Yama Rising

Thus, a break ensued.

Of course, this was only a break for the Cathayan Underworld. For the other underworlds, this was no different from torture.

In the conference hall allocated to the staff of the GTO, several pairs of eyes were fixed firmly on Perkins, and it took a long while for Camross to repress the fury in his heart before he broke his silence. "When did you defect to the Cathayan Underworld's side? Are you not aware that it's strictly prohibited for the staff of all world organizations to make private deals with other underworlds? I can apply to have you fired for just this transgression alone!"

Lisa also sighed as she chimed in, "Perkins, we've already been working together for several hundred years, how could you do something so foolish? If we allow the Cathayan Underworld to dictate terms now, they'll be able to adopt a dominant position over the rest of the world! This world needs balance, and this completely destroys that balance! You're going to be responsible for the rise of a monster! If any single nation becomes too powerful, the entire world will gravitate toward them, and that is definitely not good news! The Cathayan Underworld has always been a peaceful nation, but trust me when I say that if they can climb to a position similar to that of Usonia in the mortal realm, they wouldn't act any differently! This is simply what power does to a nation, there's no way the ruler of the nation can change that!"

Camross shook his head as he closed his eyes in a weary manner. "The Cathayan Underworld is going to become the scourge of the entire world, and you will be the one responsible for all of this!"

"What else could I have done?" Perkins asked with a wry smile. "Have you considered the fact that they hold the new energy resource in their hands? This is completely different from anything else the world has ever seen! If they want to, they could easily ditch us and establish a trade organization of their own! If that happens, the influence and status of our GTO will be significantly dented! Think about it: how massive a market is the new energy resource going to create? Countless industries will arise in the wake of the new energy resource's release, and any one of those industries could match the sum of transactions currently being overseen by our GTO!"

He took a deep breath before continuing in a serious voice, "If I didn't agree to join them, they would've immediately established an independent trade organization. If that happens, do you think our GTO will see more trade or if their Pan-Asian Trade Organization will become the center of the international market instead? I'm sure I don't need to teach you the difference between low-grade trade and high-grade trade! A new era is coming, and we have no choice but to conform to it. As opposed to standing against the Cathayan Underworld and sacrificing ourselves like martyrs for a futile cause, it's far wiser to join them from the very beginning!"

Deathly silence.

Everyone had been too stunned to think logically before this, but Perkins had been pondering this matter for over a year, and upon hearing what he had to say, all of his colleagues felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over their heads.

Indeed, just the slightest misstep here could've swept the reputation of this international organization, which had already stood for thousands of years, to the ground!

Camross was silent for a while before asking in a feeble voice, "Will they really do that? Would they be willing to make an enemy out of a world organization?"

Erwin hadn't spoken this entire time, but he finally gave his input. "They would certainly be willing to do that. There are no international laws that prohibit the establishment of another trade organization. This falls within normal trade between regions and nations, and we have no right to stop them. This isn't a matter of making enemies, either, we're simply adopting different stances on this situation. As the Cathayan Underworld's King Yanluo, it's only right for him to secure the greatest amount of benefits possible for his nation, and with such a decisive trump card in his hands, he could easily abandon our GTO and start again elsewhere."

Camross slumped back against his chair in a defeated manner, looking up at the electrical lights overhead with an absentminded expression.

There simply wasn't enough time for them to think this matter through! The new energy resource had opened the gate to the new era, and the one who had opened the gate was ready to reap the rewards for their labors, yet the rest of the world still wasn't ready yet!

He ran his hands through his own hair in a frustrated manner, and he was frantically trying to think of a way out, but he was drawing a complete blank.

In the face of the wheel of history, no one could stand against it.

………………………………………………..

Crack... A cup was crushed into powder in Thanatos's hand, and he opened his hand to let the powder escape, then narrowed his eyes as he cast his gaze toward all of the Yin spirits in the conference hall.

This could be said to be a gathering of the most powerful and influential underworld emissaries in the entire world. The representatives of the Argosian Underworld during this meeting were Erinys and Thanatos, while Yamaraja and Durga represented the Hindustani Underworld, and Anubis and Menes were the representatives of the Aegyptian Underworld.

Archimedes wasn't present as he had been severely traumatized, and wasn't fit to participate in this meeting as a result. Even now, he was still unable to accept the fact that the Cathayan Underworld had developed the new energy resource before him, and that he had been fooled for so many years.

The representatives of the three pillars had come to this international trade conference with high hopes, only to have a bucket of cold water poured straight onto their heads, and that wasn't the scary part, what was truly terrifying was the gigantic wave that was still to come!

"What do we do now?" Thanatos gritted his teeth as he massaged his own temples, which were throbbing with pain. It was as if the lights that he had just witnessed had speared their way right into his mind and were stabbing at his brain like countless needles of radiance.

