Yama Rising

All of the underworld emissaries present rose to their feet, and they bowed in unison, with the exception of Qin Changxin. "We pay our respects to the Reincarnation King."

Before she had even entered the hall, her Yin energy arrived first. It was as vast as the sea, and all of the underworld emissaries present felt as if they were facing an insurmountable mountain.

Qin Changxin was so envious that he was about to go insane, but he could only look on as the gates of the hall were opened respectfully by a pair of servants, following which Arthis made her arrival like a regal queen. Behind her were four palatial maidens, holding elegant hand fans and incense burners.

In her current form, she had a head of long, purple hair that danced in the non-existent breeze, and her hair became more and more illusory near the ends. In fact, the very ends of her hair consisted of countless screeching Yin souls.

Furthermore, her skin had taken on a healthy, tanned complexion, as opposed to her former fair complexion, and there were some simple Yin runes inscribed onto her face. Her facial features were still the same as before, but looking at them made one feel as if they were staring into a bottomless abyss, and it evoked a strong sense of fear and unease.

"Reincarnation King," Qin Changxin greeted as he cupped his fist in a salute with a complex expression.

Arakshasa nodded in response with a smile. "Mr. Qin."

With her arrival, the entire hall instantly fell silent. Qin Changxin was the only one present who had the right to converse directly with Arthis, but it was clear that he was wallowing in envy and didn't wish to speak to her.

Only after a full 10 minutes had passed was Qin Changxin able to repress the feeling of sour grapes in his heart.

It's alright, I'll get there eventually...

"I don't believe I've offered you my congratulations yet, Ms. Arakshasa. You are the first Yama-King to have emerged since the founding of the new administration, and that is fantastic news," Qin Changxin finally said with a smile.

"It was all by luck," Arakshasa replied. "You're most likely going to be next. The moment we conquer Amano-Iwato and return you to your roots will be the moment you become a Yama-King."

Conquer Amano-Iwato?

All of the darkfeathers present were quite taken aback to hear this. They had no idea that the Cathayan Underworld had plans to attack the Nipponese Underworld in the future!

Right at this moment, two gusts of Yin wind arrived on the main seats, and Qin Ye and Zhao Yun appeared in a flash. Qin Ye didn't bother with any pleasantries as he cut straight to the chase. "Now that we're all here, let's..."

His voice suddenly trailed off as he cast his gaze toward Arthis, who returned his gaze with a smile of impeccable etiquette.

Holy shit, she really did become a Yama-King! But why is it that the more she puts on a dignified front, the more pretentious she feels? Is it because I'm too familiar with her? Am I too used to seeing her past self? She's suddenly all grown up now...

A nostalgic look appeared in his eyes as he nodded in Arakshasa's direction. "That's not a bad skin at all. Is it a limited edition skin released for the Year of the Snake?"

Arthis immediately glared at him in response.

What skin? What are you talking about? I have no idea what you're saying! I'm no longer the internet-addicted little girl I once was!

After some brief words of congratulations, a serious look appeared on Qin Ye's face as he said, "Thank you for your hard work during my absence."

"It was only to be expected of us, Yanluo Qin," Qin Changxin replied as he cupped his fist in a salute.

It was my pleasure! So... When are we attacking the Nipponese Underworld?

Qin Ye smiled as he asked, "How is the development of second-generation forbidden arts coming along?"

During these past few years, even though they hadn't immediately pursued space exploration, the development of second-generation forbidden arts had been in progress the entire time.

This was an absolute necessity to protect the Cathayan Underworld's interests, both in terms of the new energy resource and the upcoming developments they were going to be making in space exploration.

There was no telling when minor conflicts would arise in the underworld, and those could escalate into another world war.

Furthermore, conquering the Nipponese Underworld was a must. From a geographic point of view, the Nipponese Underworld was the Cathayan Underworld's bridge to the Eastern Pacific Ocean, so it was no less important than Formosa. In addition to that, conquering the Nipponese Underworld would be a flex to the rest of the world, as well as a fulfillment of the promise made to Oda Nobunaga.

In order to intimidate the rest of the world and conquer the Nipponese Underworld, the second-generation forbidden arts were an absolute necessity.

The three pillars were supporting the Nipponese Underworld, and even though they were very far away from the Nipponese Sea, there were troops from the three pillars permanently stationed in the eastern region of the Russian Underworld. Those forces included two Pope-level motherships and over 30 Bishop-level destroyers, making it the most powerful naval force presently situated in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

From an outsider's perspective, for the Cathayan Underworld to attack the Nipponese Underworld was a completely one-sided affair. Of course, given how much the Nipponese Underworld had sucked up to the three pillars in the past, the three pillars would definitely support it. In fact, they could even unite the rest of the world to levy sanctions against the Cathayan Underworld.

This was one of the four pillars against a second-rate underworld. If the Cathayan Underworld couldn't conquer the Nipponese Underworld within a month, then it would be the laughing stock of the entire world. No death gods were idiots, and they would naturally lean toward the more powerful side.

Either they didn't attack Amano-Iwato at all, or they attacked in full force and aimed to conquer it in one fell swoop!

The best way to prevent the three pillars from interfering would be to present the second-generation forbidden arts.

If one wasn't enough, then they would just keep detonating more until the three pillars backed off!

Qin Changxin's smile also faded as he replied, "We've made significant progress, and we should be able to successfully develop second-generation forbidden arts in three to four more years."

Good. I'll leave that to the professionals, while I oversee the general proceedings...

