Yama Rising

Chapter 635: Crafty Old Foxes

I can see the reflection of the moonlight, and… damn, there’s a good looking man right there…

Qin Ye froze.

Qin Ye turned back coldly, only to be greeted by an equally frigid expression on the Harken’s face.

“I’ve never seen such a shameless King Yanluo as you! Shameful! You’re the greatest embarrassment to Hell there is!!” Three seconds later, the Harken bared its fangs and pounced over at Qin Ye.

“I asked you to look for the treasure, and you ran over to look at a mirror instead, huh?!”

“This is a form of concealment, understand?! People might think that I’m a cat, but the truth of the matter is that I’m a dog! And people may misunderstand me to be a dog, but the truth of the matter is that I’m the Harken! This is a twofold concealment! What business is it of yours anyway?!”

Qin Ye’s eyes suddenly lit up, and he immediately went into deep thought.

“It’s really not in this place!”

It couldn’t quite understand how Qin Ye could locate it when it wasn’t able to.

“Don’t you remember the old monk mentioning how the Yuhuang Temple was destroyed twice?”

“Are you saying that--...” The Harken’s eyes widened, “Their contingency plan is located in neither the Longxing Temple nor the location of the Huangjue Temple, but the location of the original Yuhuang Temple?”

“No! In fact, it’s highly likely!” The Harken immediately leapt up into the air. Then, with its body still suspended in the air, it unleashed several waves of undisguised Yin energy into the surroundings. At once, the Yin spirits of Insignia Province immediately shivered in terror, while the alarms of the Special Investigations Department went off.

“Unfortunately, it’s an ironclad rule that the mortal realm and the netherworld don’t intersect! It’s troublesome for even someone like me to take even a peek into the mortal realm, much less Zhu Yuanzhang himself. So if he wants to have the best of both worlds, the only possibility is if he places it in a location that he can check on wherever he might be!”

Qin Ye gasped - That’s right… Longxing Temple has to be one of Zhu Yuanzhang’s sources of grievances. After all, it was this very place that he finally broke away from his identity as a village boy and a monk, and joined the rebel forces. This was the place which marked the beginning of his campaign that culminated in the establishment of the great Ming Dynasty!

At once, Yin energy converged from every direction, coalescing into a 10 meter thick and 300 meter wide giant palm beneath the ground. Then, inch by inch, the palm slowly closed up.

“And the third Longxing Temple…” It licked its lips avariciously, “The old monk had said that it was located approximately 300 meters away from the second Longxing Temple… It was only because an imperial building was already there that the monk back then had no choice but to construct the Longxing Temple off-site! However, given the close proximity, Emperor Hongwu immediately realized that he could use that as another layer of smokescreen in order to conceal the true location of the Zhu Clan’s contingency plans. Who says that the Zhu Clan are uninformed brutes? They\'re as crafty and wily as an old fox!”

The Harken laughed.

Four of the colossal fingers formed from Yin energy continued to lift the ground closer and closer towards the Harken, but a single one abruptly paused.

And a regular one at that, replete with regular soil.

Clatter, clatter! The farmland was completely helpless to their search. The chains weaved in and out of the soil, while Qin Ye stared intently at it, attempting to catch even the slightest traces of anomalies. Bit by bit, the chains tossed up every bit of soil lifted by the Harken, until five minutes later, a bright gleam suddenly flashed in his eyes.

Clatter! He immediately retracted his chains, only to pull out a lump of clay.

He couldn’t see anything peculiar about it.

The Harken chortled, and then blew gently at the clay. At once, the shell of clay fell off, revealing a grain of… seed.

Qin Ye stared at the seed in disbelief, and then turned to the Harken. How could this be a treasure? This crazy dog is playing me, isn’t it?!

Ah… Fine, fine, you didn’t have to yell at me… Qin Ye’s eyes instantly inverted in colour, and his earlier suspicion promptly turned into shock!

It appeared ancient, yet opulent. The entire structure seemed somewhat transparent, but he couldn’t see exactly what it was.

There were countless such runes. In fact, it was by far the largest gathering of such runes he had ever seen thus far! The brilliance of the golden symbols glowed like a radiant sun hovering around the surface of the ground.

“Haa--...” He stumbled softly to the ground. When he next came to his senses, he felt waves of stabbing pain in his mind. With palpitations in his heart, he asked, “What’s this?”

This is unreal! This can only have been done by a divine being!

“This is the means of a Yama-King.”

Is there really such an unbelievable technique in the world?

“Zhu Yuanzhang… was a Yama-King?” Qin Ye asked cautiously.

“Not really?”

“This seed was one that was forged by Emperor Hongwu himself. After all, nobody else in the Zhu Clan apart from him had the means of employing such techniques.” The Harken wagged its tail with some measure of annoyance, “Anyhow, this isn’t the time to be discussing such theories. Don’t you plan to take a look inside? Need I remind you that this is a priceless treasure left behind by the great ancestor of a Great Clan. It will be an eye-opener.”

“Of course.”

It wasn’t the time to ask the Harken just what it had done. That said, he realized that he could now look at the runes of Yin Talisman directly without being dazzled by them. At once, he leaned in for a closer inspection.

The entire structure appeared black, but somewhat translucent at the same time.

Where have I seen it before?

“It’s Yin jade.” The Harken licked its lips excitedly, “Something that is one grade higher than regular Yin spirit stones. Regular Yin spirit stones appear mottled because they contain impurities. However, Yin jade does not, and it appears flawless, radiant and transparent. One can liken Yin spirit stones to gold, and Yin jade to actual jade of excellent quality. Zhu Yuanzhang, oh Zhu Yuanzhang, wouldn’t you be squirming in your grave right now when you learn that the contingency plan that you’d reserved for your own descendants had somehow become the betrothal gift to be used by Hell?”

Even though he had anticipated some measure of wealth and resources accompanying the contingency plan, it had turned out to be far more outrageous than he had ever fathomed!

We’re talking about a sculpted Yin jade that spans 10,000 meters from end to end! This… is practically a work of art! This isn’t something that can even be measured with the currency we have in Hell!

Meanwhile, Qin Ye was completely lost for words.

And this was just the surrounding walls to boot.

“Look there.” The Harken was far calmer than he was. After all, this was a dog that had seen Hell in its former glory. Thus, it tugged at Qin Ye’s garments and forced him to turn towards the main entrance to the entire structure.

This was the fourth Longxing Temple…

And also the location of the hidden treasure of the Zhu Clan!