Yama Rising

"This is incredible…" Kuwal of the Red Moon Federation stood rooted to the spot for a few seconds, before finally slumping back onto his chair, looking as if he had lost his soul.

This was an unprecedented development…

The four pillars were no longer advancing together. Instead, the three pillars had abandoned the Cathayan Underworld! If the Cathayan Underworld wanted to use electricity, then it would have to follow the rules laid down by the three pillars until the next technological revolution!

This was the damning nature of technological dominance. An example of this could be drawn to the technology blockade imposed by Intel and IBM upon Cathay in the mortal realm. No matter how hard the Cathayan researchers had tried, there was simply no way they could replicate the core technology, which made them completely reliant on Intel and IBM for industries related to chips.

Thus, Intel and IBM were able to change their rules and prices at will, completely dictating terms, while Cathay was forced to passively adapt and resign itself to being confined within the boundaries of those rules.

Tanvana was silent for a long while before finally heaving a long sigh. "One era is about to give way to another. The trump card of the three pillars is simply too powerful to refute."

She was already beginning to envision the future. The Red Moon Federation was situated in Southern Asia. Even the Cathayan Underworld wasn't going to be able to get its hands on the core technology of the new energy resource, so there was certainly no way that any of its subsidiary nations would be able to, either!

If the Red Moon Federation could establish could relations with the three pillars and ride this wave, perhaps it would be able to become a second-rate underworld in the future!

"What a pity…" Anko heaved a long sigh. "The Cathayan Underworld was close, but not close enough. Who could've imagined that the Prometheus plan would come from behind to achieve success first?"

"Indeed…" Giltine also sighed as she cast a sympathetic gaze toward Qin Ye. "Over a decade ago, the Cathayan Underworld opened itself up to the rest of the world again, and the new King Yanluo needed to establish himself, so he announced the Zhu Rong plan. However, the rulers of the three pillars are more experienced than him, and they forced him to reveal some important pieces of information during the Great Revelation Debate. They had to have discovered one or both of the proton and electron Yin Runes from voidsilver! That would've saved them a lot of time, and the Cathayan Underworld had no choice but to reveal the discovery of voidsilver in order to settle the controversy that was arising. It was from that point that the Cathayan Underworld's fate was sealed. The Cathayan Underworld has never excelled in the scientific fields, so it's not a surprise that they weren't able to beat the three pillars. Once their new energy resource is developed, all of the three pillars' ancillary facilities would already be established, thereby rendering the Cathayan Underworld's new energy resource completely redundant. This is an extremely heavy blow for a new King Yanluo like him, and the Cathayan Underworld has been placed in a very perilous position…"

Amid the flurry of commotion, there were some people who remained completely still.

They were the nameless god of death of the Russian Underworld, and the 10 consortium chairmen.

They were staring intently at Qin Ye with unblinking eyes.

Is that it? The three pillars have unveiled their ultimate trump card from the get-go, clearly in an attempt to crush you once and for all. Do you not even have the ability to struggle? Alternatively, could it be that the trump card of the three pillars was more significant than you anticipated, and you thought that Heavenly Pillar City would be enough to sway the world to your side?

What was going to become of the Cathayan Underworld after this?

Qin Ye seemed to have sensed everyone's anticipation, and he turned toward the three pillars with a faint smile. For some reason, the hearts of all of the three pillars' ruler death gods sank slightly upon seeing this.

Immediately thereafter, Qin Ye began to applaud.

His applause was coming from the first row, and the sound snapped all of the frenzied Yin spirits back to reality as they turned their attention toward Qin Ye with surprised expressions. It was also right at this moment that Qin Ye rose to his feet and said, "Congratulations!"

All of the commotion in the hall instantly died down as one pair of surprised eyes after another settled on Qin Ye.

As for the 10 consortium chairmen and the death gods of the three pillars, all of them were gripping their armrests tightly as they looked on with tense expressions.

Was there going to be another unexpected turn of events?

"Thank you," Thanatos replied as he forcibly repressed the surprise in his heart. "If we hadn't taken notes from your nation's research, we wouldn't have achieved this so quickly."

Are you finally going to retaliate? Come! Let me see if your trump card can trump mine!

Right before Thanatos's wary eyes, Qin Ye smiled as he pointed upward.

What's that supposed to mean?

Everyone's eyes were focused on Qin Ye, so his simple gesture caught everyone's attention, and they all looked up in unison.

There was nothing.

The ceiling was still just that, a ceiling, and it was certainly very well-constructed, but there was nothing remarkable about it aside from that.

Right at this moment, all of the netherfire lanterns overhead were snuffed out at once.

An oppressive darkness instantly descended upon the entire hall, striking everyone with a sense of asphyxiation.

Thanatos's pupils contracted slightly as he looked up at the hovering palatial lanterns. All of a sudden, a preposterous thought occurred to him, and he pursed his lips tightly as he murmured in a voice audible only to himself, "Surely not…"

Is he going to get the lanterns to light up? Surely that's not possible!

What seemed like a second, but could've also been an eternity, passed by, and all of sudden, the entire hall was brightly lit without any warning!

All of the palatial lanterns lit up overhead, radiating a warm glow from behind the transparent material of the lanterns.

