Yama Rising

Zhao Yun and the Harken were also looking at the notes, and the three of them read the notes intently for a full 10 minutes before heaving a collective satisfied sigh. Excited smiles appeared on all of their faces, but none of them said anything.

After a long while, the Harken finally broke the silence. "We've finally done it… This shoddy Hell is finally about to welcome a resurgence…"

There had been minor resurgences in the past, such as the foreign funds that Qin Ye had managed to attract to Hell, but in contrast with this notepad, all of those past so-called resurgences were downright negligible.

This was something that could allow Hell to establish a dominant dynasty for centuries, even millennia to come!

This was something that was enough to elevate a minor underworld to the same level as the four pillars!

It was the key to a new era!

No words could describe the significance of this occasion, and with that in mind, the trio remained completely silent in fear of spoiling this moment with cheap words.

Qin Ye was vigorously massaging his own temples to the point that it was beginning to hurt, and only then was he able to repress the excitement in his own heart. As he began to speak again, his voice was a little hoarse. "I've decided that research into the new six paths of reincarnation will be delegated to Warden Arthis, while the rest of Hell's elite officials will be fully dedicated to tackling the contents of this notepad!"

The Harken nodded in response. "That assistant of yours has already assembled a list of names for you. Seven of them worked in the research and development of nuclear weapons in the mortal realm, while the other three were involved in the research and development of forbidden arts in the underworld."

"Why are there so few of them?" Qin Ye was quite taken aback to hear this. "And why are we focusing on nuclear weapons? Aren't we discussing the new energy resource right now?"

The Harken replied, "The reason why there are going to be so few people involved is because too many people will result in too many opinions that have to be considered. This team will form the foundation of this project, and we only want and need the best of the best. They will be the ones to see the project through to the very end."

The main problem facing the new energy resource was research and development. What was this research and development team going to do? How were they going to do this? Were they going to follow instructions from a certain department or directly from Qin Ye himself? Was this going to be a permanent research and development team or just a temporary team assembled solely for this project? How was their progress going to be reported? Individually or collectively? Should their progress reports be released to the public or should there only be a single publication at the end of the project to announce the results?

These things all had to be decided now.

"That's already quite a few people," Zhao Yun sighed. "I've heard of the nuclear weapons of the mortal realm, and most of the nuclear weaponry researchers in Cathay are still alive. In the wake of the destruction of Fengdu, we're already quite fortunate to have been left with Zhang Heng, Lu Ban, and Zu Chongzhi. As for why we're talking about forbidden arts and nuclear weapons, firstly, this is the underworld, so Yin runes will definitely be required to break down and analyze this new energy resource. This is the biggest point of difference between the underworld and the mortal realm. We know what the foundational building blocks of all things in the underworld are, so we'll be able to fully dissect this energy resource so that it can have other applications as well."

Qin Ye sat down on a chair as he listened to Zhao Yun's explanation. Soon, all three of them were seated in the empty hall, discussing the future of the new energy resource. This was a scene that wouldn't have been uncommon in nations in the early stages of their development.

Qin Ye had an intense look in his eyes as he rubbed his own chin and said, "I took a brief look at the notes just now, and from what I saw, the new energy resource requires conversions between three types of substances. Should we be focusing our research into the end product produced by the conversion process? Is that the secret to the new energy resource?"

This new energy resource could determine whether the Cathayan Underworld would be able to truly re-establish itself as one of the four pillars and determine the course that its future was going to take, so everyone was pondering their words extra carefully before they spoke.

After a long pause, the Harken said, "This is only the beginning. If we think about the new energy resource in terms of electrical currents, then this Yin rune could be referred to as the origin rune of the new energy resource. What we have to consider now is whether this new energy resource consists of breaking down this origin rune and sending its constituent parts to different places, or whether it's an electrical current formed by countless copies of the same origin rune. This is the decisive difference between the mortal realm and the underworld! Xu Fu isn't familiar with Yin runes, so his new energy resource is only half complete, making it useable in both the mortal realm and the underworld. What we have to do is remove the mortal realm portion of the new energy resource while ensuring that it'll still work after the event. This is going to be a task that's no easier than creating the new energy resource in the first place, and in addition to that…"

It made a grabbing motion, and a stack of documents was instantly pulled out of thin air before hovering in mid-air in an orderly fashion.

Qin Ye only took a single glance at the documents before his brows furrowed tightly.

"These are the application forms submitted by the Sirian International Underworlds Research Center."

Qin Ye nodded in response, and the documents flew over to him. After some careful inspection, his brows furrowed even further.

"The seven top researchers of the Sirian International Underworlds Research Center are already prepared to travel to the Cathayan Underworld at any time, and we humbly request that the Cathayan Underworld opens up its borders to us as soon as possible!"

"The Euler's Gem No. 1 Energy Resource Research and Development Station is eagerly awaiting the establishment of a research and development pathway by the Cathayan Underworld. Our top 10 researchers are ready to set off at a moment's notice!"

"The nine top researchers of the Thaurissan Yin Rune Research Center have already permanently settled in the Nipponese Underworld. Even though it was agreed that the Cathayan Underworld would only be opening its borders in the next three to five years, we are eager to establish a collaborative relationship earlier than that! In exchange, we don't require any compensation at all!"

