Yama Rising

In the instant that the Heavenly Dragnet was released, Qin Ye tugged on his chain and rushed forward once again.

Countless Soul Shackles disappeared into the tall grass like vicious vipers, and a flurry of screeches instantly rang out incessantly. At the same time, Woody's trio cried out in alarm as they were dragged forward by the chain, rising up to half a meter above the ground before rushing directly toward the center of the sea of tall grass.

Woody's mouth was gaped wide open, and he could only hear the sound of the fierce wind blowing past his ears. They were traveling as fast as a motorcycle! He had seen far too many inexplicable things during the past day, and only two seconds after they had erupted into motion did he return to his senses. "My god..."

I'm going to write all of this into a book and have it passed down for all of eternity! That is, if I can go back alive...

Before he had a chance to finish that thought, a vast black cloud suddenly rose up over the sea of tall grass, completely blocking out the sky and the sun.

That wasn't a dark cloud, it was a cluster of countless throwing spears!

They were flying through the air with tremendous force, sweeping up fierce winds as they hurtled directly toward Qin Ye's group.

Woody's trio began trembling uncontrollably with fear upon seeing this, and Francis finally snapped as he fired the first shot.

There was a wave of spears being hurled at them from hidden monsters on a treacherous island in the middle of nowhere, and they were about to die!

"ARRRRGH!!!" He was screaming with all his might as he fired his rifle over and over again, yet that did nothing to stop the oncoming rain of spears. In the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of spears were no more than a meter away from them, and he could even clearly see their sharp, black tips!

He closed his eyes in complete despair.

However, a string of clangs suddenly rang out, and... there was no pain.

He was closing his eyes so tightly from excessive horror that his eyelids were hurting, and he was doing his best to brace himself for death, but the embrace of death never came.

Not only was there no pain, he could feel that he was still moving forward.

He mustered up his courage and opened his eyes by a sliver, immediately following which his mouth completely gaped open in shock.

They were still advancing and hadn't slowed down in the slightest.

An airtight ball of chains had taken shape around them, protecting everyone and keeping all of the oncoming spears at bay.

"My god..." He shuddered as he closed his eyes again, and he was finally able to relax. Only then did he notice that his back was already drenched in cold sweat.

Before he had a chance to calm down, his eyes suddenly sprang open again as he looked around with an alarmed expression.

They had just stopped...

Why had they stopped?

He felt as if he were riding on an emotional rollercoaster that refused to allow his heart to rest, even for a single moment. He hurriedly looked around to find that the cocoon of chains around them had already completely scattered, and Qin Ye was standing right in front of them with his brows slightly furrowed, seemingly sensing something.

"Is something wrong?" Tezcatlipoca asked.

This grassland was perhaps lethal to a normal human, but the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld shouldn't have any trouble traversing through it. He knew that Qin Ye's Dusk Legionnaire was normally the first thing that he turned to during perilous situations, and he hadn't even summoned that. Instead, he was only using his Heavenly Dragnet, which indicated that he simply didn't want to waste any time in this grassland.

After all, there were too far too many of these unknown things lurking in the tall grass, and it would be way too much effort to hunt them all down.

Qin Ye's brows were tightly furrowed as he shook his head, then curled a finger, and several Soul Shackles immediately flew back toward him. Tezcatlipoca turned toward the Soul Shackles to find that there were several strange things tied to the ends of the shackles.

They were monkeys, of which there were three in total, and the Soul Shackles had pierced through their chests.

However, these definitely weren't normal monkeys.

They were only around 40 centimeters tall, with large heads and thin bodies, and the facial features of monkeys were clearly visible on their faces. However, they were wearing grass skirts, as well as headbands and bracelets woven from wild grass!

Not only that, but all that remained of their bodies seemed to be a layer of skin, which was covered in sparse black fur, and their stomachs were bulging. Furthermore, they were holding several blowdart tubes in their hands.

This was a race that had established a civilization.

"These are citizens of the four waters!" Tezcatlipoca exclaimed as a hint of recognition flashed through his eyes.

Qin Ye didn't ask what that meant. Instead, he raised a hand, and all of the orifices of the three monkeys spread open at once. Their facial features opened up as far as they would go, making it appear as if they had been resurrected from the dead, and white soul emerged from their orifices before forming three indistinct shadows above them.

These were souls.

However, the souls of normal people or living beings were Yin energy projections that were identical to those living beings' physical forms, but the souls of these monkeys were presented in the form of twisted human faces!

All of the human faces wore extremely painful expressions, and Tezcatlipoca was stunned to see this. "How is this possible?!"

"Those things aren't souls," Qin Ye said with a serious expression as he inspected the three human faces through narrowed eyes. "These things don't have souls. My Soul Shackles sensed that something was wrong with them, and that's why I decided to capture these three to take a closer look. The new continent is your territory, tell me what these things are."

Tezcatlipoca didn't immediately reply. Instead, his brows were tightly furrowed, and only after a long while did he exclaim, "This is unbelievable... As I'm sure you're aware, the body and the soul are one, and the soul of any living being will appear in the form of that living being. However, their souls have turned into these things, and there's only one possible explanation for that. Firstly, I'm very certain of one thing, which is that this land once belonged to the Plumed Serpent God. These monkey-like creatures were once his people. After the second sun was overthrown, he unleashed an enormous flood in a fit of rage, transforming all of his people into monkeys. In Aztec mythology, these monkeys are known as the people of the four waters. During the extended period of time before the next sun god rose to power, the people of the four waters gradually disappeared. Never did I think that I would see them again one day."