Immediately thereafter, more sources of light appeared in all corners of the hall, basking the entire hall in resplendent radiance.

Deathly silence had descended upon the entire hall again.

Thanatos felt as if his own mind had gone completely blank, as if the golden radiance that the hall was basked in had stripped him of his cognitive abilities.

Anubis and Yamaraja stood up in unison, and even they were unable to disguise the astonishment on their faces. They were like a pair of hillbillies entering a big city for the first time, as their heads swiveled around 180 degrees to see the entirety of the brightly lit hall.

All of the Yin spirits in the hall had fallen silent, including even the rowdy journalists.

They wanted to do their jobs and ask questions, but try as they might, they were simply unable to force any words out of their mouths. All of them were like fish that had been pulled out of water, spluttering and gasping for air as they looked around with astonished expressions.

This was a monumental moment in history.

It signified the passing of an era, and all of the Yin spirits in the hall felt as if they had been struck by lightning.

They could all hear the old era fading away, while the gate to the new era swung wide open.

The entire hall was silent for a full 10 seconds, and Camross was the first one to return to his senses as he frantically rushed over to the railing before looking down.

That seemed to snap all of the Yin spirits in the hall out of their reverie as they returned to their senses, but all of them still remained silent. All of a sudden, everyone, aside from Qin Ye, regardless of whether they were ruler death gods or journalists, rushed frantically over to the railing to look out at the city.

They were greeted by the sight of a sea of light and the sound of deafening cries of surprise. Upon seeing the lights that had appeared in the night, none of the Yin spirits were able to contain their own emotions any longer!

Two representatives were conversing with one another, seated beside the fountain on the plaza, and their heads had swiveled around 180 degrees as they turned to stare at the scene unfolding behind them with incredulous expressions.

The fountain behind them was around 50 meters in radius, and the music of a classical Cathayan zither song suddenly began to play, while countless pillars of water erupted to the surface. At the same time, lights of different colors appeared in unison beneath the fountain, making the pillars of water extremely colorful and vibrant.

"What the fuck?!" a young underworld emissary exclaimed. "What the hell is this?! Is that electricity?! Are my eyes playing tricks on me?!"

"No, your eyes are working fine…" The representative that he was speaking to had already stood up with a slack-jawed expression, and he was completely rooted to the spot as he stared at the neon signs above the surrounding businesses. "This is electricity… Electricity has appeared in the underworld!!"

On the streets, some underworld emissaries were doing some sightseeing in Heavenly Pillar City, and they were all stunned by what they were seeing. Even more underworld emissaries were resting at the hotels, and they were about to go insane!

"How is this possible?! Oh my god!!" Two female Caucasian underworld emissaries clapped their hands over their own mouths as they stared at the massive LED screens that had risen up before them. The screen was depicting every single area in Heavenly Pillar City, while also giving detailed descriptions.

Countless documents were scattered at the feet of the pair of female underworld emissaries, but they paid no heed to that at all. The scene unfolding before their eyes instantly took them back several decades, when they had still been in the mortal realm.

Several seconds later, one of the women removed her hands from over her mouth, then said in a trembling voice, "Is this electricity? Does this mean the Cathayan Underworld's new energy resource plan has succeeded? My god… Does this mean we'll also be able to use electricity soon? Does this mean we'll have air conditioners? Phones? Televisions? Movies? I can't believe this…"

All of the lights on the four secondary pagodas lit up one level after another, as if it were slowly being dipped in gold, and above them, beams of green and red light were already piercing through the sky, informing all of the Yin spirits in the city that the new era had arrived!

On a ship docked at the port, a sailor Yin spirit was drinking from a bottle of wine, and the bottle slipped out of his hand before clattering onto the ground, but he didn't seem to have noticed at all. Instead, he was staring at Heavenly Pillar City with a slack-jawed expression, and after a stunned stupor that lasted a full minute, he frantically rushed toward the center of the city.

Inside a restaurant, several representatives were sampling some delicious Cathayan dishes when a beam of green light slowly swept past them, prompting them to look up, upon which they were greeted by an incredible sight.

All of the lights in the entirety of Heavenly Pillar City were being switched on in rapid succession, and as the top floor of the main pagoda lit up, all of the death gods who were looking out into the distance finally turned back around, directing their attention toward Qin Ye again.

Archimedes's lips were trembling uncontrollably, and he was clasping a hand over his own heart as Yin energy poured out of all of his orifices. "You've already succeeded… You already succeeded a long time ago, yet you didn't tell anyone!! Arrrrrgh!!!"

He rammed himself viciously into a nearby pole, doing so with such immense power that the pole was left trembling unsteadily.

Never had been so completely and utterly humiliated before.

The Cathayan Underworld had always been lackluster in the scientific fields, and the Argosian Underworld had always looked down on them in this regard, but they had been beaten at their own game!

What was most pitiful and ironic was that he had been working so hard for so long, under the illusion that they could still come from behind to win this race!

They had only just discovered the proton and electron Yin runes, but judging from what he was seeing now, it was clear that the Cathayan Underworld had already developed their new energy resource long ago!

The humiliation and fury was too much for Archimedes to bear!