Yama Rising

What was going on?

Qin Ye's brows were tightly furrowed as he continued to dissect the energy resource on a deeper level, but after 20 minutes, he finally shook his head and heaved a resigned sigh.

There was no way to isolate the three types of energy.

In a world like this one, there were many things that couldn't be explained with science or even the arcane.

Qin Ye stepped out of the experimentation area into complete silence, and Zu Chongzhi was the first one to approach him as he asked with an intense gaze, "How did it go, Your Excellency?"

Everyone's eyes were focused on Qin Ye, and he replied, "There really is a third type of energy present. It's very difficult to detect, and it envelops the energy resource like a membrane."

This announcement was immediately met by a string of gasps. All of the architects exchanged a glance to find their own disbelief mirrored in one another's eyes.

There really was a third type of energy present!

This meant that from this point onward, their general direction and thought process had to be completely overhauled! All of the dissatisfaction that they had harbored toward Qin Ye's actions had completely vanished at this point. Just like during the Great Revelation Debate, in the face of concrete evidence, even the most stubborn and volatile of scientists would instantly become as obedient and docile as domestic pets.

"So that means even Xu Fu himself was oblivious to the fact that he had actually used three types of energy in the creation of the new energy resource?" Xu Chengyang's hands were clasped behind his back as he quickly paced back and forth in the room. In his current state, it wouldn't look out of place at all if there were smoke rising up from the top of his head.

This was definitely the biggest discovery that the Resurgence Team had made thus far!

In fact, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it the first step in the right direction to creating the new energy resource!

What was most embarrassing and infuriating to all of the scientists was that it was their King Yanluo who had made the discovery as opposed to them!

Thinking back to how they had doubted Qin Ye, the scientists felt even more embarrassed, and the architects were constantly stealing glances at Qin Ye, wondering whether they should apologize or not.

As scientists, this was the correct attitude to have, but they didn't know if their King Yanluo was going to be petty and hold it against them or not.

Right at this moment, the door was opened, and several assistants hurriedly rushed into the room while holding microscopes and all types of other apparatus, defusing the awkwardness in the room as they did so.

"All of the analytical apparatus have been brought here!" one of the assistants said while panting heavily. "Should we set everything down here? Do you need any other pieces of equipment? We'll bring them over right away!"

"We don't actually need all of that," Qin Ye said. "What we have to do now is adjust our plan going forward. Also, our foremost objective has to be to isolate the three types of energy."

The biggest difference between underworld scientists and their counterparts from the mortal realm was that the former had to constantly consider arcane factors that could affect their scientific research. From that perspective, Zu Chongzhi and Lu Ban were indeed more suited than the three professors of the mortal realm to act as the main architects.

Sure enough, upon hearing what Qin Ye had to say, Xu Chengyang's trio failed to immediately react, but Zu Chongzhi instantly caught onto the implications behind Qin Ye's words as he asked in an urgent voice, "Are you unable to isolate it?"

Qin Ye shook his head in response with a grim expression.

The third type of energy was very strange. From a scientific perspective, the energy resource that Xu Fu had created had already existed for hundreds of years, which meant that it had most likely already perfectly combined into a single, inseparable form of energy, perhaps one that was truly formed by the most fundamental particles on the same level as protons and electrons. Those were already the most fundamental building blocks of the three realms, and they couldn't be controlled even by arcane forces.

After several seconds of silence, Deng Ruifeng asked, "Is there something wrong?"

Lu Ban sighed, "During the past few years, Hell has made it clear to all of its netherworldly citizens that they're already dead. This is a mental barrier that everyone needs to overcome, and due to the fact that we're no longer in the mortal realm, there are certain things that we have to consider. When conducting scientific research in the underworld, we have to always consider supernatural forces, and it's certainly not an insignificant factor of consideration. For example, if we can extract the energy resource without using any apparatus and maintain it for long periods of time under normal physical conditions, then that has to be attributed to supernatural forces. Of course, this isn't an absolute rule. Instead, the role that supernatural forces play is estimated based on the past research and development projects we've participated in. However, there are no supernatural forces more potent than the power of a Yama-King. If even a Yama-King is unable to isolate this energy resource, than that essentially means that there's no way to isolate it!"

The excitement of the architects was instantly quashed upon hearing this, and Pang Hai opened his mouth several times to say something, but in the end, he could only ask in a desperate voice, "Is there no other way? What if we approach this from a scientific perspective?"

"Science doesn't exist in the underworld, there's only Yin runology," Zu Chongzhi sighed. "Everything that can be achieved through science can also be achieved using Yin energy. In fact, Yin energy can even replace the new energy resource, the problem is that there are too few individuals in the underworld capable of this. In order to accomplish this, one would have to possess Yama-King level power, and there are only a few dozen Yama-Kings in the entire underworld, most of which belong to the four pillars. Are we supposed to ask all of these Yama-Kings to act as electric generators every day? There are far more worthwhile things for a Yama-King to do. Even if we had spare Yama-Kings at our disposal, who would we assign such a task to? All Yama-Kings are dignified beings who stand at the top of the world. Who would want to act as an electric generator and become the laughing stock of their peers?"

The three deputy architects fell silent upon hearing this.

Pang Hai ran his hands through his own hair in a frustrated manner as he said, "In the pursuit of science, failure isn't worthy of fear, what's truly terrifying is being unable to find the reasons for failure! We've already found the right path forward, but is there no way to actually forge ahead?!"

