Yama Rising

A stunned look instantly appeared on the second King Yanluo's face. "Have you still not opened the black box? You've even developed electricity, yet you still haven't opened the black box?! How much of a coward are you?! I bet you're even scared of your own reflection!"

"Let's be more civilized here! I'm not a coward, I'm just spineless…"

In the face of the second King Yanluo's menacing gaze, Qin Ye immediately made the wise decision to stop talking. He had a feeling that if he had continued, he would've been asking for a beating.

Qin Ye cleared his throat as he continued, "Anyway, I'll open the black box when the opportunity arises. Can you tell me what I saw on my way here?"

The second King Yanluo gulped down some ice water before replying, "What you saw was the eye of the mortal coil. When you see that diagram, you'll hear the most ghastly sound imaginable, and your soul will be dragged into a dark abyss. On top of that, it'll enter your body as a parasite, but there's no need to worry, that thing only possesses Yama-King level power at the very most, so you would've still been able to survive."

Qin Ye pulled out a pristine white silken handkerchief and dabbed at the cold sweat that had beaded up on his forehead. Right at this moment, one delectable dish was brought into the room after another, and the second King Yanluo immediately tucked into the feast while displaying terrible table manners.

What a waste of his handsome appearance! How did this bastard even become King Yanluo? He's a disgrace to all King Yanluos!

The second King Yanluo seemed to have sensed what he was thinking, and he gave Qin Ye a menacing glare, upon which Qin Ye immediately cleared his throat in an awkward manner again.

"Is there something wrong with your throat? Are you doing too much deepthroating?"

Qin Ye was astonished by the fact that such a filthy joke had come out of the second King Yanluo's mouth, and only after a long while did manage to find his voice again. "Our new energy resource has been successfully developed. You already know that, right?"

This was such a monumental feat, but for some reason, Qin Ye didn't feel any sense of achievement declaring it to the second King Yanluo here.

After taking a deep breath, Qin Ye put on a serious expression as he continued, "I have a few questions."

The second King Yanluo didn't even bother to reply. Instead, he merely nodded in response while munching on a lamb chop, displaying no respect to Qin Ye whatsoever.

I'll fucking stuff that lamb chop up your nose if you don't treat me with more respect!

Despite what he was thinking, Qin Ye naturally didn't dare to verbalize any of his thoughts. "Why did you send witnesses of history to the international trade conference, and why did they help us?"

"I wasn't the one who sent them." The second King Yanluo finally looked up from his food, then took a sip of wine before explaining, "We put it down to a vote, and that outcome was unanimously approved."

"Why is that?"

The second King Yanluo set down his knife and fork, then dabbed at his own mouth with a napkin before asking in a serious voice, "Do you know the truth behind space?"

Qin Ye shook his head with a blank expression.

The second King Yanluo looked straight into his eyes as he continued, "Firstly, you have to understand the concept of the three realms. They are like three layers of paper situated at the same point. They are all related, but they don't exist on the same plane, do you understand?"

Qin Ye nodded in response.

The three realms were three different planes, but these three planes all arose from the same origin point, namely the mortal realm. Thus, one could enter and exit these three realms through certain special methods, but that did nothing to change the fact that they weren't on the same plane.

This was common knowledge, and Qin Ye was very perplexed about why the second King Yanluo had suddenly decided to mention this.

The second King Yanluo continued, "The space of the underworld is just like the space of the mortal realm, but it has a different name. In the underworld, the Milky Way is known as the Yin Space River, and all of the star systems within this galaxy are known as Yin Space Systems."

"Hold on!" Qin Ye raised a hand to cut off the second King Yanluo as he stared at him with an intense expression. "So you're saying that space exists for the underworld?"

"That's not important, let me continue…"

"That's very important!" Qin Ye exclaimed in an excited voice. "It concerns the future strategy that the Cathayan Underworld is going to adopt! Otherwise, who would come here just to watch you eat like a pig? Ah, forgive me, I got a little too excited there… What I meant to say was…"

The second King Yanluo waved a dismissive hand in response. "I'm not that petty. Continue."

Qin Ye couldn't help but question the authenticity of the second King Yanluo's words at the sight of the fork that had stabbed deeply into the table in front of him as soon as he had uttered the words "eat like a pig"…

That was way too close! I have to be more careful from now on…

With a hint of lingering fear in his heart, Qin Ye continued, "I'm sure you know how significant an impact the emergence of electricity will have on this world. If our Cathayan Underworld wants to maintain its lead over the rest of the world, then we have to begin making plans for what we're going to do in the future right away! I have two ideas, one of which is to explore the sea, while the other is space exploration."

"I'm assuming you lean toward the latter?" the second King Yanluo asked.

"That's right," Qin Ye replied. "The sea is still a part of our plane, while space lies outside of our plane. Following the emergence of electricity, the rate of exploitation of resources in the underworld will experience a dramatic spike. Once machinery replaces manpower, production will become countless times more efficient, and at that rate, it won't be long before all of the underworld's resources are exhausted."

In the mortal realm, it had only taken several decades since the conclusion of the second world war to virtually exhaust all of the usable resources on Earth. A limit had even been placed on the amount of crude oil that could be drilled, and with the higher population density, yet smaller landmasses, of the underworld, it would only be a matter of time before resources became overly exploited.

The second King Yanluo didn't say anything. Instead, he merely played with his empty cup in silence.

Qin Ye continued, "I came here with the sole purpose of confirming whether space exists for the underworld, and you've just told me that it does!"

This was a crucial answer! It entailed that there were going to be infinite possibilities for the future strategy that the Cathayan Underworld was going to adopt!

