Yama Rising

Rumble...

The gate of Xolotl's Screen was slowly opened, and on the city wall, all of the Yin soldiers lowered their shields and spears. At the same time, a welcoming party dressed in colorful attire emerged from the gate in a uniform fashion, blowing on trumpets as they emerged.

Qin Ye raised an eyebrow in a surprised manner upon seeing this. He didn't think that Xolotl would change his mind so quickly, and he had even considered adopting his identity as Dax to travel to the Caribbean Sea, but things had suddenly taken an unexpected turn.

Right at the center of the welcoming party, Mictetikasiwa slowly emerged with her cane. In front of her was a ship that was entirely constructed from gold, and she stepped onto the ship before it sailed toward Qin Ye.

"Long time no see, Yanluo Qin." After Qin Ye arrived on the golden ship, she poured him a cup of coffee. "I apologize on behalf of Xolotl for his insolence. I hope that you may forgive him for his transgressions on the basis of our long and fruitful friendship."

"It's alright, I'm not bothered," Qin Ye replied with a smile.

It had always been said that the Aztec civilization was one where gold was vastly abundant, and that was certainly on full display here. Even the tables and chairs on the ship were constructed from pure gold. In addition to that, due to the massive amount of gold production from the new continent underworld, their craftsmanship was also the best in the world, and every single carving on the ship was extremely intricate and beautiful to behold.

Mictetikasiwa took a sip of coffee with a smile, then set it down before heaving a faint sigh. "There are always some death gods who don't know their place. Even among death gods, there's a hierarchy. I am sincerely thankful for your graciousness. May I ask why you've come to our new continent in person?"

Qin Ye's smile faded as he inspected his surroundings, and Mictetikasiwa assured him with a smile, "This is a safe place."

Qin Ye nodded in response, then looked directly into her eyes as he asked, "What stage has your space fortress progressed to?"

A serious look also appeared on Mictetikasiwa's face as she replied, "Everything has been assembled, but..."

"But you discovered something unexpected through your super astronomical telescope, right?" Qin Ye interjected. "You discovered the nine connected stars and that massive rhomboid space station, right?"

Mictetikasiwa nodded in response as she heaved a faint sigh. "It's been another few decades since our last meeting. Truth be told, the Omeyocan fortress was already ready to take off as far back as 10 years ago. The fact that you know what's going on in space tells me that the Cathayan Underworld's super astronomical telescope has also been completed, and you've come to the new continent now, so I presume that assembly of your telescope was only completed no more than a year ago."

At this moment, Mictetikasiwa was displaying no signs of insanity at all. Instead, she was as cold and calculating as anyone as she continued, "We actually already discovered the nine connected stars eight years ago. We are the first underworld to have made this discovery, but we didn't announce it to the world. In the beginning, it was only a case of random movement from the nine planes in our star system, and we couldn't be sure of exactly what was happening. Only after running calculations for two years were we finally able to confirm that in if the nine planes were to continue on their original trajectories, then they would all form a line after a few decades!"

Qin Ye's eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this. The second King Yanluo hadn't discussed this subject in detail through the black box, but the danger behind this phenomenon was very apparent.

The canter underworld was situated at the center, and it would use all of the planes ahead of it as outposts to shift the battlefield to the forefront! If their underworld wanted to strike back at the canter underworld, then it would have to break through a series of blockades first.

Qin Ye took a deep breath, then cast his gaze toward Mictetikasiwa before asking, "Do you still plan to go to space?"

Mictetikasiwa didn't reply. Instead, she looked back at Qin Ye and asked, "So what exactly was discussed during the meeting between the four pillars?"

This wasn't the time to be playing mind games. In the face of the upcoming crisis, all of the underworlds had to unite as one on the same front, so Qin Ye revealed the content discussed during the meeting in its entirety without any hesitation.

Silence.

Only after close to a minute had passed did Mictetikasiwa's eyes narrow slightly as she asked, "So you want us to pause our space exploration plan for now and participate in the interplanar war in 100 years?"

"That's right," Qin Ye replied in an earnest voice. "This is a mutually beneficial arrangement for both parties. If you go into space now, there's no way you'll be able to bypass the blockades of the canter underworld, seeing as they have three beings above the Yama-King level. Hence, it would be nothing short of a suicide mission."

Mictetikasiwa didn't reply as she picked up her cup of coffee before taking a sip.

She understood what Qin Ye was saying, and the reasons he had outlined were the same ones that had led to the temporary discontinuation of the Omeyocan plan. The enemy had already begun setting up their blockade, and if they were to venture into space now, it would essentially be the power of a nation pitted against an entire plane, and Earth's underworld wouldn't be able to provide them with any reinforcements.

At the very least, they couldn't at this point in time.

"Also, if you leave now, what will become of the new continent under the other death gods in your absence? In Xolotl's actions today, I'm sure you can see what the future of the new continent will be like. Truth be told, during the meeting, the three pillars already raised the issue of the new continent, and I took it upon myself to pay you two a visit."

