Qian Duolai was a Yin spirit who had only come down during the past six years, and Qin Ye's plan was to wait for another five to six years until he became completely accustomed to the Yin energy system of the underworld before assigning him the same role he had performed during his time in the mortal realm. Thus, he was granted entry into Azure Dragon Street. After all, he was going to be involved in all of Hell's secret affairs in the future, and Azure Dragon Street was definitely a top-secret part of Hell, even though this secret was known to the entire world...

Qian Duolai's smile faded as a serious look appeared on his face. "Some strange things have appeared on Ashmound's port. It's already been completely sealed off, would you like to go and take a look?"

"What strange things are we talking about here?"

Qian Duolai heaved a faint sigh in response. "It's very hard to describe... This is the report that came back to me."

Qin Ye accepted the report, and after only reading through a few lines, his eyelids immediately began to twitch.

A mirage...

A mirage had appeared out at sea!

The mirage depicted a giant city that was in the same antiquated style as Cathay. Hell had performed searches on that area of the sea in the past, and nothing was found there. However, following the return of the Yellow Springs, a mirage city had appeared on the horizon there! Furthermore, it was outside of the Array of the Nine Gods, situated close to the Strait of Tsushima!

"Take a look." He handed the report over to Zhao Yun, and after only a quick glance, Zhao Yun's brows also furrowed tightly.

"A mirage city... This is something that has never appeared in history... The natural conditions of the underworld aren't suitable for something like this to appear," Zhao Yun mused. "Then again, perhaps it isn't even a mirage city. It could be the case that the emissaries on the front lines are lacking in experience and have falsely identified it."

He turned to Qin Ye and extended a respectful salute. "What do you plan to do, my Lord?"

Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. "Are you hoping that I would go and take a look at it in person?"

Before Zhao Yun had a chance to reply, he smiled and continued, "That's exactly what I intend to do."

This was the final period of time in which he could do whatever he wanted, so he had better make full use of it.

If there were anything that he didn't understand, that was rare, or that was symbolic, then it would be in his best interest to explore it. After all, practical experience was far more valuable than theoretical knowledge.

During this next century, he had to accumulate as much experience as possible. Only then would he be able to firmly occupy his position as the King Yanluo.

…………………………………………………..

Ashmound Port.

There were over 1,000 Yin soldiers present, all clad in suits of inky-black armor and wielding crossbows that were aimed directly toward the horizon.

In the extremely far distance, the sea and the sky merged as one, and the Array of the Nine Gods was glowing faintly. The water of the Yellow Springs was flowing rapidly into the sea, triggering layer upon layer of violent tsunamis that crashed into the array. The array acted as a temporary dam, stopping the tsunamis for a split second before allowing them through, to sweep up even larger tsunamis that sped into the distance.

On the top floor of the customs building, a man who was in his forties was looking into a telescope that was over a meter in length with a grim expression. After a long while, he withdrew his gaze with tightly furrowed brows and asked, "What is the response from our higher-ups?"

"They say they're already aware of the situation..." the soldier beside him replied in a low voice. "But they didn't issue any specific instructions. Could it be that they're asking us to take the initiative and address the situation as we see fit?"

Take initiative my arse!

The commander couldn't help but swear out loud. How were they supposed to take the initiative? The array prevented them from approaching the mirage to investigate! Were they supposed to take the initiative and sit around like idiots?

"My Lord..." the soldier suddenly exclaimed before extending a respectful salute.

"What are you saluting for? You think an order like that deserves a salute?" He was doing some top-tier boot-licking, but unfortunately for him, the King Yanluo wasn't around to see it.

All of a sudden, all of the soldiers behind him extended the same respectful salute in unison. The Qin Dynasty was adopting an antiquated aesthetic, but the etiquette of kneeling had been abolished, so only salutes were required. The commander faltered slightly upon seeing this before immediately turning around.

As a result, he was greeted by the sight of Qin Ye making his way onto the top floor, accompanied by several people whom the commander didn't recognize.

The commander's mind immediately went blank, and he hurriedly stood up straight before extending a salute of his own.

