Yama Rising

The Plumed Serpent God wasn’t privy to the contents of the conversation between Qin Ye and Zhou Yun.

But even then, he remained completely silent, staring intently at Qin Ye. He was gambling. He was gambling on Qin Ye. Naturally, he didn’t rush them as they deliberated over their decision.

Five minutes later, Qin Ye finally looked up and turned back to the Plumed Serpent God. The Plumed Serpent God had a calm expression on his face, but the truth of the matter was that his pupils were quivering with great apprehension.

The tension in the air was so high that he could even feel Qin Ye’s every action strumming intently on his heartstrings. Finally, Qin Ye spoke, “What are you after?”

“Blood of a divinity.” The Plumed Serpent God didn’t hide anything from them. He licked his lips, “I’ve seen it through the eyes of the Heavenly Dao, and I can confirm that this isn’t the Holy Grail. I don’t know what happened, but I’m certain that this is the predecessor to the last Holy Grail, the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn. To a certain extent, you can call it a Holy Grail as well, because it’s also got the blood of a divinity stored within the Chalice. Furthermore, this blood is different, because it’s the blood of a creator god.”

At once, Zhao Yun’s voice resounded in Qin Ye’s ears once more,, “You’re also a divinity, and the main god of a realm at that. However, the strongest among all divinities are naturally the creator gods. They are above everything, and they’re the ones who have opened this world to the Three Realms. Our divinity is inferior to theirs. Naturally, the blood that he’s referring to is the blood of Jesus, one of the creator gods…”

Qin Ye cut him off, “Can we devour it ourselves?”

Zhao Yun didn’t seem too surprised by Qin Ye’s response. That said, it only stood to reason, because doing so would essentially be placing Hell’s interest at the forefront. He shook his head, “No.”

“The only ones who can devour the blood of a divinity are either humans, or…” He glanced at the Plumed Serpent God, “Entities like him, who are in the process of being devoured by the Heavenly Dao. The reason for this is that creator gods are considered equals to the Heavenly Dao.”

What a pity… But it’s no wonder the Plumed Serpent God isn’t afraid to disclose such key intelligence to us.

“I’ll give you my word.” Qin Ye gazed deeply at the Plumed Serpent God, “10 years. I’ll give you the blood in 10 years time in exchange for retaining the Holy Grail for my own benefit.”

“Don’t worry, I harbour no desire for the Holy Grail at all.” The Plumed Serpent God chuckled bitterly, “Right now, the only thing that I’m thinking about is my own survival. How can I allow myself to pass on without having taken revenge on the Aztec Gods yet?”

With that, Nadia’s seven apertures erupted with dazzling golden light, and then everything vanished in an instant.

Qin Ye snapped his finger, and the swirling Yin energy around promptly transformed into black butterflies and brought Nadia right back to her room. Meanwhile, he folded his hands and sat silently in his seat, deep in thought.

After a long pause, he quipped, “Is it possible to have you reclaim the Cathayan Underworld on Hell’s behalf?”

“Unlikely.” Zhao Yun shook his head, “Have you forgotten? I’m now in the realm beyond that of a Yama-King. I’m technically not even an official of Hell right now.”

“But didn’t you say--...”

“The Heavenly Dao isn’t rejecting my existence, but the precondition to that is that I don’t cause any earth-shattering changes to the world. In other words, I can’t be immoderate with these powers of mine.”

Qin Ye frowned, “But the Second King Yanluo didn’t do something like that either, did he?”

Zhao Yun coughed dryly, “The Second King Yanluo is different in that his existence itself already draws the scorn of the Heavenly Dao. Cough… Besides, nearly a thousand years ago, when he attended his first Federation of Underworlds conference, the gods of death of the other underworlds sought to make things difficult for the new kid on the block. At that time, he slammed his fist down on the table and forced everyone else to sign on a series of unequal treaties. Then, just 500 years later, during the Conference for the Non-Proliferation of Forbidden Arts, Anubis and Thanatos weren’t agreeable to the terms proposed, but the Second King Yanluo beat the living daylights out of them…”

“430 years ago, the Russian Underworld marched against one of the European underworlds, and it so happened that the Second King Yanluo was touring that region. He naturally beat back the Russian Underworld. 300 years ago… 200 years ago… 150 years ago…”

Holy crap… Qin Ye’s eyes widened as he heard the summary of all the great things the Second King Yanluo had done - Brother Xu, what in the world have you done? It’s no wonder the entire netherworld seems to hate you so much!

