Qin Ye remained silent. Thirty seconds … forty seconds … fifty seconds later, the corpses picked up their swords once more.
The entity had clearly noticed Wang Chenghao's presence, but it didn't move.
To him, killing a mortal like this was a waste of effort.
Since he'd already found the master of this entity, then … he didn't even want to expend the energy to bestow death upon it.
"You mean … master?" Qin Ye finally spoke.
He slowly raised the saber in his hand.
"Yes." The voice was emotionless.
"Do you know something …" Qin Ye held the saber horizontally in front of him, "In other words, I'm a slave."
"Although I'm afraid of death, if I had to choose between life as a lowly slave and death, I wouldn't be inclined towards the former."
"That's a pity." The voice continued placidly, "You'll become my 178th puppet."
"And my only Emissary of Hell puppet."
Whoosh!
As soon as the voice finished speaking, the threads in the black fog suddenly tightened, and the corpses around him began to clatter with their joints. They slowly raised their heads, and then … pounced on Qin Ye like a pack of rabid dogs!
Clang clang clang!
Qin Ye had been forced into a corner, and there was nowhere to retreat.
Furthermore, the attacks from all directions never ceased.
After all, corpses didn't know fatigue at all.
Whoosh!
Finally, he couldn't hold on any longer, and a deep gash appeared on his thigh, from which blood gushed out like a fountain.
The pain penetrated deep into his bones, but he didn't have the luxury of time to care. Compared to the wounds on his thigh, the vitals of his body were under attack at all times.
He couldn't spare a single ounce of energy.
He cleaved through the three sabers that were coming straight at him from the left side of his chest, and yet another gash appeared on his right hand.
Arthis' voice was filled with urgency, "What are you waiting for?!
You can only hold on for another five minutes!
Haven't you noticed?
Each of these corpses is no different from an Operative-class expert! "
"You'll be dismembered in five minutes!"
Qin Ye gritted his teeth. His eyes were bloodshot.
With a loud roar, the saber flashed brilliantly, forcing all of the corpses away as he leaned against the wall, "What about you?"
"You're … unusually anxious this time."
"Kid …" Arthis' voice was somewhat shaky, "The person who founded the Assassin of the Underworld knows better than you what a soul sphere means!
I'd rather die than fall into his hands! "
Dang!
Qin Ye gritted his teeth and swung his saber again with all his might. The saber light was like a waterfall, and the dozen or so corpses around him were sent flying again.
However, as soon as he swung his saber, he saw stars before his eyes.
That was a sign of excessive bleeding.
Slow death.
"Hah …" He leaned against the wall, panting like an ox. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked around at the corpses that never seemed to tire. He didn't know how many times he had stood up.
Some of them had lost their heads, while others had lost their arms and legs. Yet, the fruit knives in their hands were still pointed straight at Qin Ye.
Tireless, never-ending.
If the King of Hell wants you dead by the third watch, no one would dare to stay until the fifth watch.
"Arthis … I've never trusted you. You and I both know this very well …" He raised his saber once more, "So, if you have any other trump cards up your sleeves, you might as well use them now."
"I don't know how powerful an Infernal Judge is, but … I refuse to believe that a provincial governor wouldn't have a trump card up his sleeve."
"Idiot!!" Arthis was infuriated, "If I did, you would be dead by now!!"
He swung his saber once more. Qin Ye parried the blade of the saber, and his legs went limp.
He gasped for breath, "It's not the same … You and I are bound by a life-and-death pact. You can't kill me."
"Then what does it matter if you let me out?!!"
This time, the twenty figures twisted and contorted as they stood up once more. Qin Ye sighed, "Because I'm not sure if I'll be able to break the pact if I let you out."
Squeak squeak squeak!!!
The twenty corpses screamed at the top of their lungs. The threads in the black fog tightened once more, and then … the corpses charged straight towards Qin Ye once more.
Damn it …
Qin Ye shut his eyes.
His entire body felt incredibly weak, and he couldn't muster the slightest bit of strength …
Just as the corpses were about to reach him, the soul shackles around his waist suddenly rattled. Then, like a raging python, it split into two, then into three, and then into three. Then, with a loud bang, it transformed into a tidal wave of chains that rushed out in all directions.
Squeak squeak!! With a series of mournful ghostly cries, the corpses were scattered all over the place.
Countless chains separated the entire hall into multiple cages.
Qin Ye's vision went dark, and he slid down against the wall.
Silence once more.
If the previous silence was described as stifling, like the calm before the storm, then the current silence was akin to the knell of death.
Three seconds later, Lin Chaosheng's voice rang out from within the black fog, "Soul shackles, demonhead sabers … You've used everything at your disposal … yet not a single Hunter-class Anitya Hellguard has made a move. Something big has happened to Hell … Do you know something? You'll be the first Emissary of Hell I kill."
"This is something I would never have dared to imagine in the past."
"For the sake of this memorable moment, I'll give you the opportunity to die by my hands."
The black fog in front of Qin Ye parted, and the corpses slowly parted like Moses parting the waters.
Right in the middle of them, a tall figure walked over at a moderate pace.
Lin Chaosheng.
He wore a police uniform and a mask, and his gaze was almost as though he were looking at a corpse.
He carried a one-foot square box on his back that was eighty centimeters long.
He opened the box and pulled out a terrifyingly serrated saber.
This saber wouldn't kill immediately, but the terrifying serrated saber could inflict pain far worse than death.
"Don't worry, I'll take good care of your corpse."
With that, the serrated saber dragged along the ground, sending sparks flying straight towards Qin Ye's head!
