Yama Rising

Hindustani Underworld, Golden Temple.

It had already been six days since the Asia-Pacific Economic Development Conference.

The discussion with the daimyos was the main reason why Qin Ye had attended this conference, and after that, he didn't have much to do.

The conference continued as normal, and he met with various death gods and consortium representatives. In reality, international conferences were often very stale affairs. Most of the work had already been done in advance, and the actual conferences were just formalities.

Time passed by very quickly, and the week-long conference flew by in a flash. After signing several contracts that had already been finalized in Formosa, Qin Ye returned to the Cathayan Underworld on the final day of the conference and immediately returned to his busy work schedule.

The first foothold had already been established in the Nipponese Underworld, and things were being set into motion inside the Cathayan Underworld as well. The media was spreading propaganda to sway public opinion, and anti-Nippon sentiments spread like wildfire throughout the entire nation.

One carefully planned out news story after another was presented to the netherworldly citizens, followed by extremely rousing and catchy conscription slogans. It had to be said that riling up the people was the best way to expand the military. After several months, 300,000 new troops had been conscripted, and that was quite a staggering number, considering the Cathayan Underworld currently only had less than 400 million netherworldly citizens.

Inside his office, Qin Ye was reading through a report. Three months had already passed by since the Asia-Pacific Economic Development Conference, and everything was progressing as planned.

Qin Changxin was seated beside him, delivering a verbal report. "... Zhou Gongjing is currently overseeing the comprehensive renovation of the Hanyang Underworld. At the moment, 12 ports have been added, and the construction projects are projected to be completed sometime in the middle of next year."

Qin Ye nodded in response. Qin Changxin was even more invested in the invasion of the Nipponese Underworld than Qin Ye himself, and he was making an effort to be actively involved in everything. In fact, he had even developed a thorough understanding of the ships and ports that had previously been unfamiliar to him.

Right at this moment, the door of the room was opened, and Wang Chenghao quickly strode into the room with a messenger bird perched on his arm. "Your Excellency, we've received a message from the Nipponese Underworld."

Qin Ye and Qin Changxin immediately looked up upon hearing this, and with a wave of his hand, the messenger bird flew onto Qin Ye's shoulder. After hearing the message carried by the messenger bird, Qin Ye turned to Qin Changxin and said, "It's a message from the three kampakus."

Qin Changxin didn't say anything, but his hands were gripping the armrests of his chair tightly, and his gaze was locked firmly on Qin Ye.

"They agreed."

A hint of visible relief appeared in Qin Changxin's eyes.

With another wave of Qin Ye's hand, the messenger bird disintegrated into Yin energy, and a bloodthirsty smile appeared on his face as he said, "They agreed to use four tenshu pavilions as outposts, and those tenshu pavilions are located in Yamagata, Kochi, Nagasaki, and Aomori."

"So they're creating a line of outposts throughout the Nipponese Underworld," Qin Changxin mused. "Those four locations form a line through the easternmost part of the Nipponese Underworld to its westernmost part, and they're the easiest places for us to conquer. I'm assuming they didn't choose Kanto or Chubu as that's where the strongholds of the demons and gods are located. Takamagahara and Yomotsu Hirasaka are both situated there, so infiltration would be impossible for them."

Qin Ye nodded in response. "Once the war begins, they'll deploy their troops to seize control over the important cities in several provinces right as our troops arrive in the Nipponese Underworld. However, we have to reinforce them as soon as possible. They are all going to be in different areas, and the local yokai will immediately retaliate."

"What are their conditions?" Qin Changxin asked with a contemplative expression.

"They want fiefdoms," Qin Ye replied as he gently tapped the table. "Ultimately, they don't like that the entire nation is open and connected. They prefer the past arrangement, where all of them had their own fiefdoms, in which they could control the taxation, population, and economy. On top of that, they're certainly not asking for small fiefdoms. Each of them is not only asking for the fiefdoms that they once had, they also want the several surrounding cities and counties."

He turned to Qin Changxin with a hint of a smile on his face. "What do you plan to do?"

"Agree to their conditions," Qin Changxin replied without any hesitation. "Prior to the commencement of the war, everything is negotiable. As for after that, there will always be solutions."

The first foothold had already been established.

Izanami hadn't caught onto Qin Ye's intentions at all during the Asia-Pacific Economic Development Conference. All that was required now was to complete the development of the second-generation forbidden arts and launching technology, as well as to wait until the Mitsubishi Corporation developed its submarines. After that, they would be able to immediately contact the three great yokai of the mortal realm to initiate the plan.

"This day has finally come..." Qin Ye stood up and made his way over to the window, then cast his gaze toward the north. "I'm eagerly awaiting the day we can finally set this plan into motion..."

……………………………………………………

Four years passed by in the blink of an eye.

The world was like the sea. There would occasionally, but a tsunami here and there, but the sea was still the sea, and it wouldn't be destroyed by a tsunami or a storm. It was still operating as normal, and all of the underworlds were like the major oceans, segregating the sea that was the world into sections.