Qin Ye gave a slight nod in response before walking past him and arriving in front of the telescope. "Are my orders too difficult to execute?"

A wry smile appeared on the commander's face as he finally understood what the order entailed. The higher-ups were already aware of the situation, and in order to prevent this matter from gaining any more traction, the King Yanluo had arrived in person. It seemed that this was a far more serious issue than he had anticipated.

Qin Ye didn't pay any heed to him. As a ruler of a nation, he couldn't be too intimate with his people. He had to maintain a sense of mystery and authority at all times, and all of his actions had to be calculated. He looked into the telescope, and just a single glance was enough to make his brows furrow tightly.

Through the telescope, a giant city on the horizon was presented before his eyes, and the city seemed to be formed by clouds and mist.

It most likely wasn't an actual city. The entire thing was emanating wisps of white mist, and there were some places where the landmarks were presented in a way that defied the laws of physics. For example, there were people walking in the sky, waterfalls flowing in reverse, etc.

This was an antiquated city that was very distinctive, the type of city that would firmly engrain itself into one's memory after only seeing it once. It wasn't as resplendent as the imperial palace of the Ming Dynasty, nor as intricately crafted as the imperial palace of the Song Dynasty. Instead, it was more primitive and simplistic. There weren't any exquisitely crafted pillars or pavilions. In their place were a series of palaces that seemed to be situated on tall platforms. Furthermore, the roofs of the palaces weren't paved with yellow tiles. Instead, it was black tiles.

There were palatial servants dressed in lavish robes entering and exiting the palaces, all of them were children. There were even many paper people among them, and it was an extremely peculiar sight to behold.

After a long while, Qin Ye pulled back from the telescope and mused, "Those are high-platform buildings..."

Qian Duolai was right beside him, and he asked, "Should we investigate, Yanluo Qin?"

"There's no need for that," Qin Ye replied as he massaged his own glabella. "Those palaces are constructed in a style unique to the Qin and West Han Dynasties [1], which was when the first palaces of Cathay came into existence. I'm certain that it was the West Han Dynasty as by the time the East Han Dynasty came around, high-platform palaces went out of fashion, and the construction style took on a clear change."

The question was why had a mirage city from the Qin and Han Dynasties appeared out at sea?

"I'll go take a look." The reason why he had come here wasn't because he was concerned about some mirage. Instead, he was worried that this could be the actual Peach Blossom Spring!

Zhao Yun didn't follow along. He understood Qin Ye's intentions, and he knew that some things had to be explored alone for the best lessons to be learned.

Only after experiencing something in person would one develop the deepest impression of the experience.

Furthermore, this was also an indirect indication that there wasn't much danger here.

"Please reconsider, Yanluo Qin!" Qian Duolai was a man of few words, but he immediately interjected here. "It's far too dangerous for you to go alone."

None of the other Emissaries of Hell could leave the array with him.

"It's alright." As soon as Qin Ye's voice trailed off, he rushed out of the pavilion as a gust of Yin wind, sweeping up layers of waves on the surface of the sea as he sped toward the array.

As he approached the array, the tsunamis up ahead grew taller and taller. He had already risen to an altitude of several hundred meters, where the tsunamis wouldn't be able to reach him. Looking out from this point, the mirage was also becoming clearer and clearer.

Whoosh! After passing through the array, not only did Qin Ye not stop, he accelerated further and further, and his Abyssal Prefect's token had already slipped into his grasp. Even though Zhao Yun's actions implied that there was no danger here, he had just barely survived an assassination attempt, so he was still on high alert.

As he drew closer and closer, he seemed to be going back in time to the ancient past, arriving at a giant city from a distant time. Right as he reached roughly 100 meters away from the mirage, he swept a sleeve through the air, and the Abyssal Prefect's token screeched as it transformed into an oil paper umbrella. The frame of the umbrella transformed into a spear, while the oil paper transformed into a shield, and the surface of the sea instantly exploded amid a flash of cold light.

