Yama Rising

"Are you fucking mentally impaired?!" Qin Ye was standing outside the door, while the Mirror of Eminence's furious roars shook the entire room. Even though exceptional soundproofing measures had been implemented in the hall, the window panes were still trembling violently in the wake of the Mirror of Eminence's fiery wrath.

"Why can't you speak clearly? Do you have dog shit in your mouth?! If all diplomats are like you, nothing would get done because no one would understand what anyone is saying! Go and squat in that corner over there!"

"As for you, I would call you a pig, but that would be an insult to pigs! Do you think you're intimidating anyone by putting on that stern face? You're a DIPLOMAT, understood? Even if you just had your leg cut off, you have to smile! You are the face of the nation, do you understand?! Your face is so long one could easily mistake it to be a shoe! I wouldn't be surprised if someone planted their foot into your face if you keep this up!"

"Madam, can you stand up straight for once in your life? Puff out your chest, and squeeze in that stomach! Posture is everything, do you understand?"

"My god, if I had legs, I would kick the living shit out of you!"

"What? You wanna fight me? Come on then, hit me! Do you know how much you'll have to pay if you even so much as chip my frame?"

Holy shit...

Qin Ye gulped as he turned to Zhao Yun, who was standing beside him. "Has it always been like this?"

Zhao Yun nodded in response. "The place in Hell that everyone dreads the most is the Great Cry of Hell, which is overseen by Justice Bao of the fifth palace. Justice Bao was once the Yama-King of the first palace, but he was too sympathetic toward sinners, so he was transferred to the fifth palace, where he and the Mirror of Eminence would neutralize one another's personality traits. I've always felt like the Mirror of Eminence is what the Great Cry of Hell was named after..."

Qin Ye turned toward Zhao Yun with an expression that looked as if he had seen a ghost.

Did you make a joke just now? That had to have been a joke, right? Should I laugh as a gesture of respect?

"It's been silent for several centuries, and it's finally releasing all of that pent-up rage now." Zhao Yun was completely oblivious to the fact that what he had just said could be interpreted as a joke, and he rubbed his own chin as he looked into the room. "Will everyone be able to last through this training? It's only the third day..."

The people who could truly represent Hell were currently being taught in person by the second King Yanluo. They were being instructed in areas such as the state of international affairs, the customs and traditions of other nations, the habits and demeanors of important emissaries of other underworlds.

These people didn't need to learn basic etiquette. Most of them were already high-ranking officials during their lives in the mortal realm, so they were already experts in that area. All they needed was to learn the differences between negotiation in the underworld and negotiation in the mortal realm.

Qin Ye was also learning under the second King Yanluo's tutelage, and he had some spare time, so he decided to take a look at the foundation class that was being run by the Mirror of Eminence. This was a class for the secretaries, assistants, clerks, recorders, auditors, and other foundational personnel. Clearly, this was a place that no one wanted to be...

"Should we go in?" Zhao Yun asked.

"Ahaha... Let's not do that. I feel like anyone who walks into that room right now will have their lives endangered. Let's wait until it releases all of that pent-up frustration first."

Thus, Qin Ye carefully departed, and after about half an hour of rest, the second King Yanluo's call for assembly rang out in his mind.

Their classroom was situated in the northernmost section of the North Yin Pavilion, and upon his arrival, Qin ye discovered that the second King Yanluo wasn't present. Instead, there were many Emissaries of Hell, all of whom were discussing how to deal with unforeseen circumstances or hypothesizing questions that other nations would raise before working out potential solutions.

Everyone knew that this wasn't going to be the final roster. Aside from a few Emissaries of Hell who were already guaranteed spots, all of the other representatives would be chosen during the course of this training camp, and none of the Emissaries of Hell present wanted to give up on an opportunity like this.

Once everyone had taken a seat, a gust of Yin wind blew into the room, and the second King Yanluo reappeared. He snapped his fingers, and the Yin energy behind him instantly formed a world map that was slowly rotating on the spot.