"Asian Director of the Anderson Consortium, Baron Cameron, adamantly requests an audience with the managing underworld emissaries of the Cathayan Underworld's new energy resource project! Please believe in our Anderson Consortium's sincerity! Our headquarters has already granted us unlimited funds to invest in the project, and all we need is to be able to inspect the research and development site or attend an academic conference! Baron Cameron and his entourage will be staying in the Felipinas for the next five years, and we are eagerly awaiting a response from you!"

"Eastern Asian Director of the Holy Roman Consortium, Viscount Anbusen, desperately requests an audience with the managing underworld emissaries of the Cathayan Underworld's new energy resource project! The Holy Roman Consortium owns 28% of all of the A grade and S grade mines in the world, and a collaboration between our two parties would definitely be immensely mutually beneficial! All we need is an academic report or permission to inspect the research and development site, and we'll immediately open up access to our high-grade mines on Mount Fuji, the Alborz mountain range, the Caraballo mountain range, the Cherskiy mountain range, and Kinzan for you!"

There were countless more similar letters from a myriad of different parties.

Interestingly enough, there were virtually no official diplomatic documents among them. Instead, the vast majority of these documents were private letters, and they had somehow been delivered to just outside the Array of the Nine Gods.

However, by doing this, they were unknowingly exerting immense pressure on the Cathayan Underworld!

Qin Ye remained silent as he gently drummed his fingers against his armrest. None of them were overstepping their boundaries or doing anything out of the ordinary, but in the current state of the Cathayan Underworld, their actions placed Qin Ye in a very difficult predicament.

The Harken and Zhao Yun didn't try to rush him. They also knew that there was an extremely difficult decision to be made.

It would be extremely difficult to complete a monumental worldwide project like this one with the power of one nation alone, and that was even taking into account the fact that the Cathayan Underworld was lacking in everything at the moment. The nation was still too busy constructing basic infrastructure, and this meant that it was necessary for external parties to get involved. However, Qin Ye had to regulate just how many external parties became involved and how they were involved in the project.

If he allowed too many external parties to participate in the project, would the Cathayan Underworld's authority be compromised? In terms of research and development, whoever had the most useful ideas would have the speaking rights. If the researchers from other research and development organizations were to demonstrate overwhelming superiority in all areas compared with the researchers of the Cathayan Underworld, that would be quite damaging to the Cathayan Underworld's image.

However, if he didn't allow enough parties to get involved, then the time required to complete the project would be lengthened. Furthermore, the Cathayan Underworld could only contribute around 10 researchers. They were supposed to be the leaders overseeing this project, but once everyone noticed the severe lack of researchers from the Cathayan Underworld, they would begin to doubt the research and development capabilities of the Cathayan Underworld, and that would also be very dangerous.

The suspicious parties would begin to probe the Cathayan Underworld, and if the true state of the Cathayan Underworld were to be revealed to the world, the consequences would be truly catastrophic.

There was always a myriad of things to consider in international affairs, and it was extremely important to be cautious and think many steps ahead.

"At the very least, we still have three to five years to prepare." Qin Ye finally broke his silence. "My idea is that we develop a prototype capable of demonstrating the usage of the new energy resource before the world trade conference. If we can do that, we'll definitely be able to stun all of the foreign underworld emissaries during the conference. At a minimum, we have to ensure that the entire body of Kraken can be powered by the new energy resource before then! In order to do this, we must develop the origin rune within the next three years! We must develop the origin rune before all of the other research organizations, and that would give us all of the initiative!"

No one was going to go against King Yanluo's orders. Of course, Zhao Yun and the Harken's willingness to accept his decisions was because he still hadn't taken a false step yet. Thus, Zhao Yun immediately asked, "What would be the ideal location?"

Qin Ye thought about this momentarily before replying, "I think it should be the city of Echu."

The conference couldn't be held near the Array of the Nine Gods as that would still incur a slight risk of exposure. The city of Echu was home to an important waterway that ran through the entirety of Ashmound, and all of the Yin beasts in the waterway had either been tamed or were being constantly evicted, so it was a very peaceful and safe area.

"That's a good idea," Zhao Yun nodded in response after a brief moment of contemplation. "With the location decided, there are many questions that we have to consider, such as…"

"Let's not discuss the finer details for now. We can establish a general plan here, but when it comes to the more nuanced details, we should leave that to the professionals to take care of. After we absorb all of the information in these notes, I'll go and meet all of our Yin rune researchers to finalize the exact details."

After a brief pause, Qin Ye continued, "What I'm thinking is that this research team should be in operation from now until the end of the world trade conference. During that time, the team will be responsible for cultivating as many researchers as possible. After that, we can take advantage of the momentum of this project as an opportunity to establish the education industry. The research team will answer directly to me and deliver periodic reports solely to me. There's no need to release progress reports to the general public as we still don't know whether the path we're going to take is correct or not."

If they were to get the entire nation engrossed in the progress of this project, only for it to end in failure, the researchers would perhaps be able to accept the outcome, but the weight of public opinion would completely crush them!

"That'll be the plan for now," Qin Ye decided. "Within a month, we have to develop a general idea of what this new energy resource is all about based on Xu Fu's notes. In a month, we'll hold a dedicated discussion conference. As for the name of this team, we'll call it… 'resurgence' for now."