Chapter 10: Alaksasha (Please Recommend and Add to Your Favorites During the New Book Release Period)
Rumble... The sea of hair was so vast that it spread a black layer over the bridge, writhing like thousands of poisonous snakes, surging straight toward Qin Ye.
“What is this...” Qin Ye drew in a sharp breath, then shouted, “Hurry!”
He knew there was a terrifying presence beneath this abyss. Yet Lady Meng seemed to be acquainted with it. No... In the Underworld, who among the spirits did not know Lady Meng?
Even the Echo Worm had fled far away, myriad ghosts had retreated, but at this moment, someone truly dared to provoke the tiger!
Unfortunately, his shout could not reach Lady Meng. She must have gone off with the Ferryman and the Candle Dragon; the black butterfly’s flight remained steady and unhurried, far slower than the hair’s crawling advance below. Lady Meng likely never imagined the being in this abyss would turn on her.
It shouldn’t be able to catch up... Qin Ye’s scalp prickled as he watched the black hair surge like a tidal wave onto the Bridge of Forgetfulness. Yet, just as anxiety filled his eyes, all the hair began spiraling upward toward the heavens, twining like the magic vines from a fairy tale.
“Damn!” Qin Ye gritted his teeth. Then, at the far end of his sight, a single point of red rose from the chasm.
It was small, but amidst the black tide, it stood out glaringly—crimson as blood, like the pupil of a demon.
Crack... crack... with the sound of falling stones, seconds later, a red oil-paper umbrella slowly ascended from the abyss.
The umbrella shielded most of the figure. Beneath it, three thousand strands of jet-black hair spilled over shoulders, and the gown was an incongruous array of bright silks—blue, red, white, yellow—mismatched, yet forming the attire of a palace lady from ancient Huaguo. She stepped gracefully on a carpet of black hair, and with each step, a fresh red flower bloomed behind her. The petals were slender, layered thrice over, as if spread from a pool of blood.
Red Spider Lilies.
In this pitch-black hell, before her lay the bridge of bones, behind her the golden colossus of Ksitigarbha, beneath her the Bridge of Forgetfulness, and all around, a desolate black mist. The woman with the umbrella walked upon a carpet of red spider lilies—a scene so bizarre that cold sweat coursed down Qin Ye’s spine.
“Who are you...” The woman’s steps seemed slow, but her speed was terrifying. In a heartbeat, she stood a dozen meters before Qin Ye and halted.
“Arokasura...” Her voice was as crisp and clear as wind-chimes, almost ethereal. She did not raise her red umbrella, but spoke softly, “Don’t be afraid... I am also an official of the Underworld. I once held the post of ‘Judge’ in Minfeng Province...”
Qin Ye did not relax for a moment, stepping back with grave caution.
He had yet to read the dossier Lady Meng placed beneath his pillow, and did not know what rank a Judge held within the Underworld’s hierarchy. But... why would a “former” Judge be sealed beneath the abyss?
Moreover... he had heard the name Arokasura before.
It was an Indian term; in the language of Huaguo, it meant... Rakshasi!
Only the most fearsome demons in hell were called Rakshasas—cruel, bloodthirsty, and now one stood before him!
“Do you know...” Arokasura lowered the umbrella further, her body trembling. “On the first section of the Yellow Springs, on the Bridge of Bones along the Road of Yin and Yang, ordinary ghosts cannot cross. Only three kinds of people may pass.”
“First, the Underworld’s bailiffs.”
“Second, those recognized by the Underworld, even summoned here.”
“And third...” Her trembling grew more violent, as if the umbrella weighed a thousand pounds and crushed her to the ground. “Those tainted by fragments of the Underworld’s innate treasures.”
“Sss...” An eerie sound issued from beneath the umbrella; she shrank in on herself, “Sss... I... sss... how about we make a deal?”
“What deal?” Qin Ye watched her warily, knowing nothing about this clearly unstable Arokasura.
Arokasura replied, “Give me that soul.”
Qin Ye’s gaze flickered. “A deal is an exchange. What do I get in return?”
“Sss... sss...” Arokasura’s body convulsed ever more violently. “I... can let you... sss... leave alive...”
Underneath the red umbrella, the sound of saliva flowed thickly. “Sss... I can hardly restrain myself any longer... I haven’t tasted blood in centuries. Do you know how enticing your scent is?”
Her trembling silhouette advanced slowly. “Do you really understand the significance of that soul?”
“Sss... Do you really comprehend... that old woman spent a hundred years, exhausting her merit to keep you from passing on, just so you could find a Yanluo Seal?”
“If you don’t understand... sss... then give it to me!!”
Before the words finished, the red umbrella exploded with a thunderous crash! Her gaudy palace gown, so mismatched in color, seemed ripped apart by invisible hands. At last, a horrifying form was revealed.
It was a human head.
Only a head.