"It's already been three days," the second King Yanluo said as he swept his gaze across the room. "On each day, we've learned about one of the other three pillars. We learned about their history, the potential dangers lurking within them, and their aspirations. Today, we're going to learn about the true objectives of each of those underworlds. For example, the Argosian Underworld's greatest aspiration is for other underworlds to support them in uniting Europa, and to occupy Northern Europa with its troops. Advisor Fang, what do you think their objective is?"

Advisor Fang was a middle-aged man in his forties, and he paused to think about this for a few seconds before replying, "Is it because they want to attack Northern Europa?"

"That's right." the Second King Yanluo turned his gaze toward Qin Ye and said, "Many years ago, Thanatos started a war in Athens to unite Europa. Perhaps you would think that the Argosian Underworld's objective is to unite the entirety of Europa, but you'd be wrong. In reality, this was the territory they were aiming to conquer."

He turned around before drawing a circle on the map, and Qin Ye discovered that the circle encompassed the entirety of Europa aside from the northern part.

A burst of hushed chatter immediately rang out within the classroom, and the second King Yanluo continued, "This isn't because the Argosian Underworld is too weak. Even if the Cathayan Underworld were to attack Northern Europa, we would still fail to conquer it. Perhaps you don't know much about the current religions, but I can tell you that there are many death gods that you haven't even heard of. The five nations of the Northern Europa have managed to withstand the pressure exerted upon them from the rest of Europa, and they were able to do this as they have many death gods and religions. Firstly, there's Finland, which has the local death god Tuonita, death goddess Tuonita, and death god, Suma. To the left, there are the death gods Gwenaplude and Arlong of the Celtic. These religions stretch all the way to Iceland and Brittania to the west, but generally speaking, these religions have only taken over the bottom half of those nations."

A serious look appeared on his face as he continued, "As for the top half of the five nations of Northern Europa, you'll find many renowned death gods there such as Death God Hela, Midgard Serpent Jörmungandr, and Fenrir Greyback."

A loud commotion immediately rang out across the room in the wake of this revelation.

"Are they supposed to be very powerful?" Qin Ye asked.

"They are," the Second King Yanluo replied. "It's said that Hela is the only god that wasn't mentioned to be dead or alive in Ragnarök. However, she most definitely is alive, and she's an intermediate Yama-King, which places her on the same level as Fenrir Greyback. With so many death gods in the five nations of Northern Europa, there was naturally no way that the Argosian Underworld would be able to conquer those nations, particularly after having just expended considerable effort to conquer the rest of Europa. Fortunately, aside from the five nations of Northern Europa, there are virtually no established religions in Europa. There's only a den of vampires in Romania, but they have greater ties with the mortal realm than they do with the underworld. The Argosian Underworld isn't able to sustain their war efforts for extended periods of time, so they're unable to conquer the entirety of Europa. Even to this day, the five nations of Northern Europa are still in an alliance to oppose the Argosian Underworld."

A smile appeared on his face as he continued, "An alliance forged between eight death gods is certainly nothing to be scoffed at, and if there's any hidden ally that we could perhaps make sure of, it would have to be this alliance of five nations. It's also exactly because of this that I've never displayed any animosity toward these five nations."

A surprised look appeared on Qin Ye's face upon hearing this. He had thought that the second King Yanluo would simply pick on whichever nation he pleased, but it turned out that even he had to exercise discretion in this regard.

"We've gone a little off-topic." The second King Yanluo took a sip of tea before continuing, "What I'm trying to say is, in order to determine an underworld's aspirations, you have to look back at their history, and the Argosian Underworld is an example of this. No one wants to be ruled over by someone else, and the nations that it's conquered in the past have virtually all recovered their independence one after another. The past several centuries was enough time for the religions of the Europa Underworlds to fade into history, and the only established religions that remain on the continent of Europa are in the north. It's a similar case with the Aegyptian Underworld. Never did they think that the Alkebulan Underworlds, which were incapable of producing even a single Yama-King, would be harboring the Plumed Serpent God in secret. Even though they managed to conquer the middle east, they've lost their support base in the process. They desperately want to conquer all of the Alkebulan Underworlds, so it could be said that all of the Alkebulan Underworlds aside from the Aegyptian Underworld are also hidden allies for us, and that's not even taking into account the fact that the third King Yanluo has close ties with them to begin with."

