Yama Rising

Roar!! Roar! Sss!! Li Cheng had finally lost it all. He swung his claws wildly at his own mother. Unfortunately, he was still a young child compared to his mother. His strength was still a far cry from Song Jiafang, and he was therefore unable to cause any damage to his mother. That said, Song Jiafang didn’t retaliate either. Instead, she simply hugged Li Cheng tightly, preventing it from getting any closer to Li Jiankang.

This was the manifestation of yet another type of instinct.

The maternal instinct.

Just like when she had been hacked down by her very own son, she simply couldn’t bear to hurt her own child.

Thus, she simply remained still and silent as she allowed her child to claw madly at her.

“Run…” Song Jiafang turned her bloodshot eyes to Li Jiankang and blurted, “Run… leave us… run!!”

Li Jiankang was completely dumbfounded. He stared at both vampires with an inexplicably complex gaze in his eyes. His lips trembled, yet he found himself completely at a loss for words.

It was almost as though he had only just realized what kind of monstrosity he had raised.

“Let go…” He shut his eyes with a complex smile on his face, “Ah Fang… let him go…”

“When we were still alive, we let go of him when we should’ve been holding him close… So now… what’s the point of holding onto him any longer?”

The female vampire covered in knife wounds acted as though she hadn’t heard his comments, and she continued to grab tightly to Li Cheng’s neck.

“Let go… let go!!” Despite the disparity in strength, Li Cheng’s explosive strength caused by the manifestation of his extreme hunger was still extraordinary. Song Jiafang refused to manhandle Li Cheng, while Li Cheng’s strength only grew with his escalating desperation for food. Finally, with a shrill shriek, Li Cheng wrested free of Song Jiafang’s grasp and charged towards Li Jiankang madly.

“Dad… dad… dad… my beloved father…”

“I’m… coming…”

“Since you love me so much… you’ll let me have a bite, won’t you?”

Li Cheng’s gaping wide mouth and rows of sharp teeth quickly closed in on Li Jiankang. Li Jiankang instinctively motioned to put up a defensive posture. Yet in the very next second, as though something came over him, he held back and simply closed his eyes.

Kkkrrr.

It was the sickly sound of crunching bones.

AHHHHHHHH!! Song Jiafang unleashed a miserable wail. She completely ignored Qin Ye and darted straight towards Li Jiankang’s body.

Li Cheng had clamped his powerful jaws down onto Li Jiankang’s neck, and he was now sucking and drinking from Li Jiankang’s thick, red blood.

However, Li Jiankang’s gaze was transfixed on Song Jiafang. Although her hair was disheveled, her skin was covered in black hair, and her expressions were incomparably hideous and inhumane, a peculiar smile continued to creep up the corner of his lips.

It’s finally over…

This must be the feeling of release…

My sins… have they finally been paid in full…?

It’s not worth it… It’s not worth living in paranoia; it’s not worth living life in constant regret, and it’s most certainly not worth perpetrating wrongdoing… After all, good and evil must always be repaid. And the price of these things are far too large…

His pupils grew dilated, and his body started to shrivel up. He lifted his hands slightly, before finally letting it fall limply.

“AHHHHHH!! Unfilial… son! Unfilial son!! Sss…!!” Song Jiafang charged frantically towards Li Cheng’s side. Two streams of tears had actually flowed out from the corner of her eyes. Then, in a fit of hysteria, she finally grabbed Li Cheng by the neck and snapped it without hesitation.

Crack…

It was also the sound of snapping bones.

Li Cheng’s head had been completely ripped off his body. But his head didn’t fall down because his jaws were still clamped down tightly onto Li Jiankang’s neck. Their heads remained next to each other.

It was as though father and son had finally been reunited in death. They had been granted the peace and tranquility that they so desired.

Qin Ye slowly unsheathed his saber.

Perhaps Li Jiankang’s death might have been unnatural and unjustifiable in the eyes of the law of the mortal realm.

But in his eyes, everything was fully justified and stood to reason.

A life for a life. It was only right and proper.