"Everyone thinks that what they're seeing is reality, but that's far from the truth," Mictetikasiwa sighed.

"That's not important." Qin Ye leaned forward slightly as he looked directly into Mictetikasiwa's eyes. "What the four pillars need is a peaceful new continent, an ally that we don't have to worry about. Once the interplanar war begins, the battlefield will most likely be our plane. When that time comes, the entire underworld will be ravaged by war, and we don't want to see any underworlds conquered by the enemy due to internal problems, thereby allowing the enemy to stake a foothold on our plane."

Mictetikasiwa was silent for a long while.

Ever since they discovered the nine connected stars, they had been preparing countermeasures, and they already had their own answer.

"What do you plan to do?" Mictetikasiwa asked in a calm voice. "Do you want us to make the entire Omeyocan plan publicly available? That's not out of the question, but we need you to promise us one thing."

"I'm listening."

"We need a written promise from all underworlds not to spread their religions in all of the planes that we colonize for the next 5,000 years!"

Qin Ye nodded in response. Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa were turning to space because their religion was about to collapse. The colonization war on the new continent in the mortal realm had decimated all of the new continent's original religions, so staying on Earth would only lead to certain death for them.

By preventing all other underworlds from spreading their religions in the planes that Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa colonized for the next 5,000 years, their intention was to develop a new population of followers of the new continent's three major religions.

If they could win the interplanar war, then this opportunity would arise, but under the circumstances where the entire underworld would be colonizing new planes and extending their influence out into space, Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa had to re-establish their own religions, which placed them at an inherent disadvantage.

Qin Ye couldn't help but heave an internal sigh.

Who could've anticipated that the three religions of the new continent, which had been such a powerful force for several thousand years, would fall behind every other religion in the upcoming new chapter of history?

Due to this inherent disadvantage, the new continent would perhaps never be able to join the ranks of the four pillars.

"Also, we need a promise from the Cathayan Underworld," Mictetikasiwa continued. "From this day forth, the new continent will become the Cathayan Underworld's eternal strategic cooperative partner."

Qin Ye raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

It seemed that Mictetikasiwa had also thought of everything he already had. Given the blockade that was present in space, the only thing that they could do was unite the entire underworld and fight for their lives, even if doing so would make them fall behind all of the other underworlds once the era of space exploration was ushered in.

Thus, they required a guarantee from the Cathayan Underworld, which had limitless potential.

"Alright, I accept your condition."

"Good. After our agreement is officially signed, we'll publicize all of the details and statistics pertaining to the Omeyocan plan," Mictetikasiwa said with a smile. "Now then, tell me exactly what you plan to do."

Qin Ye made a grabbing motion, and a document fell into Mictetikasiwa's grasp.

"Genesis plan?" Mictetikasiwa looked up from the document with a faint smile. "What an ambitious name this is."

The room fell silent, and Mictetikasiwa continued reading. However, she had only taken a quick glance at the plan before she shuddered noticeably, then abruptly looked up to stare at Qin Ye with an incredulous expression, to which Qin Ye looked back at her with a smile.

Only after a long while did Mictetikasiwa take a deep breath, then said, "I take back what I just said. This isn't an ambitious name, it's extremely fitting considering what you're aiming to achieve."

Qin Ye made an inviting hand gesture, urging Mictetikasiwa to read the rest of the document.

Mictetikasiwa carefully read through the document in silence, and only after over an hour had passed did she close the document with mixed emotions in her eyes.

Instead of immediately commenting on the plan, she closed her eyes in contemplation for a further half-hour before reopening her eyes. "Looks like I made the correct decision to request the establishment of a strategic cooperative partnership. If you can succeed, the four pillars will be immortalized in history!"

"That's why the other three pillars will definitely go along with this plan," Qin Ye said as he locked onto Mictetikasiwa with an intense gaze. "Also, it's not a matter of 'if' we succeed or not, our success is certain!"

A thought occurred to Mictetikasiwa upon hearing this. "You don't mean..."

"I said this before: prior to entering this interplanar war, we need absolute unity. You're not the only ones who'll be revealing their secrets, we'll be doing the same as well! We need all of the underworlds in this entire plane to advance and develop together! An interplanar war is not something that the four pillars alone can take on," Qin Ye said with a serious expression. "If any underworlds refuse to cooperate..."

His voice trailed off here, and he didn't finish his sentence.

A chill ran down Mictetikasiwa's spine as she asked, "Death God?"

Of course, she wasn't referring to the cultivation rank. Instead, she was talking about the weapon that had stunned the entire world not long ago!

Qin Ye offered no response, and Mictetikasiwa drew a sharp breath. "No wonder you didn't attend the conference to include Death God into the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts in person! Did the other three pillars agree to this?"

A calm smile appeared on Qin Ye's face, but Mictetikasiwa could sense the ruthless killing intent behind it.

"They didn't refuse, at least."

Mictetikasiwa nodded in response with a grim expression. "Alright, I understand the situation now. We look forward to following the lead of the four pillars and cooperating fully with the Genesis plan!"