However, regardless of how much his head was throbbing, they had to think about what to do next.

"The Cathayan Underworld is definitely going to advance toward the energy resource market. What are they going to do?"

"They're going to completely dictate terms on the international energy resource market!" Yamaraja spat through gritted teeth. The new energy resource was going to create countless industries and generate unimaginable revenue, yet the Hindustani Underworld wasn't going to be able to benefit from that at all!

If they had won this race, then their plan was to release some patents, but only a portion of the patents that was small enough that the Cathayan Underworld would spend the next few centuries frantically chasing after them, but to no avail.

They were going to replicate the mortal realm, denying the Cathayan Underworld access to cutting-edge technology, much like what the likes of IBM and AMD had done.

None of the blows were going to be lethal on their own, but the Cathayan Underworld would be forced to endure blow after blow for the next few centuries, and over time, its influence on the rest of the world would become virtually non-existent.

Now that the roles were reversed, one would expect that the Cathayan Underworld would do the same thing to them!

Yamaraja took a deep breath to force himself to calm down, then continued, "They'll export their energy-resource-related technology to other nations, helping them set up base stations, then take energy usage fees and patent fees from the entire world! Even if each Yin spirit only uses half a dragon jade worth of electricity per day, that would still amount to an astronomical sum, even for the Cathayan Underworld!"

His expression darkened even further as he continued, "After that, they'll only export high-end technology while purchasing massive quantities of imports in order to spend all of the dragon jade that returns to their nation through currency reflux, thereby forming a positive, self-reinforcing trade cycle! In the end, even we'll be forced to purchase the Cathayan Underworld's national debt!"

Menes heaved a long sigh upon hearing this. "If it really comes to that, then we'll never be able to declare war on the Cathayan Underworld..."

There was no way they would be able to declare war on the Cathayan Underworld while owing them money! In doing so, they would be resigning themselves to the notion that the debts owed to them were going to be defaulted!

Deathly silence.

No matter how they thought about it, there was no solution, and they couldn't even threaten war to resolve this issue! They could already envision their complete and utter defeat in a few hours.

Amid the grim silence, Anubis finally spoke up. "Listen up, we don't know exactly what the Cathayan Underworld is going to do, but we have to persevere no matter what! We absolutely cannot allow them to intervene in the construction of energy resource base stations in our nations, and we can't accept any funds from them! We must do everything in our power to cut off all avenues through which the Cathayan Underworld can exert influence on the politics of other nations through the international energy resource market!"

"That's impossible," Yamaraja countered in a grim voice. "The Cathayan Underworld will definitely offer extremely alluring benefits, and the other underworlds won't be able to resist. After all, they have no ambitions to fight for supremacy in this world!"

"But we still have our veto rights as members of the four pillars!" Anubis said in a vicious voice as he abruptly rose to his feet. "We have to stop them from getting their way no matter what!"

Erinys's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and even she couldn't help but shudder in the face of Anubis's words.

The veto rights of the four pillars was their absolute final trump card. It was the most shameless trump card they had at their disposal, and it was only to be used in desperate times when all else failed.

All of the other underworlds desperately wanted to become one of the four pillars, and a significant factor behind that was a trio of rights held by the four pillars, namely forbidden arts supervision rights, veto rights, and the right to impose sanctions.

With forbidden arts supervision rights, a nation could make up any excuse to interfere with the internal politics of other nations and investigate said nation, perhaps even to take military action against them. Furthermore, they could permanently station troops in nations that were suspected to have dabbled in forbidden arts research, as well as set up permanent military bases in the territorial seas of those nations.

Veto rights were self-explanatory. It basically translated into: "I disagree, and without my approval, you can't do anything."

As for the right to impose sanctions, that was exercised when a nation posed a threat to one of the four pillars, but they were too far away, or it wasn't convenient to take military action against them for some reason, and it involved calling upon allies to impose economic sanctions upon the offending nation. These three privileges were extremely sought after by all underworlds, and they all but assured the four pillars of their place.

No one even remembered the last time veto rights had been used, yet in the face of the wheel of history, even the three pillars had no choice but to turn to this final resort.

A wry smile appeared on Yamaraja's face as he said, "Veto rights can't be exercised on all matters, they can only be exercised on major events that can impact the entire world, such as a world organization being replaced, or the center of the world shifting to somewhere else. As one of the four pillars, the Cathayan Underworld is also well aware of this. I have a feeling that they'll reveal their plan during the next discussion meeting, and their tactics will most likely be completely unexpected to us. We simply don't have enough time to predict what they're going to do!"

Everyone was aware that the Cathayan Underworld was aiming to make some big moves, considering they had refrained from revealing the new energy resource, even though they had already developed it long ago.

Their goal was to rule this entire world, and everyone was going to fight to secure the best deal for themselves in this imminent new world order!