The final act of the Li family incident had finally drawn to its close. All that remained was Song Jiafang, the single most innocent person in the entire incident.

“You should be on your way when you’re ready as well.” Qin Ye pointed his saber at the vampire as he spoke placidly.

She appeared not to have heard his words. Yet, three seconds later, she let out a slight whimper.

Then, it grew louder and louder, escalating from a soft choke into a loud bawl.

Ghosts knew grief too.

Or perhaps she no longer had the capacity to consciously grieve, and this was merely a manifestation of her instincts.

She leaned heavily on Li Jiankang’s body. Their three heads were all clumped together, with Li Cheng’s severed head resting between his two parents’ heads. It was almost akin to a family portrait.

Qin Ye sighed softly, and swung his saber down onto Song Jiafang’s head heavily.

Vampires can only be destroyed by way of decapitation. Although Song Jiafang was still able to display some measure of instinct and spiritual intelligence, who was to say this would be the case in a few years’ time?

Therefore, he still had no choice but to kill her.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep your soul safe and send you to a good place. You… have been a good mother.”

However, just as Qin Ye’s saber struck Song Jiafang’s neck, the entire room shook violently, and Qin Ye’s demonhead saber was immediately repelled back.

In the very next second, scarlet markings appeared on the bodies of both vampires. It was akin to a revelation of an ancient seal or talisman powered by their bloodlines.

The markings continued to flow continuously, and it appeared almost as though something were about to burst forth from the bodies of the vampires!

“It has begun.” Arthis flew in front of Qin Ye and continued, “The reason why the Great Intergenerational Heredity is so rarely seen is because the onerous conditions must be precisely met.”

“Firstly, the progenitor must have been a ghost while she was alive. In other words, she would have to be a living human being when she turned into a ghost, whether of her own volition or due to natural causes.”

“Secondly, this ghastly progenitor must also be a mother, and she must have been pregnant when she turned into a ghost. This will allow her to pass down her ghastly bloodline. Just like the humans’ research into DNA, ghosts are also able to conceal their latent DNA within the cells of human beings as well.”

Qin Ye responded, “So when these conditions are fulfilled, the phenomenon will be triggered?”

Arthis nodded her head, “That’s right. The third condition is that someone in the latter generations must naturally possess a Yin vein, and thereafter be transformed into a ghost while he or she is still alive. This will then trigger the phenomenon of the Great Intergenerational Heredity.”

Qin Ye nodded slightly, but then immediately recalled something. He turned to look at Li Cheng’s head, and then gasped loudly.

“Transformed into a ghost while he’s still alive… are you saying…”

“That’s right.” Arthis muttered, “Li Cheng… didn’t die back then.”

“It was Li Jiankang who had mistaken him for dead and begun to raise him as a vampire… Take a look at his coffin. There’s simply no way of unlocking it from the inside. Li Cheng… had died of suffocation only as a result of Li Jiankang’s attempt to raise him as a vampire.”

Qin Ye sighed, and then suddenly smiled again.

Isn’t this divine retribution?

True… it may have come late, but it still arrived in the end.

Sss!!! With two loud cries, the red sigils on the vampire’s body suddenly glowed with a brilliant luster that engulfed the room with a scarlet light. It was like the blossoming of a red spider lily. Just then, the two vampires who were locked in a tight embrace began to be peeled apart by the red light.

The vampires’ incomparably hard iron-black skin suddenly cracked, everywhere, revealing an explosion of light from within the body like brilliant red gemstones. One moment later, and with a loud muffled bang, the two vampires exploded into a fiery inferno, causing a ferocious gale to sweep through the room.

“What’s going on?” Qin Ye stared at the inferno in bewilderment. The inferno was approximately one meter high. Even though it was an inferno of flames, it felt as cold as ice. Most of all, Qin Ye could sense the Yin energy belonging to a vengeful apparition brewing in the heart of it all.

It was a materialization from the void. The energy signature of the Yin energy didn’t belong to any of the family members. It was almost as though… a new being were presently being created from nothing at all!

