Yama Rising

Without requiring any prompting from Qin Ye, Qin Changxin immediately continued, "The religion that Nippon worships is Shinto, and due to the special nature of the Shinto religion, Nippon's gods and demons are actually split up into two branches."

He took a deep breath before taking a sip of tea to wet his parched throat. Having waited for this day for so long, he was so excited that even his hands were trembling slightly.

After setting down his teacup, he took another deep breath before continuing, "The two branches are the Amatsukami and the Kunitsukami, and they are collectively known as the eight million gods."

Eight million?

Qin Ye's expression changed slightly upon hearing this. That was truly a massive number. This was the foundation of an underworld that had existed for thousands of years. Generations upon generations of Yin spirits added up to form a formidable army, yet the Nipponese Underworld was only a third-rate underworld, so one could only imagine just how fearsome the other three pillars were.

"Among the eight million gods, four million belong to the Amatsukami, while the other four million belong to the Kunitsukami. If we instigate this war with the intention of conquering the Nipponese Underworld, their Heaven won't just stand by and watch Amano-Iwato fall. If Amano-Iwato is conquered, the reincarnated people will become people of the Nipponese Underworld. In 50, maybe 100 years, after all of the Nipponese People have gone through reincarnation, the Nipponese Underworld would truly become the territory of the Cathayan Underworld, and its religion would also naturally become the Cathayan Underworld's religion. No independent nation would be willing to become a subsidiary to another underworld. Hence, not only will we be facing the Nipponese Underworld in this war, we'll also be facing its gods!"

This entailed an army of eight million, and a grim look appeared on Qin Ye's face as he nodded in response, indicating for Qin Changxin to continue.

"Even after we develop second-generation forbidden arts, we'll only be able to attack the Kunitsukami, while the Amatsukami are in the mythical Takamagahara, which is the equivalent to the Cathayan Underworld's Heaven. They will remain unaffected, and they'll most likely form the bulk of the resistance that we'll have to face. As for the leaders of the Amatsukami, perhaps you've heard of them. They are Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi. Of course, just like Izanami, they're also only Abyssal Prefects. The Amatsukami and the Kunituskami have historically had a rocky relationship, having gone to war against each other many times, but we have to expect that they would set aside their differences to oppose us as one."

He waved a hand through the air, and a map of Nippon appeared. However, it was a map of ancient Nippon, rather than one of modern Nippon.

Coincidentally, ancient Nippon was heavily influenced by Cathayan culture, leading to the nation being split up into nine regions, namely Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Kansai, Chugoku, Kyushu, and Shikoku.

Qin Changxin tapped on the Kansai region, then moved his finger to the Shikoku region as he said, "I haven't been to Takamagahara, but it's said that Takamagahara is situated in the spirit realm in the sky above Kyoto, which is in the Kansai region. In other words, that is the stronghold of the Amatsukami, whereas Shikoku is the stronghold of the Kunitsukami. However, the so-called demons and deities of Nippon cannot even begin to compare with those of Cathay. As I'm sure you're aware, the foundations of all underworlds stem from the myths and worship of the mortal realm. The system of demons and deities in Taoism is far more vast than anything the Nipponese Underworld has to offer. Nippon believes in the Shinto religion, and the mantra of the religion is that all things have spirits. This concept gave rise to evil ghosts such as Futakuchi-onna, Sadako Yamamura, and Kayako Saeki, as well as many demonic entities. In Nippon, there's no clear distinction between demons and ghosts. This concept that all things have spirits have resulted in the emergence of some inexplicable ghosts and deities. For example, if a chair were to develop a spirit, it would become one of the Kunitsukami. The same would apply if an umbrella developed a spirit. Among the four million Kunitsukami, there are even deities such as the slipper god and the door god, which would only be the lowliest of underworld emissaries in the Cathayan Underworld. Hence, there won't be much resistance coming from the Kunitsukami."

Qin Ye nodded in response.

If he wanted to make a move against the Nipponese Underworld, then he naturally had to understand their power system first. Essentially, the so-called four million Kunitsukami were like the popular computer game "Nobunaga's Ambition". Each of the names of their attacks was flashier than the previous one, but in reality, they were all quite underwhelming, such as 1,000 people thrusting bamboo spears at an enemy...

Thus, in reality, the power of the four million Kunitsukami was downright pitiful. The Amatsukami were most likely going to be more powerful, but definitely not by much. Thus, knowing full well that the overall quality was severely lacking, they could only make up for that with numbers, gathering all of the demons and ghosts, even things such as slipper ghosts and umbrella ghosts, thereby forming an army of four million.