He took a deep breath as a serious look appeared on his face. "Identify your allies and determine who your enemies are. Don't hurt your allies, and be constantly on your guard against your enemies, this is something that you should ensure at all times.

Everyone was scrambling to take notes while digesting everything that the second King Yanluo had just said. Right at this moment, a burst of door-knocking rang out, and upon receiving permission to enter, Secretary Jiang strode into the room before extending a respectful bow, then cast his gaze toward Qin Ye.

"I'll be right back." Qin Ye immediately stood up and followed Secretary Jiang out of the classroom.

Qin Ye's brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "What is it? Didn't I tell you not to disturb me unless it's for something important?"

There were no particularly major moves that Hell was currently looking to make. What the Cathayan Underworld needed was rest and recuperation, so Qin Ye had dumped virtually all of his duties onto the Harken and several Yin spirits who were high-ranking officials during their time in the mortal realm.

"My Lord, the invitation letter has arrived," Secretary Jiang informed.

Qin Ye's eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. "Come with me."

The two made their way to Qin Ye's office, and as soon as Qin Ye took a seat, Secretary Jiang closed the door in a cautious manner before pulling out an elegant invitation letter.

It's finally here… Qin Ye took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, then began to carefully read through the letter.

The envelope was black while the bottom half was white, and at its center was a red spider lily. After opening the envelope, Qin Ye discovered that the invitation letter was very long. It was impossible to tell that such a small envelope was holding such a thick letter.

The first line was: "The International Underworld Committee for the Conference of the Re-signing of the Treaty On the Non-proliferation of Forbidden Arts would like to invite the third King Yanluo of the Cathayan Underworld to the conference for the re-signing of the treaty on the non-proliferation of forbidden arts to be held in Amano-Iwato on the 7th of June. We look forward to your attendance."

It was a very simple message, and what was much more noteworthy to Qin Ye was the names below this message.

The first name was Death God Yamaraja of the Hindustani Underworld.

The Hindustani Underworld's representative team consisted of the first speaker, Death Goddess Durga, the second speaker, Death God Sunpo, and several Abyssal Prefects and Infernal Judges. In total, it was a representative team of almost 100 people.

The second name on the list was Death God Hypnos of the Argosian Underworld.

The Argosian Underworld's representative team consisted of the first speaker, Death God Chronos, the second speaker, Death God Sorenges, and the third speaker, Archimedes, followed by a whole host of Abyssal Prefects and Infernal Judges, amounting to a representative team that definitely numbered over 100!

The third name was naturally Death God Anubis of the Aegyptian Underworld.

The Aegyptian Underworld's representative team consisted of the first speaker, Death God Osiris, the second speaker, Death God Apophis, the third speaker, Death God Sabra, and the fourth speaker, Khufu, as well as another massive entourage.

Just the representative teams for these three underworlds alone took up quite a few pages, and immediately following those were the representative teams of the other underworlds.

From the new continent, there were Death Gods Ah Puch and Xolotl of the Mayans, and Death God Supay of the Incans.

From Europa, there was Death God Donn of Ireland, and from the five-nation alliance of Northern Europa, there was Death Goddess Sedna of the Inuits, Death God Anko of the Celts...

The names of these death gods made this invitation letter a truly harrowing sight to behold.

This was an international conference of the highest caliber where only death gods had the right to speak. All of the death gods in attendance were extremely notorious figures that struck fear into the hearts of all of the mortal realm's humans.

"It seems like this is going to be quite a tumultuous event..." Qin Ye gently closed the invitation letter as he cast his gaze out the window, and all of a sudden, a gust of wind blew forth out of nowhere, sweeping through the streets and alleyways of the city.

It was like a precursor to the storm that had been brewing for over a century...