"You … undo it!!" Arthis screamed. She could tell that Qin Ye wouldn't be able to withstand this strike.
Clang!!
There was a crisp sound. Qin Ye mustered all of his strength to resist the blade of the saber.
But he immediately let out a muffled grunt.
His left hand trembled violently, and his veins bulged. His right hand drooped down, no longer fit to use.
But how could his left hand be as strong as his right?
The saber was already pressed tightly against his neck.
The serrated saber sank deep into his clothes, and fresh blood immediately seeped out.
Qin Ye's eyes were bloodshot as he desperately resisted the saber.
It wasn't that his opponent couldn't kill him with a single strike.
Rather, it was that the saber didn't contain any Yin energy.
It was pure strength.
It was obvious that Qin Ye was genuinely trying to preserve his corpse as a source of pride and glory.
"Bloody hell …" He actually chuckled viciously at a time like this, "The thought of being raped by you after my death … is truly unbearable …"
"You're in a good frame of mind."
Lin Chaosheng's voice didn't waver in the slightest as he pressed down hard, "You'll make a good collector's item."
Shk!
Several serrated teeth sank deep into his flesh. Qin Ye screamed miserably. His eyes instantly turned bloodshot, and he gritted his teeth.
Fresh blood splattered everywhere.
"What are you waiting for?!!"
Arthis was on the verge of going mad. Old ghosts weren't afraid of exorcists, but rather … their own kind.
Only their own kind would know how to inflict more pain on their own kind.
"Tear open the soul sphere!
I'll guarantee your safety!! "
Qin Ye could barely hear anything.
He focused all of his attention on the saber, and the only thing he could muster was the breath in his mouth.
Arthis' voice was like a background noise.
Just then, Lin Chaosheng chuckled coldly, and the serrated saber came crashing down with the force of Mount Tai.
Shk!
All of the serrated teeth sank deep into Qin Ye's body, with a small portion sinking deep into his neck. Qin Ye's eyes went blank because of the excruciating pain, and the demonhead saber finally fell limply to the ground.
Lin Chaosheng smiled.
Farewell … Emissary of Hell.
But just then!
His serrated saber was only one final strike away from decapitating Qin Ye.
BOOM!!!
An earth-shattering wave of Yin energy erupted from Qin Ye's body, one that was many times stronger than that of the puppeteer!
It erupted from the sleeve of Qin Ye's right hand!
Like a mountain.
Like the sea.
Like the sky and the sea. Like the boundless sky.
Shk!
Without a single word, the puppeteer's pupils suddenly shrank, and a split second later, he was blasted away like a nuclear bomb!
"Kid … you're ruthless!" Arthis gnashed her teeth as her voice reverberated through the air.
It was different from before, when only Qin Ye could hear her.
But now, it was almost as though Qin Ye had already broken free from the soul sphere and become the master of this space.
Qin Ye's dazed eyes suddenly snapped back to focus, and he chuckled bitterly, "If I wasn't ruthless, how would I have known that you'd still have a trump card up your sleeves?
But … I think we can finally trust each other from now on. "
Within his right sleeve, his fingers were already tightly gripping onto the soul sphere's seal.
He was only one final push away from tearing the soul sphere apart.
"I admit defeat."
Arthis' voice was calm, but everyone could tell that she was fuming with rage, "You really dared to take the gamble. You even risked your own injuries to bet that I still had a trump card up my sleeve.
Haven't you ever considered the fact that even if you were only 0.1 seconds away from tearing the soul sphere apart, I wouldn't have been able to escape in time? "
"You seem to have forgotten as well."
Qin Ye gasped for breath as he propped himself up with his demonhead saber and clutched at his chest, "Those who have consumed the taisui fungus … will never die."
"I don't know how long it'll be before I come back to life again.
So … why wouldn't I dare to take the gamble? "
Silence.
"Very well."
Seconds later, Arthis spoke softly, and the entire Fenglai Hotel began to tremble violently.
Ka-ka-ka-ka … It was like an earthquake. Qin Ye glanced around in astonishment.
Then, he rushed to the window and looked out.
The entire Clear Creek County, with the Fenglai Hotel as the epicenter, was filled with visible waves of black energy that rose up from the ground and converged towards the Fenglai Hotel.
More and more, and more and more majestic, almost as though … thousands of rivers were converging into the sea!
It had transformed into a massive vortex of Yin energy!
"Holy shit …" Even though Qin Ye had already anticipated the might of an Infernal Judge, he still couldn't help but gasp in horror.
"Lowly slave."
Just then, Arthis' voice thundered with suppressed fury, "Get the hell out here."
"Then kneel down and repent for your sins … You should be thankful that you've forced me to resort to such a technique … I can only unleash the might of an Infernal Judge right now. I can't even use you to light a sky lantern!!!"
The ground had already been completely emptied, just like a black and white sky.
All of the corpses, including the corpses controlled by the puppeteer, seemed to have come to life as they prostrated themselves on the ground and kowtowed desperately.
Meanwhile, Lin Chaosheng was completely dumbfounded as soon as he heard the voice.
BOOM!!
The air trembled like a thunderclap. His body trembled like a leaf in the wind, and he knelt down with a soft thud.
And then.
Without any suspense, he prostrated himself in worship.
He prostrated himself in worship of the might of Hell.
"Infernal Judge …" An electrifying sensation washed over him, causing his mind to go blank. His voice trembled, "Infernal Judge … t-this is a mighty Infernal Judge … it's actually a mighty Infernal Judge!!"
"There's actually an Infernal Judge hiding in Clear Creek County!!"