New Hell's Legacy, year 30 of the third coming of Hell, Director Qin of the Cathayan Underworld held an official press conference to implement the "Asia-Pacific Energy Resource Collaboration Act", officially doing away with the energy resource trade barriers in the Asia-Pacific.

New Hell's Legacy, year 32 of the third coming of Hell, the director of the ministry of energy resources formed a collaborative relationship with the Argosian Underworld. The Cathayan Underworld and the seven members of the Argosian Underworld's round table implemented the global energy resource collaboration plan, abolishing all international energy resource collaboration barriers, sending the entire world into a frenzy.

New Hell's Legacy, year 33 of the third coming of Hell, Yanluo Qin lowered the cost of the energy resource once again during the Six Eyes Conference. The electricity-like energy string's price was set at 0.5 dragon jade per unit, and during November of that year, the Argosian Underworld made a public international announcement, declaring that the first obstacle to the development of electricity-like energy string substitutes and electricity-like Yin energy waves had been overcome.

At the end of the same year, the Cathayan Underworld also made a public international announcement, officially declaring a second-generation energy resource known as the Hyper Joule Separation Rune. As a result, the entire underworld underwent another energy resource revolution.

This was a good beginning. Back when the new energy resource was first developed, there were many lucky coincidences involved, and in reality, the research and development capabilities of the Cathayan Underworld were still far from being able to match those of the Argosian Underworld.

However, with the release of the new energy resource and the anchoring of the dragon jade, large sums of revenue began to flow into the Cathayan Underworld, giving it more and more influence on the world stage, to the point that it was approaching its status back when the second King Yanluo was in power.

These funds were then immediately invested into the education sector and all types of infrastructure construction, and a series of roads were laid, connecting Everburn to all parts of the nation. Railway tracks were also built, and the Yin soldiers of Hell swept through all of the uninhabited areas, driving out all of the Yin beasts there before constructing a series of bridges.

The Cathayan Underworld had been developing the second-generation energy resource virtually at the exact same time as the Argosian Underworld, yet the gap between the two had only been a few months. This was a clear indication that the Yin runologists of the Cathayan Underworld had truly risen up in the wake of the new energy resource boom.

New Hell's Legacy, year 34 of the third coming of Hell, the Russian Underworld proposed the abolition of the International Military Collaboration Conference, stating that in times of peace, the conference was all but redundant. However, the proposal was unanimously turned down by the four pillars, citing the threat that had previously appeared in space as the reason for the rejection.

In August of the same year, Yamaraja of the Hindustani Underworld sent a secret message to Yanluo Qin, stating an intention to bolster the forces at the world's gate. A total of 50,000 elite troops from the Cathayan Underworld and the Hindustani Underworld were deployed in the name of patrolling the sea, only to mysteriously disappear without a trace. All of the underworlds expressed unease toward this, wanting to know whether the two armies had gone, but to their surprise, the Argosian Underworld and the Aegyptian Underworld completely turned a blind eye to this, and the issue was eventually laid to rest with no resolution.

In November of the same year, the Aegyptian Underworld and the Hindustani Underworld simultaneously announced that they were going to be tackling the issues surrounding the transmission power of the Hyper Joule Separation Rune.

New Hell's Legacy, year 34 of the third coming of Hell, the Cathayan Underworld expanded its army even further to 1.3 million.

This was an extremely high percentage relative to the overall population, considering the Cathayan army in the mortal realm encompassed a total of less than three million troops despite boasting a population well in excess of a billion.

Everything was progressing as planned, and something seemed to be brewing beneath the calm surface.

Even in the Cathayan Underworld, the weather was very warm and pleasant in April, dispelling a lot of the eerie coldness that was normally present.

North Yin Pavilion, Everburn.

Everburn had become even more grand and majestic, and at this point, it was even more of a spectacle than the forbidden city of the mortal realm. As more and more people began to work in the North Yin Pavilion, it was expanded over and over again, to the point that it now consisted of a main building that was over 100 meters tall, coupled with seven branch buildings. There were over 30 departments in total, and it had become a massive cluster of buildings that took up an enormous area.

Due to the red walls on the outside and the golden roofs on the inside that stretched as far as the eye could see and gleamed with golden radiance under the light of the setting sun, it bore a strong resemblance to the forbidden city, and it was sometimes jokingly referred to as just that by the netherworldly citizens.

This day was no different from any other day. Secretary Jiang was busy performing his daily duties when a messenger bird suddenly flew into Everburn and landed on his desk.

"Hmm?" Secretary Jiang turned to the messenger bird with a perplexed expression.

Who's still using these things? Isn't everyone using phones and internet communication now?

He picked up the messenger bird before taking a listen, then abruptly rose to his feet and rushed toward Qin Ye's office, knocking over several of his colleagues on the way there.

After arriving at the office, he knocked on the door, and he immediately stepped into the room upon receiving permission to enter. "Your Excellency, we've received a message from the Sword Coral Research Institute!"