Yama Rising

In the Elysian Fields of the Argosian Underworld, the Three Judges, Aeacus the Just, Minos the Strong, and Rhadamanthus the Enigmatic, also raised their heads to look up at the sky.

"Who dares to provoke the mighty Argosian Underworld?!"

BOOM!!

Right at this moment, all of the underworlds across the entire plane were greeted by an extraordinary sight that had never been seen before!

In the sky above, the blurry outline of a gigantic hand had appeared amid a burst of dazzling light. Even though the dense layer of clouds up above, the outline of the hand was visible, and its emergence was accompanied by rumbling thunder and violent earthquakes!

It wasn't traveling very quickly, but it was reaching out toward the underworld from outside the plane, and as it descended from the heavens, it erupted into fierce flames, like flames of sin that were going to judge the entire underworld.

In the Divine Palace of Hades, the servants were screaming and trembling amid this doomsday-like scene. In contrast, Hypnos remained calm and collected as he murmured to himself, "It's Them!"

He cast his gaze toward the direction of the Cathayan Underworld. "Can you feel that, Brother?"

As soon as his voice trailed off, he flew up into the heavens as a streak of light, and pairs of wings that were formed entirely by black Yin energy appeared on his back. Immediately thereafter, the wings quickly spread open one after another, and in the blink of an eye, he had already transformed into a 72-winged fallen angel. One half of his body was black, while the other was white, and he made a grabbing motion with one hand.

Inside the Divine Palace of Hades was a massive coffin.

It was said that this coffin belonged to Hades, who was the death god of Heaven. Right at this moment, the coffin cracked in response to Hypnos's grabbing motion, and a pitch-black longsword that was riddled with Yin runes flew into Hypnos's grasp. At the same time, he flew directly up toward the massive hand as a streak of dazzling light.

His golden hair was flapping erratically within the fierce wind, and a bloodthirsty smile appeared on his handsome face. "You still dare to attack the underworld? It looks like you've already forgotten the lesson taught to you by the world's gate!"

………………………………………………..

At the venue for the international trade conference in the Cathayan Underworld, Yamaraja slammed a hand onto the table and rose to his feet as soon as the giant hand appeared.

"Insolence!!"

Silence quickly descended over the entire venue.

Yamaraja was attending a meeting, during which matters regarding patent applications related to the new energy resource were being discussed, and his sudden outburst immediately attracted everyone's attention. Before they had a chance to ask what was going on, Anubis also rose to his feet with a cold smile. "What a rare guest this is… We can't allow them to leave without giving them something to remember us by!"

As soon as his voice trailed off, both of the ruler death gods rushed out of the pavilion at once, and it was also at this moment that a devastating aura descended upon the entire island of Formosa.

Hela, Fenrir, and Jörmungandr immediately sensed this aura, and they instantly rushed out of the pavilion without a second thought. They were accompanied by several other Duke level death gods.

On the rooftop of the pavilion, Zhao Yun picked up his spear with a grim expression as he squatted downward slightly like a coiled spring. This was the first time he had put on such a wary display since he had transcended beyond the Yama-King level.

Such fearsome Yin energy, yet it doesn't belong to the underworld at all! Where did this monster come from?

Yamaraja was cackling with menacing glee, and his black cloak was being blown upward into a virtually completely vertical state. There were hundreds of scarlet eyes beneath him, and he reached his left hand out of the sleeve of his cloak. "Yurlunggur."

The sound of a deafening serpentine hiss rang out across the entire sky above the island of Formosa over an area of hundreds of kilometers. All of the clouds in the sky quickly parted, and a massive green serpent projection appeared beside Yamaraja's left hand.

He then reached his right hand out of the sleeve of his cloak as well. "Peacock."

Scintillating light erupted from his right hand, and countless beautiful patterns were emerging within the light, much like the image of a peacock spreading its canopy.

He joined his palms together. "Śakti."

As soon as his voice trailed off, his body began to expand rapidly in size. 100 meter… 300 meters… 500 meters… Several seconds later, a giant that was entirely formed by Yin energy, standing at over 1,000 meters in height, had appeared in the sky above Formosa!

The giant was like a pillar that connected heaven and earth, with the Yurlunggur on its left and the Peacock on its right. It had three heads and six arms, and it was impossible to determine its gender from its facial features. The giant raised two of its hands, and a pillar of five-colored Yin energy erupted out of its palms, hurtling up toward the heavens amid the cries of countless birds.

In the instant that the pillar of Yin energy appeared, Tsunamis that rose up to hundreds of meters tall erupted over the sea outside of Formosa. Immediately thereafter, the five-colored pillar of light parted down the middle, then quickly diverged, manifesting a lethal sea of yellow sand on one side, and a waterfall that was over 100 kilometers wide on the other.

The clouds in the sky instantly exploded. In the wake of the power of two advanced death gods, even the heavens weren't able to remain intact. Layers of Yin clouds surged forth in all directions, revealing a massive hole at the center. Countless Yin runes churned violently as they attempted to fill the hole, but they were unable to converge in the face of the terrifying display of power.

At the center of the flood of Yin clouds was a dazzling Yin rune vortex, resembling a massive piece of burning paper. The edge of the vortex was as resplendent as fire, and within this gargantuan vortex, which was tens of thousands of kilometers in size, one could see the outline of an enormous hand piercing through space, reaching out directly toward the underworld from outside the plane.