No body. From the eyes, ears, and mouth, endless strands of hair spilled out like a den of serpents, writhing and growing madly. Even beneath her skin, one could see bulging, worming shapes. Countless vengeful spirits wailed in chorus as this monstrous black blossom unfurled—grief, rage, joy, every emotion, all screamed hoarse, as if plunging one into the eighteen levels of hell.
“Hand it over, or die!!” Arokasura’s roar was accompanied by the howls of a thousand ghosts, crashing and surging like a tsunami. Qin Ye felt as if he stood in the center of a storm; his bailiff’s robe snapped straight back behind him.
Such terrifying yin energy...
Shielding his eyes, every nerve taut as wire, Qin Ye forced his pounding heart to stay within his chest. “This is something Lady Meng herself gave me.”
“Heh... sss...” The face in the vortex of black hair seemed to smile, then burst into maniacal laughter. “Heh heh heh... Hahahaha!!”
“In the Underworld, even the bailiffs—who among them was not a sinner in life? Do you expect true sentiment between me and Lady Meng?”
“Kekekeke... don’t be ridiculous. If she were here, I’d fear her threefold... sss... Human, you have no idea what this ‘key’ will bring you. You are unworthy of such a thing... Give it to me, now!!”
Boom! With the last word, Qin Ye felt as if struck by an invisible giant, his feet skidding back over ten meters.
“Shit...” He wiped blood from the corner of his mouth in shock. Just the force of her voice was unbearable! His internal organs boiled with pain. The bailiff’s robe he wore began to char and flake at the edges, peeling away like black butterflies into the air.
Just the sound had exceeded the robe’s defensive power.
This was not a foe he could face!
Swish! As thoughts raced through his mind, the endless hair twisted into hideous hands, reaching for his vital points. Qin Ye’s pupils contracted. He shouted, “I’ll hand it over!!”
There was no time for hesitation.
Shhh... All the hair stopped just three meters from him, crossing ten meters in less than a tenth of a second.
A bead of cold sweat trickled from his brow; he could smell the stench of blood from the hair.
He raised one hand, crouched, showing himself harmless as the monster watched tensely from afar. Sweat poured from him, while his other hand groped inside his clothing.
“No tricks, mortal,” Arokasura said coldly. “Schemes are born of weakness. The gap between us is vast—no amount of cunning will help you...”
Her words suddenly ceased.
Qin Ye smiled.
Why did he smile? Arokasura was briefly puzzled.
A sudden moment of enlightenment before death? Did he really believe that handing over the critical soul would mean she’d spare him? Or had he simply been frightened out of his wits?
At that instant, Qin Ye’s bailiff’s robe fluttered without wind, the Soul-Capturing Chain at his waist clinking. In the next moment, the robe burst apart completely, revealing his ordinary civilian clothes underneath. At his chest, a golden scroll was slowly unfurling.
At his fingertips, a length of red string.
A wave of dire foreboding surged through Arokasura’s heart, but there was no time to think. With an earth-shaking roar, a tide of dense, boundless yin energy crashed over the entire Bridge of Forgetfulness!
Vast, grand, boundless, infinite!
If Arokasura’s yin energy was the Yangtze or the Yellow River, this was the endless sea! Wherever it swept, the hair at Arokasura’s feet was incinerated inch by inch. In her shocked gaze, all the yin energy whirled into a massive black vortex, dozens of meters across, enveloping Qin Ye completely.
“What is that...” She stared in disbelief at the vortex, then began to tremble. A heartbeat later, she screamed and fled in madness toward the fissure.
“Six Kings of Ghosts... The Six Kings of Ghosts have descended!!”
“Sss... That damned old woman actually gave him such a thing!!”
The black tide of hair receded like waves, but at that moment, the black vortex erupted with a thunderous crash. A figure, shrouded in raging black energy, riding a white warhorse, leapt forth from the vortex!
Clad in silver armor, already stained with blood, his black ancient garb torn, but the face was still Qin Ye’s. In his hand, a white spear, its tip leveled at the fleeing Arokasura.
The steed’s hooves flew like the wind, crossing a hundred meters in a heartbeat, the frigid tip at her brow!
A silver saddle on a white horse, swift as a meteor.
The killing intent surged to the sky. Inside Arokasura’s skull, her teeth chattered in terror. She shrieked, “No... spare me... have mercy!!”
Thud!
Before she finished, the spearhead burst through her forehead. All sound ceased; the world fell silent.
Speed.
Ultimate speed.
Of all martial skills, none can withstand speed. There were no superfluous moves, and none could see how the spear struck. For when it appeared, the opponent was already dead.
Just one strike.
Time seemed to halt for a second. Then, with a soul-rending scream, Arokasura’s head and her writhing black hair spun and twisted madly, forming a terrible black hole centered on the spear’s tip!
“No... no!! You... you mere mortal... how dare you—”
Swish!
The black hole snapped shut. A paper-sealed orb dropped to the ground with a thud.
Instant kill.