Yama Rising

This was a massive valley that was several dozen kilometers in size. It wasn't a natural valley, as evidenced by the countless signs of man-made carvings that were visible.

The entire valley had been carved into the shape of an arena, and the place where he had just emerged from just so happened to be the wall of this arena. Furthermore, the wall had countless gates, and this was only one of them.

Around the valley was a series of tiered spectator stands, much like the ones that would be seen in arenas, and many of the seats were already damaged. Most of the seats had vines crawling all over their surface, indicating that they had been around for a very long time. There were also some giant stone platforms distributed among the tiered seats, upon which stood majestic statues.

Some of the statues were already missing their heads, while others had been completely buried under plant cover. The entire arena gave off a bleak yet grand aura, and it seemed to exist as a separate entity from the rest of the world.

Qin Ye slowly took a step forward, then waved a hand through the air, and a burst of Yin energy erupted forth, slamming into the ground with a resounding boom.

Boom!

The sound echoed around the arena, then gradually subsided over the course of several minutes.

It seemed that he was the only one in this vast space. There was no sound, and it was eerily lonely and desolate here. The only company that he had came in the form of the giant statues, which seemed to be observing him from all directions.

Only after a full 10 minutes had passed by did Qin Ye fly up into the air as a gust of Yin wind.

There was no flight restriction here, so he was able to easily rise to the top of the wall, then casually strolled up the staircase along the passageway.

He gently brushed a hand over a table, which was covered in dust, and there were empty seats stretching as far as the eyes could see in all directions. It was like standing alone in a massive sports stadium, and the sheer scale of the place was very daunting.

Right at this moment, he suddenly raised his head and looked around with a confused expression.

He could feel someone watching him.

It was a very difficult feeling to describe, as if moonlight had suddenly appeared in a pitch-black night, and that moonlight was shining down directly upon him.

However, as he looked around, he couldn't find anyone else.

"It's not Medes." He closed his eyes to better experience the feeling. "This power bears no ill will toward me, and... I seem to have encountered it in the past."

Who could it be?

There was no way he was going to ask that question out loud as that would simply be idiotic.

Yin energy was already flowing along his fingertips, and if he were to notice anything amiss, then he would immediately unleash a ferocious barrage of attacks.

He strolled quietly in this corner that seemed to have been abandoned by the world, and after a full hour, he made his way to the very top of the arena. Right as he set foot onto the final step, he curled a finger, and in the next instant, countless chains rippled over the entire arena like a pond that had just been disturbed, then quickly returned to his sleeves.

During his casual stroll, he had already set up his Heavenly Dragnet over the entire arena, yet it hadn't managed to ensnare anything.

It was as if the scrutiny that he was sensing had been nothing more than an illusion.

"So it's not coming from the ground." He looked up at the sky as he mused to himself, "Does that mean it's coming from above? Could it be the Heavenly Dao?"

His brows furrowed slightly as he sat down on a seat on the top level of the arena. Behind him was an undulating mountain range, and he could sense a body of vast Yin energy on the other side of the mountain range.

That was Medes.

Medes wasn't attacking him, and Qin Ye had no intention of breaking this temporary truce, either. While it was true that Medes had been trapped here for thousands of years and wasn't as powerful as it had once been, Qin Ye still wasn't absolutely confident in his ability to defeat it in battle.

Thus, a peculiar impasse ensued between the two of them, and as Qin Ye sat on his seat, his eyes narrowed slightly as a contemplative look appeared on his face.

Battle wasn't his forte. In contrast, he much preferred to use his brain, and that was exactly what he was doing right now.

"Medes is putting on a display of weakness, which means that it doesn't want to clash directly with me, but why hasn't it fled far away from this place then? If I were it, I would get as far away from this place as possible, then return once I fully recover my power, but it hasn't done that. Could this mean that there's no way to go very far in this place?"

In other words, this was an isolated space.

He had been to places like this one before, such as the Huang Clan's earthen building, which was a forsaken land. The laws in those places were completely different from the ones outside, and from the outside, one couldn't even sense what was happening inside those places.

He had no intention of scaling a mountain to take a look from that vantage point. At this moment, both he and Medes were plotting to kill each other, yet neither of them were confident in their abilities to do so, and they didn't want to risk their lives. If he were to approach Medes and break this fragile, unspoken truce, then the outcome could be far from desirable.

"I'm too weak." Qin Ye felt no shame at all in making that objective observation. "In that case, I need to draw upon external powers to help me."

There was no one else in this place that he could count on, so the only thing that he could use to his advantage was the geography here.

"Medes clearly knew about this escape route from the very beginning, so it must be quite familiar with this place. In contrast, I know nothing about this place, so it would be unwise for me to charge blindly into battle."

At the very least, he had to ensure that they were on the same starting line, and in order to ensure that, he had to familiarize himself with this place first.

From the place where he was sitting, he could see the entire arena, and the stone statues in the arena were extremely eye-catching. Right as his gaze settled onto a stone statue situated across from his, he suddenly faltered slightly.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at the statue, and he murmured to himself, "Is that... Anubis?"

The statue was extremely life-like, but it was different from the Anubis that Qin Ye had seen in real life in that the statue was holding a viper scepter in its left hand, and the Scales of Eternal Justice in its right hand.