The planar barrier between space and the underworld had been torn apart, and it was possible for one to take advantage of this opportunity to fly directly into space. However, in doing so, they would have to withstand all-out attacks from two advanced death gods and that extraterrestrial monster. This was also why space was only accessible during supercritical tides. Only prolonged eruptions of enormous power could tear open the planar barrier for an extended period of time. However, nothing could fly into space in the wake of such devastating power.

"What the hell is that thing?!" Hela had already expanded to over 200 meters tall, and half of her body was breathtakingly beautiful, while the other half was completely rotten and decayed. She was staring up at the heavens with a stunned expression. "You're extremely powerful, but you're going to regret striking out against the underworld! Die!!"

With that sharp screech, countless tree branches emerged from beneath her dress, then intertwined with one another to form tentacles that were giving off deathly Yin energy. They were like countless spears that rose up into the heavens at above the speed of sound, and at the same time, all of the death gods around her also unleashed their most powerful attacks toward the giant hand up in the sky.

Zhao Yun was the only one who had refrained from attacking.

He was waiting for the right opportunity to strike.

He didn't care who or what this monster was, the fact that it dared to attack the Cathayan Underworld was a crime punishable by death 1,000 times over!

………………………………………………..

Inside the world's gate, all of the Yama-King level Yin spirits raised their heads in unison.

Napoleon looked up for a while, then lowered his head again.

At another gate, a man with a strong build and golden accessories hanging down from all over his body also looked up at the sky. After a long while, he looked away as well.

Within the world's gate, the second King Yanluo's eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn't even bother to take a look.

"Are you not going to take a look?" asked an elderly man who was situated beside him.

The elderly man was wearing a white robe and straddled atop an ox. He had a long, white beard, and even though he was clearly a Yin spirit, there wasn't any Yin energy released from his body.

"I'll pass," the second King Yanluo replied as he lazily lit a cigarette. "This is just a ploy to try and lure me away. I'm willing to bet that if we leave, there will immediately be a crisis in the world's gate. "

"It seems like the brunt of the attack is aimed at the Cathayan Underworld," the elderly man remarked with a smile as he stroked his own beard.

"It hasn't even completely broken through the planar barrier yet. If they can't even deal with something like this, then that would be truly pitiful," the second King Yanluo chuckled. "Just wait and see. All of the underworld's death gods are extremely prideful and irritable characters. If it dares to reach out, then it better prepare to have its hand chopped off!"

……………………………………

At the top of Chichenhagen, Qin Ye looked on with an astonished expression as the monster swatted a palm violently toward the underworld. In retaliation, several dozen bursts of Yin energy rose upward to oppose the hand.

This was truly a clash of the titans, and the entire image within the eye of the sun god was trembling violently. In the instant that the clash took place, a burst of scintillating white light immediately erupted.

The white light washed over the entire Heavenly Platform like a wave, and even Qin Ye had to squint with all his might in order to see what was happening in the image.

One shockwave after another was spreading through the cosmos, keeping the giant's gargantuan hand at bay. Thus, a brief impasse took place between the two sides. Three seconds later, the monster suddenly let loose an agonized roar, then stumbled back a single step.

At the same time, its enormous hand exploded violently, followed by its arm, then its shoulder, all of which exploded into countless pieces. Some of those pieces remained suspended in space, while others crashed down toward other planes as asteroids and shooting stars.

Not only had the giant's attack been stopped, it had been wounded by the retaliative strike!

Is this the power of the underworld's death gods?

Qin Ye had been toying with the death gods so much lately that he had forgotten just how fearsome they could be!

However, this wasn't the time to be thinking about things like this. In the instant that the monster's arm was destroyed, all of the countless white-robed Yin spirits around it opened their eyes in unison.

They were like masked corpses drifting through space, and their eyes were of an extremely bright crimson color. All of their eyes had sprung open in unison, and it was as if a sea of crimson stars had suddenly appeared in space. At the same time, their heads turned in a mechanical manner toward the retreating spatial monster, and in the next instant, all of their mouths sprang open to around half a foot in size as they pounced toward the monster in a frenzy.

What are they doing?

Qin Ye was staring intently at the scene unfolding before his eyes. This was completely beyond his understanding of the world. As the ruler of one of the four pillars, he had an undeniable obligation to deal with such a massive threat to the underworld.

In space, the countless Yin spirits rushed over to the chest of the retreating monster, and their hands interlinked with one another to form a massive circular diagram. The layers of the circle were stacked on top of one another to form an airtight barrier, and thus, the beam of light, that had shone onto the monster's chest earlier, also illuminated them.

Right at this moment, the sound of a rising and receding tide rang out. It was very faint, but it was audible across the entire underworld, and at the same time, a vast expanse of scarlet mist emerged from all directions, then surged toward the monster in unison.

This was the true supercritical tide!

Right as the red mist drifted over the image of the sword, the entire sword was stained a scarlet color, and in the next instant, the entire image began to tremble violently.

The image of the sword suddenly seemed to have sprung to life, instantly punching a massive hole through the monster's chest! It had even bypassed the defensive array formed by the Yin spirits as if it didn't even exist, then continued to fly into the distance!

Qin Ye, Mictlantecutli, and Mictetikasiwa all drew a sharp breath upon hearing this, and they exchanged an astonished glance with one another.

What exactly was that sword? Was it a defensive measure that had been collectively set up by the entire underworld?