here to be judged by the warden in person."

It pointed its chin forward, and right at the end of the path, a bright red gate swung open. The gate was also extremely massive in size, and one could just barely make out the outlines of a palace beyond the gate. Even though there wasn't a single person in sight, the gate still struck the beholder with an instinctive sense of awe and fear.

"Can you feel it?" the Harken asked as it cast its gaze toward the palace through narrowed eyes.

Qin Ye nodded in response with a solemn expression. "I can sense a very strange type of power that definitely doesn't belong to Arthis herself."

Furthermore, Arthis's Yin energy was becoming more and more powerful by the second!

It wasn't just her Yin energy, there was another type of indescribable power involved, as if something were being smelted and fused as one with her spiritual body.

This was extremely strange. It was exceedingly difficult to become a Yama-King. Otherwise, the Cathayan Underworld would've produced more than just 20 or so Yama-Kings during its history of several thousand years. However, at this rate, Arthis was definitely going to be able to become a Yama-King within the next century or so!

"Something's definitely gone wrong..." the Harken mused as it swept its gaze around the completely deserted path. "This is the core of the entire six paths of reincarnation, so there should be guards everywhere here, yet not a single guard is present."

"There's only one possibility," Qin Ye analyzed. "Arthis knows that something's gone wrong with her, so she sent the guards away before they could get hurt."

What exactly is going on?

The two of them exchanged a wary glance, then rushed directly toward the gate as a streak of black light.

The black mist up ahead gradually began to clear up as if they were passing through a tunnel of black mist, and right as the black mist completely faded, both Qin Ye and the Harken were stunned by what they saw.

Inside the main palace, Arthis had already reverted back to her true form, which was the head of a gorgeous woman with Yin energy surging out of all of its orifices. The head was several dozen meters in size with a pair of bright red eyes, and it was hanging in mid-air like a miniature sun. The hair on the head was spread in all directions like silken threads, extending into the sea of Yin spirits beyond the rows of pillars before pulling back bright white balls of light that were frantically stuffed into Arthis's mouth.

The intricately designed warden's office around her had been completely demolished with the desk, screens, tables, and chairs all smashed into countless scraps of broken wood. The sound of chewing could be heard alongside the anguished howls of countless Yin spirits, and Arthis's teeth were chomping down incessantly as Yin energy and threads of white light erupted forth in a frenzy. Arthis's eyes were completely bloodshot from starvation, and it was as if she couldn't stuff the balls of light into her own mouth quickly enough.

"I'm so hungry!!" She had also seen Qin Ye and the Harken, but she was too busy eating to talk. Each time she opened and clothed her mouth, hundreds of balls of light were devoured, and it seemed that she had already been doing this for quite a while.

"That's light of worship!" Qin Ye exclaimed in an incredulous manner. He was far too familiar with these balls of light!

Light of worship would only appear from a religion, and he was certainly no stranger to this as he had just landed a massive bounty of worship in the new continent!

The quantity of light of worship that Arthis was devouring couldn't compare with that stemming from the grand script of death, but the power of light of worship was determined by the faith of a religion's followers. Qin Ye had been able to progress to the mid Yama-King level off the back of the worship and faith from Dax's hundreds of thousands of followers, but where was this light of worship coming from in the six paths of reincarnation?

Was it coming from the sinful Yin spirits