I’ll bet that everyone would applaud and cheer as soon as they learnt of the news of your passing on from the Three Realms, wouldn’t they?

Qin Ye sighed, “In other words, so long as you abuse your powers to give Hell a seriously unfair advantage, then the Heavenly Dao will come to reject your existence?”

If that wasn’t an option, then the only way forward would be to rely heavily on Hell’s Yin soldiers.

But where was Hell supposed to get so many Yin soldiers?

“Are you preparing to conscript soldiers?” Zhao Yun could tell what Qin Ye was thinking, and he drew a deep breath, “Are you… finally ready to unify Hell?”

Qin Ye smiled, “Now is a better time than any other. Besides, it’s the next order of business for Hell right now.”

Qin Ye spoke placidly, but his words appeared to stir Zhao Yun’s heart so much that Yin energy began to erupt and pour out profusely from his body, just like a river full of boiling waters! The excitement in Zhao Yun’s heart was palpable!

Unification of the Cathayan Underworld. This was the dream of any warlord of the underworld! Over the course of Cathayan history, there were, strictly speaking, approximately 15 people who had founded their own dynasties. And to that end, Qin Ye had marched out of an insignificant Clear Creek County on his own, forged his own path and claimed two large cities for himself, and was now looking ahead to the unification of the scattered lands, as well as the reclamation of the Holy Grail for Hell!

“We’ve been absent from the international arena for far too long…” Zhao Yun shut his eyes with great emotion stirring in the depths of his heart, “But it’s now time… to let the flag of the Cathayan Underworld fly high in the Federation of Underworlds!”

With that, he knelt down on a knee and cupped his hands respectfully, “I eagerly await your command!”

“There’s no need for overkill at this stage.” Qin Ye’s eyes gleamed brightly as he gazed deeply into the night sky, “I’ll issue the conscription order as soon as possible. And then, once we hit 200,000 Yin soldiers, we’ll point our sword to the rest of the nation and march to reclaim what is rightfully ours! At present, the only force that can potentially stand up against us is the Daolord of the Beast… Wait a minute!!”

Qin Ye’s eyes flashed with a trace of enlightenment, and he abruptly turned back, “Dong Zhuo isn’t surrendering?”

Zhao Yun paused for a moment, “Yes, he still hasn’t surrendered. Su Daji and Qin Hui have already given us their word that they are prepared to go to war…”

“No!” Qin Ye waved his hand, “Why isn’t he surrendering?!”

Silence.

Seconds later, Zhao Yun drew a deep breath, “Su Daji and Qin Hui have both reached out to him before, so he should know full well that two of the three daolords have defected and are now standing on Hell’s side. And to that end, he should know full well that once the war begins, the forces mustered by the two defected daolords would likely march as pawns against the Daolord of the Beast. It’s not going to be easy for him to withstand the might of the two mighty armies, even with most of King Yanluo’s Seal under his control. Add Hell’s forces to the mix, and he should know full well that it’s not an army that he can stand up against!”

“Meanwhile, Su Daji and Qin Hui would probably also have notified him of Hell’s strength, such as the existence of the Harken. Knowing that, he still chooses not to surrender. What’s the source of his confidence and adamance?”

Both men locked eyes at once.

The Holy Grail!

Dong Zhuo probably already has control of the Holy Grail right now!

“This is quite likely. Furthermore, Dusk City…” Zhao Yun sighed, and then turned back to the Mythic Palace of Reflections, “That’s a location that Dong Zhuo probably would never give up on, and it so happens that it’s one of the three locations where the Holy Grail is located…”

Qin Ye frowned, “But this is a holy artifact, and a creation artifact at that. Surely there would be some unusual celestial phenomena reported as soon as he gets hold of it, wouldn’t there?”

Zhao Yun shook his head, “If that’s indeed the case, then everyone would easily learn of the whereabouts of the creation artifact, and it would’ve been impossible for it to slip straight into the possessions of the Former Liang completely undetected in the first place. My best guess is that Dong Zhuo has managed to obtain it, but probably only in recent times. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have waited for such a long time before marching against Hell. Unfortunately, if this is indeed the case, then I’m afraid this upcoming battle… isn’t going to be easy.”

