Yama Rising

Indeed, Qin Ye had made no attempt to hide his own strategic intent, and this was clearly evidenced by the location he had chosen.

He had no intention of rebuilding Outer Mongolia at all. During the divine war, Outer Mongolia had been severely ravaged, and the current Cathayan Underworld didn't possess the power to rebuild the area, so instead, he was just going to use it as an experimentation site. The Yin spirits of Outer Mongolia were going to be absorbed into the Cathayan Underworld, thereby completely erasing the religion of Mongke Tengri, and he could also take this opportunity to weed out all of Mongke Tengri's remaining followers.

There could only be one faith in the Cathayan Underworld, and that belonged to him, the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld.

Having served as Qin Ye's secretary for so long, Wang Chenghao had clearly also interpreted Qin Ye's intentions. "Chivu has followed your orders and kept records of all of the rebellions that have taken place, most of which have already been quelled, and only a small proportion of them are still ongoing. Should I bring you those records along with Chivu's personal records tonight?"

Qin Ye nodded in response.

"Your Excellency, there's something else I must speak to you about. What should we do about the monthly and quarterly reports that we should be releasing?" Deng Ruifeng asked.

"Don't release a thing." The one who had replied to him was Lu Ban rather than Qin Ye. "There's no need to make a big deal out of it, just say that we still haven't finished compiling our data or that our research has reached an important juncture."

He turned to Qin Ye as he chuckled, "Declare the decision under my name, I'll handle all of the criticism that comes our way."

Deng Ruifeng opened his mouth to say something, but remained silent in the end as he cupped his fist in a salute before extending a deep bow toward Lu Ban.

……………………………………

Outer Mongolian Underworld.

During the divine war that had taken place following the Russian Underworld's invasion, the Mongolian Underworld's capital city, Ulaanbaatar, had been virtually razed to the ground. Even after five to six years of development, the only thing that had been reconstructed was a set of sturdy city walls, and inside the city walls were rows upon rows of tents.

At the very center was a lavish golden tent. Even though Ulaanbaatar had endured an invasion and hadn't received any support from the Cathayan Underworld, those in power always had special rights regardless of the situation.

The golden tent was very large, taking up roughly 100 square meters of area, and its interior was decorated with crude beast bones. The floor was paved with bluestone arranged in an orderly fashion, and there were ornaments embedded with gold, agate, and jade everywhere, giving the tent a pronounced ancient Cathayan Underworld style. It was clear from this that the owner of the tent was a Yin spirit who very much longed for the Cathayan Underworld.

On a wooden bench, covered in a piece of snowy white beast hide, at the center of the tent sat a tall and thin man wearing Mongolian attire, drinking some kumis.

He was an Anitya Hellguard, which already placed him at the very top in a place like Outer Mongolia. His face had a sickly yellow complexion, and he had a long beard that was arranged into braids, while his hair was arranged into a bun of the Cathayan style, giving him quite a strange appearance of contrasting styles.

Beside him were several chairs, upon which were seated some other Yin spirits. After having a few cups of kumis, the tall man sighed, "It's been five and a half years... The Cathayan Underworld still hasn't issued any response to us, have they abandoned us?"

"Surely not..." one of the Yin spirits said with tightly furrowed brows. "All of our yearly GDP goes directly to the Cathayan Underworld's treasury..."

"Then why hasn't Everburn given us a response yet?" The tall man set down his cup as he sighed, "This is the Cathayan Underworld we're talking about, we can't pass up any opportunity to join such a prestigious underworld."

Indeed, who wouldn't want to join one of the four pillars, particularly an underworld like Mongolia, which was stuck right in between the Cathayan Underworld and the Russian Underworld.

They didn't want to have to experience the pain of watching their nation fall again, and they certainly weren't going to join the Russian Underworld, but why was it that the Cathayan Underworld was refusing to respond to them?

Right at this moment, his expression suddenly stiffened as he cast an astonished gaze out of his tent.

He wasn't the only one, all of the Yin spirits in the tent shuddered before looking out of the tent in unison.

At the same time, an indescribable sense of horror began to well up in their hearts. It was as if they were mice facing the being at the very top of the food chain!

The cups in their hands were trembling incessantly, and all of a sudden, the entire golden tent began to sway and flutter amid gusts of fierce wind.

There was someone far more powerful than them outside the tent!

Who could it possibly be?

"Lord Chivu..." Everyone turned toward the tall man at the center of the tent, and he gritted his teeth tightly before standing up and making his way outside.

The closer he drew to the entrance of the tent, the more overwhelming the fear in his heart became. He had never felt such fierce Yin wind before, and he felt as if his soul were about to be snuffed out. There was someone outside, and as soon as he emerged from his tent, he would come face to face with them!

Right as he arrived at the entrance of the tent, the curtain was suddenly flung open, and the other Yin spirits looked on in astonishment as their leader collapsed to his knees and knelt down right at the entrance!

"Lord Chivu!" They didn't dare to hesitate any longer as they rushed toward Chivu at once, but in the instant they approached the entrance of the tent, all of them let loose cries of alarm before also falling to their knees behind Chivu.

Right outside the tent was a guard of honor consisting of 20 Yin spirits, standing in silence.

Countless pieces of white paper money were fluttering through the sky, drifting down upon the pale-faced female servants. At the very center of the guard of honor was a sedan chair being carried by six burly hungry ghosts, upon which sat a regal figure. Ribbons of silk gauze were fluttering all around her, and Yin energy was drifting in all directions. The Yin spirits didn't even dare to raise their heads to look at her!

Right behind her was a wooden plaque, upon which the words "Imperial Envoy Su" were written in bold text. All of the Yin spirits present were too scared to even utter a single sound in her presence.