"Get to the point," Qin Ye urged as his brows furrowed slightly.

Tezcatlipoca pursed his lips with displeasure, but still did as he was told. "The Plumed Serpent God was a genuine death god, so there's no way that the souls of his people could've undergone this type of mutation. The fact that this has happened can only mean one thing: there are two death gods here! The Plumed Serpent God has handed over the rulership rights over this island to another death god, and the unique properties of that death god resulted in the mutations of these creatures' souls. However, that's the strangest part about all of this: I can't think of any death god that would have such an effect on the souls of living beings."

As soon as his voice trailed off, Qin Ye's pupils contracted drastically, and he turned to Tezcatlipoca with a grim expression.

"What's the problem?" Tezcatlipoca asked in a puzzled manner. "Did I say something wrong?"

Qin Ye shook his head in response, and unbeknownst to everyone else, his hands were already clammy with cold sweat.

"Let's go back." He turned and went back the direction he had come from without any hesitation.

"Why?" Tezcatlipoca was rather perplexed. "I can sense that there's a powerful divine artifact here, one that could perhaps even evolve to become a creation-grade divine artifact in the future."

Qin Ye shook his head once again. He was never going to venture into a fight completely blind and unprepared.

Furthermore, a terrifying theory had already taken shape in his mind.

Right at this moment, the voice that they had heard earlier rang out once again, and it erupted through the heavens like a rumbling thunderclap. It seemed to be suppressing immense agony as it said, "Just as he said, your reactions are very sharp, indeed. However, you're a little too late. You've already stepped into my domain."

As soon as the voice trailed off, the entirety of Dream Island shuddered violently, following which the entire island began to rapidly collapse toward the center, as if a giant black hole had appeared there!

All of the tall grass across the entire island rapidly receded, and even the surface of the earth itself was being rapidly devoured by that invisible black hole!

Woody's trio was caught in each other's arms in a tight embrace as they trembled uncontrollably and screamed with all their might. There seemed to be a giant hand plucking out all of the tall grass around them by the roots, then sending them flying toward the center of the island.

It was as if a massive mouth had appeared at the center of the island, and it was devouring everything with all its might! In the blink of an eye, the entire sky was filled by clumps of flying grass.

Furthermore, all of the people of the four waters that were hiding in the grass earlier were screaming as they flew through the air like helpless fallen leaves in the wind, and all of them were also being swept toward the center of the island.

Qin Ye's eyelids were twitching violently as he wrapped his Soul Shackle around everyone, then rushed toward the shore at full speed.

Beneath their feet, the grass had already receded like the tide, revealing countless human skeletons underfoot!

There were far too many sets of human remains to count, and it seemed that the entire island was piled up by human bones!

This was the true appearance of Dream Island! It was a true hell!

Qin Ye's teeth were gritted tightly, and he could confirm beyond a doubt now that the Plumed Serpent God had harbored sinister intentions by convincing him to come here.

However, even he had to applaud the brilliance of the Plumed Serpent God's plan.

He had made it so abundantly obvious that he was the mastermind behind everything that Qin Ye couldn't bring himself to believe that the Plumed Serpent God was actually behind all this.

This was like a precarious wooden bridge hanging over a cliff, on the other side of which lied a brilliant treasure. The bridge appeared to be quite solid, and it was quite wide and stable, so surely anyone would try to cross it.

After all, there wasn't any danger anyway.

Everything that had been displayed to Qin Ye prior to his arrival on Dream Island were things that had posed no threat to him as a Yama-King.

However, only after making his way to the center of the bridge did he realize that the wood was rotten at its core.

It seemed like a simple plot, but the cunning, audacity, and judgment of human nature involved was extraordinary. As expected of the sly bastard who had ruined four suns of the Aztec religion.

The suction force was too strong, causing all of their clothes to flap violently. Woody's trio didn't even get a chance to cry out before they were sucked away, and only after flying away for over 10 meters did they notice the Soul Shackles strapped around their waists.

The sound of the howling wind was extremely loud, and Tezcatlipoca yelled in an urgent voice, "What the hell is going on here?"

Qin Ye gnashed his teeth together furiously as he said, "Have you forgotten about the three Caribbean death gods from 10 years ago?"

What does that have to do with this?

Tezcatlipoca was just about to ask that question when he suddenly thought of the countless glass bottles spread over the sea outside the island.

The three death gods had obtained the grand script of death from the Caribbean Sea, but no one knew where the grand script of death had come from...

Tezcatlipoca turned to Qin Ye with an incredulous expression. "You're saying the Plumed Serpent God already met the three Caribbean death gods long ago, and that this is where the grand script of death came from?"

"No," Qin Ye replied with a wry smile. "What I'm saying is that he's betrayed the underworld!"

Nothingness had said that the creator of the grand script of death wasn't a being from the underworld.

It came from a distant world, and this was most likely its lair here in the underworld!