Yama Rising

Chapter 693: Coffin of the Ghost King

Qin Ye and the Harken stared at each other for a few seconds before Qin Ye finally spoke up, “Did the Second King Yanluo leave us the key to this place?”

There were too many questions and not enough answers. Everything was nothing more than a speculation right now. The Harken also pondered for a long time, before responding in a deep voice, “Then how do you explain that this ‘key’ is drawn right underneath that of all things?”

Qin Ye shook his head, and then made a grasping motion in the air. At once, what remained of the secret memorial appeared in his hand, and he aligned the mark of the lotus flower carefully against the mark on the door. As soon as he had it perfectly aligned, the scroll spontaneously combusted, and transformed into black ash that vanished in the sky.

Qin Ye smiled and chuckled softly.

If not, why would the outer door be sealed by the Sixfold Ghost King’s mark, and the inner door be sealed by the Second King Yanluo’s mark?

Sure, he could be one of the greatest emperors that have ever existed, and he might also have held the largest territory at any one time, but I’m afraid not even Emperor Taizong of Tang or Emperor Qin Shi Huang had such favour with Hell, did they?

Well, I guess if there’s no answer to these questions, then there’s no point thinking about these things any further.

Click… There was a sound of a catch falling into place, followed quickly by the clatter of the inner mechanism. Then, the heavy door slowly opened with a bang.

Qin Ye took a deep breath and walked right in.

A statue of Tengri stood right at the center of the chamber. That said, it appeared somewhat different from before. This incarnation of the Tengri had three heads and six arms, adorned with a Dharma wheel, human bones, a flute, streamers of scriptures, a lotus flower and a book. Its three faces all appeared to be benevolent and lifelike.

“Jade...” Qin Ye stroked the statue cautiously as he murmured aloud, “Though not of the best variety, the entire statue is carved out of the same piece, and its value is comparable to that of any top grade varieties of jade out there. Furthermore, I can tell that there are few impurities found in the entire statue here. This is a masterpiece created to honor the emperor.”

“Hang on a minute…” The Harken glanced at Qin Ye with an incredulous expression, “How in the world do you know so much?”

The Harken clammed up at once.

There was a protracted period of awkward silence before the Harken finally found the right words to respond, “It looks like the office of King Yanluo has saved you from an eternity of anguish in the rat race to the bottom.”

“Now, that’s hardly appropriate. Can you really say that the citizens in the past haven’t been living well?”

He took a deep breath and collected himself. Then, shelving the topic that triggers the painful memories hidden deep in his heart, he glanced around the room, only to realize that it was still constructed entirely out of obsidian. That said, the only difference was that there weren’t any grooves for netherflames in the ground. Yet, even then, the entire chamber was bright as daylight.

The coffin wasn’t the usual rectangular shape. Rather, it was shaped just like a human, and etched with fine carvings on all sides, most of which depicted the glorious conquests of the Mongol Empire’s Iron Stupa. The rest of the coffin was sealed with a band of gold around the seams, and the band was further inlaid with red and blue gemstones in turn.

The answer to all of our questions lies here… Both man and dog subconsciously leaned in closer. The Harken blew off the dust accumulated on the surface of the coffin. At once, the golden band clicked softly, and then slid off like soft silk.

“This is…” Qin Ye stared at the contents in great disbelief, completely lost for words. The Harken was likewise completely flabbergasted by the sight, and its jaws even parted slightly in astonishment.

There was no one in the coffin.

It was a heavy sword.

“Second generation Forbidden Art?” Qin Ye stared at the Harken blankly. His mind had gone completely numb.

It immediately dashed forward for a closer look. And then, after a long time, and almost as though it was reeling from a confluence of both relief and disappointment at the same time, the Harken shook its heads, “No.”

He had taken a look at the Yin Talismans earlier. For a split second there, he’d entered the universe of Yin Talismans to get a closer look at what he was dealing with, and the violent impact of being overloaded with information at once surged straight through his mind. To someone like him who hadn’t been exposed to Yin Talismanology, even a single arrangement of Yin Talismans would already seem as daunting as a 10,000-foot mountain towering before his eyes.

Silence. Moments later, the Harken took several steps back and glanced around nervously, “This can’t be… This is impossible! Isn’t the second generation of Forbidden Arts only supposed to be at the stage of proof of concept? Who’s the one who created this thing? Why would it be here?”

“But that still doesn’t explain anything!” The Harken’s fur flared up, “The initiation module of a second generation Forbidden Art only exists in theory! And even if this was in fact created, how could there be no guardian to safekeep something as important as this?!”

Qin Ye frowned and began to look around for more clues. Moments later, he beckoned to the Harken and pointed at the head of the coffin, “The answer is right here.”

First Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, Temujin.

“And where’s his soul?”

Neither of them cared about the treasures of the mortal realm. All they wanted was the soul of the Great Khan. Unfortunately, neither his soul nor his body were in sight!

“No.” Qin Ye stood right next to the coffin and stroked the surface of the coffin, “This is the Tomb of Temujin we’ve both been looking for.”

There was smoke and mirrors everywhere. Sure, there were clues, but the chaotic manner in how these clues presented themselves caused them to be more perplexed than anything.

“Let’s head back first.” The Harken finally calmed itself down and suggested with a soft sigh, “Regardless of what it is, it’s always good to have the initiation module of the second generation Forbidden Art with us. After all, researching and developing something from scratch is always the most difficult endeavour. With this, we’ve effectively skipped over the most difficult parts, and you can easily commence the project to develop second generation Forbidden Arts at your discretion.”

Qin Ye nodded, and then proceeded to pick up the heavy sword. Strangely enough, it was light as a feather despite its looks.

“Could you put it away for me?”

“... What a pity…” Qin Ye placed the heavy sword on his back. Then, just as he was about to turn to leave, his eyes suddenly lit up with a bright gleam. He gasped in shock and glanced at the coffin, and the feeling of being struck by an epiphany surged straight from his foot to his head.

There was a line of words that had been hidden right beneath the heavy sword all this while.

“I’m going to travel the world, and I will return in a hundred years. The seal cannot be broken. Take care of yourself. -- 7 September 1962, Zhao Zilong.”

SAY WHAT?!