Yama Rising

Rumble… A heavy stone door was opened, revealing a dark passageway beyond.

The passageway was around five meters wide, and its walls were lined with torches that were burning with azure netherfire. On either side of the passageway were statues of gods from the new continent's three religions, and the craftsmanship was extremely beautiful and life-like.

Qin Ye wasn't very familiar with Aztec religions, but he could still identify some of the statues, such as Opochtli, the god of fishing and birdcatchers, Huehueteotl, the god of fire and time, and Tezcatlipoca, the god of the night sky.

The passageway was very long and slanted at a 30-degree angle, leading upward throughout the entirety of its length. Yin soldiers were stationed at 10-meter intervals on either side of the passageway, and they were wearing suits of armor crafted from gold in the form of fierce tigers, decorated by vibrant feathers, while wielding sharp blades.

"These are the most powerful Yin soldiers of the Usonian Underworld, the Sabertooth Tiger SS," Secret introduced. "And they're only stationed at the most important places, such as here."

Qin Ye nodded in response while following along silently behind Secret. After walking for a long while, a giant roof finally appeared above them.

The entire roof was constructed from countless stone slabs that formed a portrait of Mictlantecutli, and at the center of the portrait was a circular indentation.

Secret turned around and extended a respectful bow as he informed, "Yanluo Qin, above this place is the Heavenly Platform. The Sixth Day project is split up into two major sections, the Heavenly Platform and the Eye of the Stars. Without permission from both Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa, no Yin spirits are granted access to this place, and any trespassers would be killed on the spot by the Sabertooth Tiger SS."

Secret then pulled out a fist-sized crystal skull, which he carefully slotted into the indentation, and it was a perfect fit.

With a gentle twist of the skull, a string of mechanical sounds rang out, and one circle of Yin runes lit up after another. Several seconds later, the roof abruptly sprang open, and light from a ball of white netherfire shone down from above.

A hint of pride and excitement crept into Secret's voice as he extended a respectful bow and declared, "Welcome to the Sixth Day, Yanluo Qin."

So this is the final secret of the new continent…

Qin Ye took a deep breath before disintegrating into a gust of Yin wind, and by the time he reappeared, he was already standing on the first step.

In the instant that he set foot on that step, his pupils abruptly contracted, and all of his Yin energy reflexively converged as he clenched his fists tightly, then gradually relaxed again.

He was looking ahead with a stunned expression, then slowly raised his head until he was looking almost directly upward, directing his gaze straight into the clouds. Only after several seconds of stunned silence did he murmur to himself, "This is incredible…"

He had thought about what the Sixth Day would be like. He had envisioned a giant laboratory with countless Yin spirits wearing white lab coats busily performing different duties amidst a collection of intricate machinery.

He had also envisioned a group of underworld emissaries clad in black cloaks, chanting incessantly as they gathered around a symbol of the sun, injecting their Yin energy into the sun so that it was able to rise up into the heavens.

However, this was a completely unexpected scene for him!

It was a vast sea of white mist that was proliferating outward in all directions from the center, forming one layer of waves after another. Qin Ye's robes were flapping incessantly in the wind, and Secret also made his way onto the step as he said, "Yanluo Qin, it's already dead."

Qin Ye nodded in response, but his gaze was still fixed on the spectacle above him. Words failed to describe the emotions that he was feeling at this moment, and all he could do was marvel at the astonishing sight that had been presented to him.

At this moment, he was standing in a suspended corridor, and at the end of the corridor was a small altar that was concealed within the white mist, making it quite indistinct in appearance.

Right in front of Qin Ye was a vast sea of white mist, and within the mist was a completely nude giant. The giant had a head of white hair, and it stood like a pillar between heaven and earth!

It was roughly 400 to 500 meters tall, and Qin Ye couldn't even see the highest point of the giant's body from where he was standing.

There wasn't any skin on its body, and thus, its bright red muscle fibers and stark white tendons were exposed. It didn't possess a nose or a mouth, only a single giant eye on its face, and one of its hands was placed in front of its own face, while the other one was raised high up into the air, disappearing into the boundless Yin clouds up above. His hair was growing straight out of his bones, and it was swaying incessantly amid the white mist, which was flowing and ebbing around the giant as if it were a living creature.

Standing in front of the giant, Qin Ye was made to look downright diminutive. The visual impact of witnessing such a giant was much like that of looking up at the sky, or standing in front of a massive waterfall, presenting the beholder with a sense of perspective, while also instilling within them a sense of awe and astonishment.

Of course, Qin Ye had no such emotional response. During his time as King Yanluo, he had witnessed far too many strange and exotic sights, and even though this giant was very impressive to behold, it presented nowhere near as much of a visual impact as the gargantuan Kraken.

What had truly stunned him was something else.