He couldn't accept this! He wasn't the only one, none of the architects, scientists, and even assistants could accept this outcome!

"Perhaps there's still hope," Qin Ye interjected. "Not long ago, I summoned Ghost King Zhao to come here, and it's precisely because I was worried that this would happen. As a Yama-King, I'm unable to accomplish this, but that doesn't mean that a being above the Yama-King level would also be unable to!"

The flames of hope were reignited in the hearts of all of the scientists upon hearing this.

In a short span of time, they had experienced hope, despair, and now hope again, leaving them feeling very much emotionally drained.

However, they weren't going to allow themselves to rest yet. They were going to wait for Zhao Yun no matter how long he took to get here!

They had to wait for the final outcome. Otherwise, they would be too distracted to do anything else!

Time slowly passed by, and less than half an hour later, Zhao Yun made his way into the room. Right as he was about to speak, Qin Ye shook his head and pointed to the pane of reinforced glass as he said, "Ghost King Zhao, try and see if you can break down that thing, we can talk about everything else later."

Zhao Yun nodded in response before immediately entering the experimentation area, following which a burst of Yin energy far more formidable than Qin Ye's erupted forth.

The Yin energy surged into every single part of the energy resource like countless tiny snakes as Qin Ye said, "It's not on the inside, it's a membrane-like structure on the very outside!"

Zhao Yun immediately withdrew his Yin energy to completely envelop the exterior of the energy resource, and just like during Qin Ye's experiment, a burst of white light immediately appeared. All of the scientists, architects, and assistants unconsciously stood up as they stared intently at the scene unfolding beyond the pane of glass with intense, unblinking eyes.

By the time 10 minutes had passed by, Qin Ye's expression had already completely darkened.

There was virtually no change in the energy resource. A reaction had indeed taken place, but there was no substantial change.

Having attempted the same thing himself, Qin Ye knew that if no change arose within 10 minutes, then it was very likely that no change was ever going to take place.

20 minutes soon passed by, then 30. On this occasion, no one crowded around Zhao Yun to ask any questions. Instead, they were all staring expectantly at Zhao Yun, hoping against hope that he would somehow have some good news for them.

However, Zhao Yun's response was a shake of his head.

Zu Chongzhi's visions immediately darkened, and his legs almost gave out from under him.

The intense emotional rollercoaster he had gone on in such a short time was far too much for him to handle, and all of the scientists present were struck by a sense of crushing despair.

"Is there no other way?" Deng Ruifeng asked in a trembling voice.

"I'm afraid not," Zhao Yun replied with a grim expression. "Even my Yin energy was unable to accomplish this, so no one else would be able to do it, either."

Amid the silence, Qin Ye suddenly asked, "What about a divine artifact? King Yanluo's Seal, perhaps?"

"Highly unlikely," Zhao Yun replied with a shake of his head. "King Yanluo's Seal may be the foundation of Hell, but this energy resource has incorporated elements from all three realms. King Yanluo's Seal could perhaps be able to isolate the fundamental underworld matter from the energy resource, but it won't be able to do anything to the other components from the mortal realm and Heaven."

Qin Ye heaved a long sigh upon hearing this.

There was nothing more disheartening than being shown hope, only to then have it dashed in an instant.

The best way to proceed now was to devise a new plan, then emulate a similar type of matter to be isolated by King Yanluo's Seal before tracking down a similar Yin rune.

Unfortunately, in the realm of science, similar didn't equate to same.

It was very likely that if a similar substitute were used, various issues could arise, or the entire thing could just fail to work.

Right at this moment, Zhao Yun suddenly said, "I can only think of two ways, one of which is to ask the second King Yanluo to give this a try."

Qin Ye sighed, "That's going to be very difficult. Even I can't enter the place where he's currently at, and it's very unlikely that a messenger bird would be able to make it to him. Unless he comes out himself, there's no way for us to reach him. What's the second option?"

Zhao Yun's brows furrowed slightly as he replied, "The second option is to find a divine artifact capable of completely isolating the new energy resource. However, that's going to be very difficult. I don't know of any creation-grade divine artifacts capable of this, and even if one exists, there's no way its owner would be willing to lend it to us."

Qin Ye opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it in the end.

Having refused to release eight monthly reports and two quarterly reports, the dissatisfaction that the entire world harbored toward them had already reached a peak. By his estimations, the entire world would turn on them if they couldn't release something worth their while by the end of the next quarter.

The three pillars would be more than eager to plant a knife into the back of the Cathayan Underworld, and if they had all of the patent-holding scientists on their side as well... Even Qin Ye couldn't help but be fearful of such a formidable force.

Who would possibly be willing to lend the Cathayan Underworld their divine artifact at a time like this?

Right at this moment, Lu Ban suddenly said, "Hold on, what we need now is a creation-grade divine artifact capable of stripping something down to its most fundamental form, right?"

Zhao Yun nodded in response.

A hint of excitement appeared in Lu Ban's eyes as he asked, "Then will a creation-grade divine artifact with purification and restoration abilities fit the bill?"

Qin Ye was momentarily perplexed by Lu Ban's sudden excitement before a thought suddenly occurred to him, and he and Zhao Yun both exclaimed in unison, "Are you talking about the Chalice of Preiddeu Annwn?!"

That's right, they had the new six paths of reincarnation to work with!