"Who's overseeing this matter right now?" Qin Ye asked.

"That would be General Zhao," Qin Changxin replied. "The second-generation forbidden arts concern some powers above the Yama-King level, so the research and development process is made a lot easier when there's a being above the Yama-King level involved. After all, we don't need to perform experiments like we did for the new energy resource, all we need to do is find the right Yin rune configuration."

"I need a specific progress report."

"At the moment, the development is 63% complete, and the detailed report will be in your office by the time you get back."

Qin Changxin nodded in response, then curled a finger, and a series of pages immediately flew over to Qin Changxin and Arakshasa.

Qin Changxin put on the glasses that were hanging around his neck, then took a glance at the pages, upon which his brows furrowed slightly. "What language is this?"

The document was around an inch in thickness, and it was entirely written in a language that Qin Changxin had never seen before.

It was squiggly like snakes, but snakes were streamlined with gentle curves, yet this text was extremely sharp and angular.

Arthis transmitted her voice to him as an explanation. "This is the language of the Aztecs. Omeyocan... This is their space exploration plan!"

Even she was stunned by what she was seeing, and she began to flick through the pages with more eagerness and urgency.

The more she saw, the more astonished she became.

This wasn't just a rundown of their plan, it was a complete space exploration tutorial! Even though it wasn't finished, at the very least, 40% of it was already complete, and that was far more comprehensive than anything any other underworld had to offer at this point in time.

Even though many of the underworlds hadn't made any clear moves in this direction after the space exploration project was announced on Formosa, all of the three pillars had established their own space exploration departments. At the same time, the prices of gravity ore and resistant ore had been rising rapidly, and she had thought that the Cathayan Underworld had fallen behind during these past few years. However, this document placed the Cathayan Underworld at the very forefront of the pack once again!

She gently closed the document, then turned to Qin Ye in silence with a meaningful expression.

Qin Ye didn't return Arthis's gaze. Instead, he was looking at Qin Changxin as he asked, "Are you confident in your ability to oversee this project?"

"I'll do my very best to complete this task!" Qin Changxin rose to his feet with an excited expression, then extended a deep, respectful bow.

"Alright, prepare a list of names. You can choose all of the scientists, equipment, and resources that you like. I need to see a detailed list of names and a specific plan going forward within a month."

"Yes!"

Only then did Qin Ye withdraw his gaze and turn his attention toward the other darkfeathers.

Aside from Qian Duolai, this was the first time that all of the other leaders had met Qin Ye, and no dared to look directly into his eyes as they lowered their heads uneasily.

Qin Ye adjusted his sitting posture as he crossed his legs, then asked, "How many riots have taken place in the Cathayan Underworld during the last few months?"

Silence quickly descended over the entire hall.

Qin Ye's voice was calm, but it was like the calm before the storm, striking everyone with a sense of asphyxiation.

No one had anticipated the abrupt change in subject. The cause behind the riots was completely inexplicable, and the government's hands were tied as the matter was being kept strictly confidential, so it naturally fell upon the darkfeathers to investigate. However...

Amid the silence, one of the leaders stood up before extending a deep bow. "Apologies for my incompetence, Yanluo Qin, but my investigation has yielded no results thus far."

The conference hall fell silent again, and Qin Ye casually picked up his teacup. The leader who had just spoken remained in his bowed position, and all of the other leaders waited with bated breath for what was surely going to be heated criticism from Qin Ye.

After a full 10 seconds had passed, Qin Ye said in a calm voice, "Take a seat."

The leader sat down in silence, incredulous that he had been let off the hook so easily. Qin Ye took a sip of tea, then set down his teacup and asked, "What exactly has happened? Who is overseeing this matter? How well have the sites of the incidents been maintained? How many underworld emissaries have been stationed there?"

Qian Duolai had no choice but to speak now, and he cleared his throat before replying, "I am overseeing this matter, and there are a total of five sites. The first riot took place three years ago, and since then, more riots have been taking place at irregular intervals. On top of that, no discernible reason could be found for any of the riots. We've conducted exhaustive investigations into the policies implemented in the affected regions prior to the riots, and none of the policies directly affected the netherworldly citizens there. The netherworldly citizens in those areas displayed no intention of revolting, either, and what's even stranger is that even the Yin soldiers, darkfeathers, and government officials in those areas were swept up into the riots."

No one could escape responsibility from this matter, but he couldn't just leave these things unsaid.

"Most of the riots that have taken place thus far occurred in villages. They've swept through the entirety of those villages, and up to this point, we haven't received even a single messenger bird requesting assistance. In other words, it's almost as if the local government, darkfeathers, and Yin soldiers planned out the riots in advance, and that is extremely perplexing to me..."

He cast a careful glance toward Qin Ye, yet Qin Ye's expression didn't betray any of his thoughts.

Thus, Qian Duolai continued, "The seven affected villages have been placed into complete lockdown, and a total of 120 darkfeathers have been stationed there. Also, we discovered something else very strange..."

"Go ahead," Qin Ye prompted.

Qian Duolai pursed his lips before continuing, "The netherfire of the citizens of those villages still exist."

Qin Ye and Arakshasa raised their heads in unison upon hearing this, while Zhao Yun was completely unsurprised, clearly already aware of this.

The fact that their netherfire remained meant that they weren't dead!

However, the riots had been quelled by Hell. The monsters had been formed by netherworldly citizens, and those netherworldly citizens had to have been destroyed along with the monsters.

How was this possible?