He spread open his hand, and the white mist drifted through the gaps between his fingers. After a long silence, a complex look appeared on his face as he asked, "Is this… immortal energy?"

Secret extended a respectful bow as he replied, "Yanluo Qin, this is the body of the fifth sun god."

So this is the legendary final sun god?

Qin Ye's eyes narrowed slightly as his gaze carefully roamed over the body of the giant, and in doing so, he discovered that there were many signs of assembly all over the fifth sun god's body.

For example, surrounding its wrist joint were red muscle fibers and white tendons, yet its hand gradually transitioned to an abnormal gray color, and by the time the color gradient reached its fingers, it had already turned completely white. Furthermore, the giant had tentacles instead of fingers!

As Qin Ye looked down, he could just barely make out countless tentacles concealed beneath the white mist, and if he had to make an analogy, he would describe the fifth sun god as a human that had sprouted out of an octopus's head.

Things like this were a common sight in fantasy books and films, but Qin Ye knew that this was impossible in real life. The giant's upper body was that of a human, while its lower body consisted of a mass of tentacles. This was a combination of a vertebrate and an invertebrate, and there was no way that the Heavenly Dao would create something like this as it didn't correspond with any laws of nature or evolution!

"I heard that the fifth sun god's body is formed by the body of Cipactli." The emotions surging through Qin Ye's heart gradually subsided as he looked at the body of the fifth sun god, and he said, "It was infused with the divine power of many gods, and the chaos caused by the coming together of so many different types of divine power ultimately proved to be its demise. According to Aztec legends, it's only mentioned that the fifth sun god perished, but there are no records detailing where its body went."

Secret explained, "All living beings must arrive in the realm of the death gods upon their demise, no matter who they are. That is a rule laid down by the Heavenly Dao."

Qin Ye nodded in response before withdrawing his gaze.

Never did he think that the so-called Heavenly Platform would be the body of the fifth sun god.

However, this also begged a very important question: why was something as precious as the fifth sun god's remains situated here?

There was no way it was here just for show. Prior to beginning this project, Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa would've already known just how grand this project was going to be, and they couldn't afford to incur any unnecessary costs in a project like this. Transporting the body of the fifth sun god here had to have required the expenditure of an enormous amount of manpower and resources, so it had to be beneficial to the project's completion somehow.

Qin Ye continued to carefully inspect the giant body. He couldn't see any signs to indicate that the body had been modified in any way, so why was it here, and why had it been named the Heavenly Platform?

Secret seemed to have sensed his befuddlement, and he explained, "Yalnuo Qin, the true secret of the Heavenly Platform isn't here."

"Oh?"

"Please come with me." Secret made his way directly forward, and the white mist ahead of him parted layer by layer, revealing an altar at the end of the suspended bridge.

The altar wasn't very large, standing at only around five meters in size, and it was a classic Aztec sun altar. The symbol of the sun had been carved onto the ground, and six beams of sunlight extended outward to form the corners of the altar, while the sun was the altar's center.

Secret made his way onto the altar, then made an inviting hand gesture. Qin Ye did the same, and at the same time, he was carefully inspecting his surroundings.

Within the sea of mist, there were countless other suspended bridges just like this one, and it was impossible to see their origins and endpoints.

As Secret injected his Yin energy into the altar, one circle of Yin runes after another lit up around the sun, making it clear that this was a teleportation array.

The air vibrated slightly, and both of them instantly vanished on the spot. The surrounding area warped and twisted momentarily, and as the surroundings became clear again, Qin Ye cast his gaze around him, upon which he immediately drew a sharp breath.

He looked up with a hint of awe in his eyes at the "sun" that was staring down at him.

At this moment, they were standing on the palm of the fifth sun god, which was elevated hundreds of meters up into the sky.

As aforementioned, one of the giant's hands was placed in front of its face, while the other one was extended straight upward, and at this moment, they were situated on the palm of the latter. The hand was situated no more than 10 meters away from the "sun" in the sky, which was actually a giant eyeball that was at least 10 meters in size!

The eyeball was completely transparent, and rings of golden patterns could be seen on its surface. However, what was most shocking to Qin Ye wasn't the eye itself, nor the strange patterns inscribed onto its surface. Instead, it was the pupil of the eye, which was around a foot in size and situated directly in front of him.

"This is incredible…" Qin Ye's throat had run completely dry, and he involuntarily reached out to place a hand onto the eyeball, which was as cold as glass. His voice was filled with astonishment as he exclaimed, "How is this possible?!"

The pupil was inky-black in color, but it wasn't inherently black. Instead, it was reflecting something.

From Qin Ye's perspective, he was able to clearly see that a vast starry sky was being reflected in the pupil!

He could see one distant planet after another, as well as countless stars and asteroid belts. He could see a boundless sea of Yin energy, and he knew that he was witnessing the space of the underworld!