As though she could read his mind, Arthis calmly explained, “This isn’t creation. Creating, especially the birth of man, is something that is accessible only by gods, and perhaps only King Yanluo. What’s happening now… is merely the revelation of something that had previously been hidden.”

“For instance, the eruption of the previously concealed Yin energy within their bodies. In other words… their progenitor.”

Qin Ye didn’t ask anymore.

This was because the soulfire had blossomed into the shape of a blooming crimson lotus. And a person stood in the heart of this lotus.

It was an illusory figure.

It was an illusory woman!

Though dead, her features were still just as clear as day. She appeared to be approximately eighteen or nineteen years old, and she presented with short, neatly groomed hair. Her body could only be described as beautiful. Her curves were in all the right places, and there was a heavenly charm about her.

She was dressed in a cheongsam, and she was 1.68 meters tall. Her alluring, fair thighs peeked through the slits on the side of her skirt. She had sharp eyebrows, a dainty nose, and cherry red lips. Her eyes were striking, and there was even a small mole seated right under her right eye that accentuated her features that much more.

Qin Ye was stunned.

“What’s this?” He looked at the lady that hadn’t opened her eyes as he asked Arthis.

However, Arthis simply chuckled bitterly, “What’s this? She’s just a little prodigal wench.”

“I can recognize the slutty stench from her body with my eyes closed! Anyway, I hadn’t finished my explanations earlier. As soon as the Great Intergenerational Heredity has been triggered, the host will immediately die a violent death, and the latent spirit of the progenitor would immediately take control of the fleshly body of the host. But since the host’s body had already been transformed into a vampire, the progenitor’s spirit naturally appeared in this form.”

Qin Ye blinked his eyes curiously, before suddenly probing Arthis with some measure of mischief, “Why do I sense some measure of hostility emanating from you?”

“Hostility?” Arthis chuckled contemptuously, “Do you think a woman of her stature is fit to incite any feeling of hostility from me? One - she’s inferior to me. Two - her tongue isn’t hanging out, and it can’t touch the ground either. Poor form! Three - whatever the case may be, she’s just not worth mentioning in the same breath as me.”

Understood in an instant.

A duel between beauties… Qin Ye nodded meaningfully. Speaking of which, are you even aware of the kind of image you have as Arakshasa?

“With all due respect… as a normal, healthy male, I do find her rather… ahem… could you not give me that kind of death glare? You might cause a misunderstanding and give me the impression that you’re coveting my otherworldly beauty… Alright, alright, you’re the most beautiful, and she can hardly hold a candle to you!”

“And if I may be blunt, do you know what’s the best place for the ghost of the Great Intergenerational Heredity to go?” Arthis responded placidly.

Qin Ye coughed dryly. His face flushed, and he tapped his fist against his lips as he suggested, “King Yanluo’s harem?”

Arthis immediately barked back in rage, “Are you saying that I’m not worthy to be a part of your harem?! Do you know how many Infernal Judges had pursued me back in the days, and I’d not even deigned to look at them? Look at yourself! Do you think you have the right to be picky?!”

Qin Ye felt goosebumps all over his body. Your entire body is just a head. What do you mean… no, we’ve gone well off the tracks. The point is, I’ve never even considered the possibility of something so outrageous to begin with!!

What you’re suggesting is practically the stuff of nightmares!

“No… how could you be harbouring such thoughts? Wake up! It’s time to stop dreaming! The generation gap between us runs as deep as the Straits of Malacca. How could we possibly be compatible with each other?!”

Arthis barked back with an even more impassioned response, “And what about you?! You’re broke, ‘submission’ is written all over your face, and your stature as an Emissary of Hell is a far cry from mine! How dare you entertain thoughts of riding on my body?! Where did you get such unreal self-confidence from?!”

“Bloody hell… how do you even know things like ‘submission’... and can’t you be a little bit more reserved? Who the hell has ever said anything about riding on your body?! Isn’t this just a declaration of your own fantasies?!”