His Abyssal Prefect level Yin energy surged over the sea, sweeping up waves that were close to 20 meters tall. The entire mirage city trembled slightly, then... abruptly vanished amid a loud whoosh.

It's gone?

Qin Ye stood on the spot with a dazed expression as he held his spear and shield. The only thing ahead of him was the dark blue water of the sea, while the white cloud and smoke that the mirage city had disintegrated into was swept away by the wind, completely dispersing within the span of a few minutes.

That's it?

Splash... Qin Ye gently swept the tip of his spear across the surface of the ocean, and his brows furrowed tightly. He couldn't sense any Yin energy, nor any true energy, which meant that this really had been just an ordinary mirage. However, Zhao Yun had said that it was impossible for mirages to appear in the underworld.

So why had it appeared?

And why had it emerged right after he had interrogated Bu Wantian's soul?

Was that a reflection of the untraceable Peach Blossom Spring?

Perhaps this was... a warning? A warning issued to him to discourage him from pursuing this matter further?

"No... My thought process is incorrect here," he suddenly said in a cold voice. "Seeing as it's impossible for mirages to appear in the underworld, and that man is in the mortal realm, then that means this mirage was triggered by a change in the mortal realm."

After all, the underworld and the mortal realm were interconnected!

Some major event had to have taken place in the city of Wuyang in the mortal realm, where the Yellow River entered the sea! It was an event prominent enough to cross through realms, resulting in a manifestation even in the underworld!

"How interesting... It's never good news for those who attract my interest. Are you really not afraid of having your name added to the Book of Life and Death?"

…………………………………………………..

Wuyang City.

This was the city in the mortal realm that corresponded with Ashmound of the underworld.

This city was also home to a port, the renowned Wuyang Port, which was one of 10 ports of the Eastmount Province, and it ranked quite highly on that list.

The port's carrier company was the Eastmount Freight Corporation, and it was one of the nation's gateways to the vast global market. In addition to that, Cathay was a major export nation, and the vast quantity of exports going through this port meant that all of the people working here always had wide smiles on their faces.

However, not a single person was smiling at this particular moment.

Among the masses of shipping containers, three cars quickly drove to the front of a massive warehouse. A man in a suit emerged from one of the cars first, and it looked as if he hadn't slept in several days. His eyes were encircled by dark rings, his hair was rather disheveled, and his clothes reeked of tobacco. However, he had no time to worry about his appearance as he quickly rushed to the back of the car and opened the doors. "We've arrived, everyone."

For those familiar with the higher-ups of the Eastmount Freight Corporation, they would definitely be able to identify him right away as the CEO of the Eastmount Freight Corporation, Ren Dashi.

The doors of the three cars were quickly opened, and the individuals being greeted by Ren Dashi weren't some important directors or board members of the company. Instead, it was a group of seven young men in their twenties. However, all of them wore the badge of the Special Investigations Department on their chests.

"What happened here?" Their leader was a handsome young man who appeared to be only in his early twenties, but it was clear that he was the one calling the shots.

"The Special Investigations Department doesn't oversee normal criminal cases anymore, we're only responsible for supernatural cases. You're the one who reported the case, and if this isn't a supernatural case, I'm sure you're aware of the consequences."

"Of course..." Ren Dashi closed his eyes and took a deep breath before making an inviting hand gesture. "Please come with me, everyone."

He carefully made his way into the warehouse, then switched on the light before giving the investigators a nod.

All of the investigators also walked in, and in the instant that they did so, they drew a sharp breath in unison as astonished looks appeared on their faces.

This was a room that led directly to the port. Inside was a long shipping passageway with merchandise piled up on either side of it.

However, what was parked in this sea passage wasn't a freight ship. Instead, it was...

A mountainous pile of blood and flesh!

The mangled flesh was covered in massive scales, each of which was large as a grown man! On top of that, each scale was riddled with cracks of different sizes. These cracks didn't appear to have been carved onto the scales. Instead, they seemed to have grown naturally.

What kind of creature could have such a gigantic body?

[1] [The Qin Dynasty being referred to here is the actual Qin Dynasty in Chinese history, not the Qin Dynasty in this story.]