Finally, an imperial envoy had arrived! The Cathayan Underworld imperial envoy whom they'd been waiting for day and night had finally arrived!

However, now that this long-awaited moment was finally here, they were unable to say anything.

Only after close to half a minute had passed did Chivu finally break the silence in a trembling voice. "We pay our respects to the esteemed divine envoy!"

He then pressed his own forehead firmly against the ground, and the sea of Yin energy churning around the imperial envoy was making his soul sway unsteadily.

"You've done very well, Chivu." A gentle voice rang out above his head. "You may stand up."

"I wouldn't dare!" Chivu immediately replied in a reverent voice.

The woman above him seemed to be very pleased as she said, "Congratulations, you've passed our King Yanluo's test. From this day forth, all netherworldly citizens of Outer Mongolia are to gather at Ulaanbaatar to be taken by me to the Cathayan Underworld. You will all become citizens of the Cathayan Underworld and reside there as the Mongolian tribe. All of the capable figures among you will be distributed to all of the provinces and cities, where you will become official Emissaries of Hell."

Her declaration immediately sent a surge of elation running through all of the Yin spirits' hearts, and Chivu was so excited that his lips were trembling as he hurriedly replied in a hoarse voice, "Thank you, esteemed King Yanluo!!"

They were like seedlings waiting for rain, and they had already waited for over five years!

During that time, they had done everything in their power to ensure that the productivity of their people could keep up with past GDP standards, and they were finally being rewarded for their tireless efforts!

Are we finally going to be incorporated into the Cathayan Underworld?

"These will be the roles assigned to you in the Cathayan Underworld." A series of golden scrolls landed in front of the Yin spirits. "I'll be counting on you to take care of the rest from here."

"Of course! We'll do everything you say! Subordinate Chivu thanks King Yanluo for his great generosity!" Chivu kowtowed once again before finally rising unsteadily to his feet.

His legs were trembling, but they were doing so from elation rather than fear!

He finally caught a glimpse of the imperial envoy for the first time, and a hint of awe flashed through his eyes before he lowered his head in a respectful manner. "We'll prepare a welcome banquet for you right away, esteemed divine envoy. May I have the honor of knowing your name?"

She was beautiful, incredibly so, but he knew that this wasn't a woman that he could lust for.

"I am Su Daji," Su Daji replied with a smile. "There's no need to arrange a banquet. This is a rather urgent matter, and all of the Yin spirits in Outer Mongolia are to be vacated within the next few days. I was sent here with the sole task of overseeing this matter, so I'm afraid I don't have any time to be chatting further with you here, Mayor Chivu."

I'm a mayor? Chivu tightened his grip around the scroll in his hand as if he were afraid that it would fly away.

At the moment, he was the ruler of a nation, but he wasn't dismayed in the slightest by the prospect of serving as a mayor in the Cathayan Underworld.

It seemed like a massive demotion, but in his eyes, it was a blessing from the gods!

"We'll begin organizing everything right away!" Chivu replied as he cupped his fist in a respectful salute, then turned around with an excited expression to face his colleagues, who were still reeling from this ecstacy and astonishment. "Summon all of the city and county supervisors to see me in my tent right away! Hurry!!"

"Yes!!"

……………………………………

Time flew by very quickly.

A piece of news spread through the entirety of Outer Mongolia like wildfire within just a single day!

All Yin spirits of Outer Mongolia were to be evacuated and integrated into the Cathayan Underworld province of Inner Mongolia. The Cathayan Underworld had marked out 12 grasslands and was going to be constructing 12 cities within the next five years to house all of the Yin spirits of Outer Mongolia!

There was going to be a mass migration!

During the next two to three days, one teleportation array after another was constantly being activated. Su Daji was doing everything in her power to complete this task. She knew that both Qin Hui and herself had terrible reputations in a historical context, and she was very fortunate to have been given this task.

This was her opportunity to make up for her past crimes!

She wasn't sparing any Yin energy, and troops from her Hungry Ghost Legion were guarding every single teleportation array. With her power as an Abyssal Prefect, it wasn't too difficult a task to oversee Outer Mongolia, which was only around the size of a province. She was constantly conducting surveillance over the entire region, and if any resistance arose, she made sure that it was quelled immediately.

Due to the existence of a cultivation system, it was far easier and more convenient to enforce a mass migration than it was in the mortal realm, where a mass migration of a similar scale would most likely take years.

A census would have to be conducted, following which would come the negotiation of terms and the actual mass migration itself. Every single one of those steps was going to take a considerable amount of time, yet the process could be significantly abbreviated here.

In particular, the people of Outer Mongolia had endured an invasion, and that trauma had left them with an innate fear toward high-grade underworld emissaries.

Countless netherworldly citizens were pouring into the teleportation arrays, returning to the embrace of the motherland. Everyone had vacated their original homes to gather together, so they didn't see the Yin soldiers that had arrived to occupy the land of Outer Mongolia.

The Yin soldiers were carrying no flags, and they didn't appear to have set encampments. All of the encampments were situated within valleys, and the countless naturally formed caves in the Yin Mountains acted as the perfect hiding spots for them.

Unbeknownst to everyone, anyone who came within a kilometer of this place would be immediately shot down on the spot, regardless of who they were, and there was even an emergency contact array connected directly to Zhao Yun within the mountain range.

Seven days later.

Within a certain valley, an extremely well-concealed teleportation array was flashing incessantly as one Yin spirit after another emerged from it.

They were led by none other than Lu Ban, Zu Chongzhi, Xu Chengyang, Pang Hai, and Du Ruifeng!