Qin Ye nodded. Then, after pondering for another moment or two, he sent two messenger birds flying out of his hands. Within moments, two figures materialized before Qin Ye’s very eyes and lay prostrate on the ground, “Su Daji, Qin Hui, pays their humblest respects to King Yanluo.”

Qin Ye leaned back lazily on his throne and looked haughtily at them, “There’s something I need your help with.”

“It would be my honour.” Qin Hui responded without hesitation, “It’s the blessings of the gods that I’m able to share any measure of burdens with the King Yanluo of Hell!”

Su Daji stared at Qin Hui as though she had just seen a ghost - What the hell?! That’s exactly what I was going to say! Since when did you become as glib as I?

Archnemesis!

“Likewise!” She hurriedly latched onto Qin Hui’s words.

Qin Ye waved his hands impatiently, “Spare the flattery. I’ll give you three months to completely purge the Pearl River Delta regions and the three eastern provinces of all Yin spirits. Can you do this?”

“Yes!” Both responded at once, and Su Daji smiled, “Consider it done. Besides, you can easily entrust such a task to my army of hungry ghosts. Wouldn’t it be too wasteful to mobilize two Abyssal Prefects at once?”

Qin Hui stared at Su Daji in horror.

You--... He hadn’t even thought about responding with something like that!

“My Lord… My army of asuras can do the same as well…”

“No need to fight over this.” Qin Ye nodded with satisfaction, “What I’m talking about is a complete purge. I don’t want to see even a single Yin spirit behind. I’ll be appointing a number of Soul Hunters and Netherworld Operatives to support you in these operations. As soon as you discover any wandering spirits, I want you to reap their souls and bring them straight to hell at once. Meanwhile, I’ll also want you to clear pathways connecting the Pearl River Delta and the three eastern provinces to Ashmound City and Everburn City.”

This was all to secure himself the best possible bargaining chips for the upcoming negotiations with the mortal realm.

Now that he’d learnt of the existence of the Holy Grail, he didn’t want to drag things out any longer. The earlier the day of unification, the better!

“Daolord Qin.” Qin Ye turned to Qin Hui, “Do you know where the lair of the Daolord of the Beast is located?”

Are you finally going to make your move against Dong Zhuo? Qin Hui’s eyes flickered, but he shook his head, “I don’t know, but what I do know is that it’s in the region of the three provinces of Westriver Province, Cloudriver Province, and Rich Province. If Your Excellency gives me some time, I can give you a more definitive answer.”

Qin Ye straightened up, “No, it’s fine. There’s no need to alert him to our movements right now. I’d like you to take care of a few things. Firstly, suss out all locations of Hell’s rift in West Shan Province, Kansu Province, and Kokonur Province, and then…”

His eyes opened abruptly, “Garrison your army of asuras in these regions and surround Dong Zhuo!”

Locking him in, huh? Hell is going to unify the nation soon, and I’ll be the one who will be in charge of keeping an eye on Dong Zhuo’s movements… Qin Hui took a deep breath and responded valiantly, “Yes!”

Qin Ye dismissed the two daolords after disseminating these instructions, and it was only then that Zhao Yun turned to him, “What are you planning?”

“There’s still one last thing to do before unifying the Cathayan Underworld.” Qin Ye’s eyes narrowed slightly, “And that’s the upcoming negotiations with the mortal realm. Our industries are still in their nascent stages, and we cannot rely on Hell’s own production capacity right now. Not even a hundred years would suffice if we let things progress at its current speeds.”

“But the Cathayan government definitely has the ability to propel us forward! Therefore, we’ll have to make them an offer that they simply cannot resist.”

“The three eastern provinces, Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta, Eastmount Province, Insignia Province… With a total of nine provinces liberated from the bindings of the supernatural forces, I refuse to believe that they wouldn’t accede to our requests!”

The mortal realm had waited for this moment for far too long.

The curtains were closing on this chapter, and a new one was soon about to open. So long as they could secure the help of the mortal realm, Hell could focus its attention on conscripting troops, before finally turning the tip of its sword to the rest of the nation!

And then, they could finally move beyond their borders and turn their attention to the international arena out there!

Nobody could live in isolation - not even one of the top underworlds of the netherworld. The international arena was rife with changes. The passing of the New World, the desperation of the Alkebulan Underworld, and the P4 underworlds who were all competing for glory… Qin Ye couldn’t wait to see how this gorgeous picture would unfold as soon as Hell re-emerges to the forefront of the world.