With that in mind, a faint smile appeared on Qin Ye's face. Now that he thought about it, he had met the leader of the Kunitsukami before. It was none other than Susanoo-no-Mikoto.

His son's name was Susa Boy, who had split up into two entities, namely Crow Tengu and Black Yaksha, after suffering from a split personality. After that ill-advised trip that it took to the Cathayan Underworld, it had never returned.

At the same time, another one of Nippon's three great yokai, Otakemaru, was also in his Dusk Legionnaire. Qin Ye nodded toward Qin Changxin as he said, "You've provided a very detailed rundown of the situation in Nippon, Director Qin. Where do you propose we should strike from?"

"I say we strike from Hokkaido!" Qin Changxin replied in a confident voice. "Amano-Iwato is situated under present-day Kyoto, which means that there are virtually no troops stationed in Tohoku and Hokkaido. If we choose to begin our invasion there, we'll be able to force into a battle in the Chubu or Kansai region. Thus, they'll be forced to gather all of their troops, and that will be where the second-generation forbidden art can achieve the best effect."

There were all things that had to be done prior to instigating the war. A strategy had to be devised, and corresponding preparations had to be made. For example, if they decided to begin their invasion from Tohoku and Hokkaido, then they would have begun training their navy and building ports and ships at the Strait of Tsushima. Furthermore, the production chains would also have to begin to lean toward the three eastern provinces, which were going to support the invading army.

These were major moves that had to be made over the course of years, so planning had to begin right away.

Qin Ye nodded in response. It was time to call up all of the high-ranking officials of the three eastern provinces for a meeting. At the same time, it was about time that he summoned Liu Yu and made an example out of him.

If they were going to invade from Tohoku, then Daehan and the Strait of Tsushima had to be firmly within his control.

Just as Qin Ye was about to bring the meeting to a conclusion, Qin Changxin suddenly asked, "Your Excellency, have you thought about how you're going to rule over Amano-Iwato after you conquer it?"

Qin Ye was rather taken aback by this question, and he smiled as he replied, "Rest assured, Director Qin. Our Cathayan Underworld had 12 envoys during ancient times, and there's no reason why we can't instate a new set of 12 envoys. Our Cathayan Underworld has many subsidiary nations, so we'll need to at least assign three frontier governors, and you'll be the first one."

Qin Ye didn't even have to think about the other two, they were definitely going to be Yu Qian and Yang Jiye. He would rather split the Southern Asian islands between the two than send out more envoys.

Once Amano-Iwato was conquered, the defense chain of the entire Cathayan Underworld would be complete, and the Cathayan Underworld would be protected from all directions.

However, Qin Changxin shook his head in response. "I've never doubted your promise to me, Your Excellency. However, what I'm saying is that Amano-Iwato is an underworld that has stood for over 2,000 years, and its power is certainly not just limited to the Amatsukami and the Kunitsukami. There will also be the Minakanushi and the national protective array, which will take at least one or two months to bypass. During this time, the netherworldly citizens of Amano-Iwato will definitely revolve. In addition to that, we'll be facing pressure from the three pillars, and the situation would undoubtedly become extremely chaotic. Under those circumstances, how can we continue to make stable progress?"

Qin Ye hadn't thought about this yet. He didn't want to have to do something as heinous as engaging in mass slaughter. The Cathayan Underworld needed the Nipponese Underworld's territory, but it would certainly also receive a significant boost from the Nipponese Underworld's netherworldly citizens.

If they were to kill the entire population of the Nipponese Underworld, then they would have to start from square one, just like when the new Hell was being established all those years ago.

"What are your thoughts?" Qin Ye asked. The fact that Qin Changxin was raising this matter meant that he had to have already thought of a good solution.

Qin Changxin smiled as he replied, "We can do exactly what the Nipponese government did in the mortal realm. If someone in Amano-Iwato with a lofty status were willing to accept us and help us stabilize the situation, that would be ideal, would it not?"

"Of course!" Qin Ye immediately replied. "Who are you referring to?"

"Do you still remember the old man who was on that boat with us several years ago?" Qin Changxin asked.

Qin Ye's eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this.

Iwasaki Kyouya!

That man was the current owner of the Mitsubishi Corporation! Even in the Cathayan Underworld, he would definitely be a brilliant figure!

It would be nothing short of ideal to have someone like him control the current situation!

In particular, he most likely wasn't dead yet. During the time of their meeting, he had only been in his sixties.

As for persuading him, that certainly wasn't impossible.

For an entity like the Mitsubishi Corporation, profit was often valued above patriotic devotion.