Around a kilometer away from this statue was a statue of a pair of twin gods. The twin death gods were virtually identical in appearance, and one of them was holding a codex, while the other was wielding a sword. They were both wearing white robes, and the only difference between them was their wings.

One of them had wings carved of marble, while the other had wings carved out of dark obsidian.

They were the ruler death gods of the Argosian Underworld, Thanatos and Hypnos.

He then caught sight of statues of Yamaraja, the Goddess Earth Mother, Ksitigarbha, the Harken, the second King Yanluo, and what appeared to be the first King Yanluo.

There was also Anko, Giltine, Hela, Izanami...

He raised an eyebrow as he murmured to himself, "Could this have been a past conference venue for all of the death gods in the entire underworld? But the numbers don't add up! There are only around 60 to 70 death gods in the entire underworld at the moment. Even if all of them attended this meeting, they wouldn't be able to fill up all of these seats."

With that in mind, he cast his gaze toward the other statues that he couldn't identify.

"These statues have been placed alongside all of the other death gods, so they should be death gods themselves as well, and there are about 200 of them in total... Could it be that they're all death gods from religions that have faded into the annals of history?"

What important conference had been held by these death gods several thousands of years ago?

He had no answer to that question, so he could only set it aside for now. He transformed into a gust of Yin wind, and a few seconds later, he was already standing at the center of the arena.

He looked up at the sky, and even though he had already seen what was up there, now that he had finally decided that he was going to take a closer look, he still couldn't help but be stunned by the sight that he was greeted by.

There was a sword hovering in the sky.

There were four metal chains connected to the sword, and each chain was embedded into the hand of one of the ruler death gods of the four pillars, thereby balancing the sword in mid-air in a very stable manner.

The chains weren't objectively thin, but in contrast with the sword, they appeared extremely thin, striking the observer with the feeling that the sword could fall at any moment.

The sword had to be over 100 meters in length, and it was forged in the ancient Cathayan style. The hilt and the body of the sword virtually completely blended in with one another, and there were countless patterns engraved onto its surface, including designs of all types of flora and fauna. Even for a mid Yama-King like Qin Ye, just the mere sight of the sword was enough to strike him with a sense of oppressive discomfort.

"What sword is this?" He averted his gaze as he massaged his own glabella. "This has to be a sword from before the Spring and Autumn period. Back in the Han and Tang Dynasties, the hilts of swords were completely independent from the blades. However..."

The fact that this sword was here meant that it was definitely no ordinary sword, yet the only renowned Cathayan swords that Qin Ye could think of from before the Spring and Autumn period were the Xuanyuan sword and the mythical godslayer sword. However, neither of those swords were important enough to appear here.

Setting aside the fact that the Xuanyuan sword was in the mortal realm, it represented the Yellow Emperor, and there was no way that it would appear during an international conference. The Xuanyuan sword heavily symbolized the Cathayan Underworld, and there was no way that the other underworlds would allow a sword with such a heavy bias to represent this world conference.

As for the godslayer sword, what did it entail? Power?

This giant sword had to be extremely symbolic. Otherwise, it wouldn't be present here in such a unique setting. Qin Ye shook his head as he cast this train of thought aside, then turned his attention to what was under the massive sword.

Beneath the sword was a tall platform with around a dozen steps. Its radius was roughly 50 meters, and it was over three meters tall.

It was extremely simplistic and completely devoid of embellishments, but that didn't mean that it was empty.

On the platform was a round stone table that was just as simplistic, and on the table was a parchment scroll.

Qin Ye hadn't noticed the scroll earlier as it was far too tiny compared with the entire plaza, even though it was around a meter in height.

He quickly made his way over to the scroll, and just as he was about to pick it up, he suddenly stopped cold in his tracks.

Something had suddenly occurred to him: Medes had to be unable to access this platform for some reason!

This scroll hadn't been opened before. If Medes were able to access this place, then the scroll would've been opened long ago!

Is there something different about this place?

Qin Ye swept his gaze across his surroundings, but didn't notice anything amiss. After several seconds of contemplation, he swiped a finger through the air to sever the rope that bound the scroll.

As a result, the scroll was unfurled, and a passage of ancient text was instantly revealed. Upon seeing the title of the scroll, even Qin Ye couldn't help but let loose a cry of surprise. "How is this possible?!"

The title of the scroll was "Treaty on the Establishment and Truce of the Underworld".

This was the first-ever official international treaty in the underworld!

The second King Yanluo had told him that this treaty had put an end to the underworld's chaotic warring era, thereby kicking off the era of peaceful and prosperous development. It was also because of this that the four pillars were elected and the Coalition of Underworlds was founded!

This treaty was truly historic, and he had always thought that it was in the possession of the Coalition of Underworlds. Never did he think that he would find it here!

Furthermore...

"There are three things that I came to the new continent to do," he murmured to himself as he stared at the scroll in an absentminded manner. "To collect space exploration information, to find the treasure vault of the Aztec gods, and to undergo the Yin rune mastery trial that the second King Yanluo told me about..."

Never did he think that all three of those things would be focused in the same place!

This was the place where the underworld's first-ever international treaty had been signed, and in the words of the second King Yanluo, "the first King Yanluo and the three pillars left an indescribable defensive setup there, and the concept of the setup is so exquisite that even I was extremely impressed"!

Right at this moment, he suddenly looked up to find that the sky had... opened up!

A gargantuan creature had appeared above the clouds!