Through the new energy resource, they were going to profit from the entire world, and those profits could be invested into space exploration. Once the Cathayan Underworld's rocket technology matured, the entire underworld would have to bow to the threat of the Cathayan Underworld's forbidden arts!

With rockets at its disposal, the Cathayan Underworld would be the only nation capable of threatening the entire world!

Once rocket technology matured to the point that they could be sent to space, the entire underworld would be under his scrutiny, and nothing would be able to hide from him! Furthermore, how much resources were there in space, waiting to be exploited by him?

Even if they discovered only a single resource-rich planet, that would be a massive discovery!

The second King Yanluo watched him in silence, and only after a long while did he speak again. "Firstly, I must applaud this idea of yours. Secondly, I've discovered one of your fatal flaws."

Qin Ye was stunned to hear this.

Flaws? Me? Impossible! I'm absolutely flawless!

"You're using the mindset that you had in the mortal realm to think about everything," the second King Yanluo said. "You've only been serving as King Yanluo for a very short time, and you stayed for too long in the mortal realm. As such, your plan for elevating the Cathayan Underworld to the top of the world is to replicate the model established by Usonia in the mortal realm."

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"Of course there is!" The second King Yanluo's voice abruptly sprang up a few octaves, drawing attention from several of the nearby guests, and only then did he lower his voice as he continued, "Have you still not realized that the foundations of the underworld are Yin energy and Yin runes? You've achieved success in the form of the new energy resource, but this is only a foundational energy resource. Once you begin to research deeper and more complex things, you'll realize that everything is straying further and further away from how things are in the mortal realm! The difference between the underworld and the mortal realm is like that between night and day!"

Qin Ye's brows furrowed slightly, and he didn't say anything.

The second King Yanluo grabbed onto his hand and began to gently draw something onto his palm. As he did so, he continued, "Your idea of turning to space is correct, but if you choose the wrong method to approach this, you will encounter insurmountable technological hurdles. Also, there are many instances where Yin energy can make things far more convenient than replicating technology from the mortal realm. At the end of the day, you are severely underestimating Yin energy."

He released Qin Ye's hand as his voice trailed off, and Qin Ye was surprised to discover that a complex rune had appeared on his palm.

Upon only a slight injection of Yin energy into the rune, bursts of black light instantly emerged from his palm, and all of the surrounding Yin energy rapidly converged toward him!

"This is the Yin Gathering Array," the second King Yanluo explained. "It is fueled purely by the power of the array's formation. There is no waste, nor any need for concern that it'll run out of fuel as there is boundless Yin energy in the Yin Space River, which it can draw upon at any time."

Qin Ye's pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this, and in that instant, a crucial thought occurred to him.

In order to propel spacecrafts into space, material considerations were a concern, but finding a suitable fuel source was also imperative!

The fuel that was most commonly used for this purpose in the mortal realm was hydrogen fuel, but that definitely wouldn't work in the mortal realm. His original plan was to create controlled Yin rune fusion to generate the required propulsion force, but this array could accomplish the same objective far more efficiently and easily!

If they could perfect this Yin Gathering Array and expand it, the effect that it could achieve could perhaps be comparable to that of controlled Yin rune fusion!

This was completely different from trying to achieve the same goal through scientific means!

The existence of things like arrays was only made possible by the power system of the underworld, and it really was completely different from science!

This realization was like a bucket of cold water that had been poured over Qin Ye's head, instantly alerting him to how narrow-minded he had been. He cast his gaze toward the second King Yanluo before asking, "What about materials for the spacecrafts?"

The second King Yanluo replied, "You can use fortification arts to fortify the outer shell, and weightlessness arts can be used to counteract a part of the plane's gravitational pull. In fact, if you can find out the fundamental thing that allows underworld emissaries to fly, you'll be able to send spacecrafts into space even without fuel! Also, it's not just a tall tale that high-grade cultivators are able to traverse through space. My skin, hair, and bones are immune to all types of disasters and storms that can be encountered in outer space, making me far better equipped for space travel than the spacecrafts of the mortal realm. If you think about this from the perspective of the power system, your eyes will be opened up to a brand new world!"

He took a deep breath before concluding, "Ultimately, this comes down to a lack of experience."

Qin Ye was rather indignant upon hearing this, and he countered, "Then why is it that the entire underworld has submitted to me after I developed the new energy resource?"

The second King Yanluo smiled as he replied, "To answer that, you first have to understand why no new energy resource has appeared in the underworld thus far. It's because there are too few high-grade underworld emissaries. You want them to visit one city after another and create energy resource systems for all of the underworld's netherworldly citizens? That's possible in theory, but there's no way that it would be practically achievable. High-grade underworld emissaries are proud beings, and they have better things to do with their time. On top of that, they can do everything that electricity can do with their Yin energy, so they don't need a new energy resource. The ones who need an energy resource are mid-grade and low-grade underworld emissaries and netherworldly citizens, and with the existence of the power system, it would be downright suicidal for those people to stage a protest. This is why no new energy resource has been developed."

Qin Ye pursed his lips and remained silent.

"You managed to do this, and I applaud you for it. If no new energy resource emerges, then everything will remain the same, but as soon as it appears, the entire world must incorporate it. Otherwise, civil unrest and rebellions are no joke. However, the only thing that this new energy resource can accomplish is make the lives of netherworldly citizens more convenient and provide them with more forms of entertainment, thereby making them content to live in the underworld and not inclined to rebel. However, if you think that you can use this new energy resource to reach the most high-end technology in the underworld, then you're dead wrong! At the end of the day, this is technology, and thus, its method of usage will differ from that of Yin energy and Yin runes. Technology can change the entire underworld, but it's definitely not enough for you to reach the heights that you seek. Take this as advice from me, a cultivator who had traversed through countless planes in the past."