Yama Rising

After all, none of them had expected such a complete, star-studded line-up of all the recent leaders of Eastmount Province to be gathered in the same hall right now! There were even generals and political commissars from the time of the War of Resistance!

He knew full well that he would have to be upfront with them if he wanted their full cooperation. He couldn’t afford to conceal anything from the Yin spirits present today, because they were all supposed to work towards a common goal.

“Everyone, it’s been tough on you over the last month or so.” Qin Ye paused for a moment, before adding, “But there are still a multitude of things to be done in the new Hell. You must have many questions on your mind. Today, I hope to provide you with a better clarity about the situation in Hell.”

Of course they had questions.

This definitely wasn’t the norm. Normally, the conquest of a nation would be followed closely by the influx of armies and citizens in order to dilute the concentration of the surrendered forces. Then, after a census is conducted on the surrendered forces, they would be broken up and dispersed to the surrounding major cities in order to weaken any possibility of collusion and uprising.

It was almost as though there was only one city in Hell, and it was for that reason that Hell had no choice but to go out of its way in order to appease the hearts and minds of the citizens of the city. Such conduct certainly wasn’t normal at all!

Yet, Qin Ye didn’t directly address the most pressing thought on their mind. Instead, he slowly began to pace about the room as he skirted around these queries, “I know, given your positions, that you’ve had oversight of the files pertaining to supernatural incidents over the years. There’s nobody more qualified to know of these things than you are. You’re probably even one of the few mortals around who know of the exact locations where dangerous evil ghosts have been sealed by the experts back in the mortal realm.”

He paused for a moment, before finally dropping the bombshell, “It’s because… the old Hell no longer exists.”

Unfazed, Qin Ye continued, “Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva has ascended into paradise, and the old Hell no longer exists. Granny Meng found me and started me off on the journey by entrusting me with a shard of King Yanluo’s Seal. Then, I found the Harken as well as the Book of Life and Death. The journey hasn’t been easy, but we’ve finally given Hell a proper footing to stand on. From what I’ve said so far, you might probably have already guessed why you haven’t seen any Emissaries of Hell around.”

“Currently, the only ones remaining are the twelve feudal officials of Hell, also known as the twelve envoys. They include the renowned Zhou Yu, Yang Jiye, Yu Qian, amongst others. Yang Jiye and Yu Qian are on Hell’s side, and Zhou Yu is currently sitting on the fence. But, apart from that, the rest, including Liu Yu, Han Qinhu, Gao Changgong and the other feudal officials have all declared their own independence as soon as they learnt of the collapse of the old Hell!”

Qin Ye suddenly turned around and stared at them with a burning gaze in their eyes, “To make matters worse, Lord Ksitigarbha has failed to bring three of the six daolords with him, while the Harken is severely injured and in deep slumber. How could Hell afford to look after the mortal realm when it can’t even handle its own affairs?”

Dead silence.

They were destined to stand with Hell.

Cathay was bound to be thrown into chaos in light of Hell’s great collapse. Even though they were no longer living back in the mortal realm, they still had family and loved ones residing back there. Thus, whether for the benefit of those who were still alive, or for vengeance for those whose lives had been taken, they all had to stand on Hell’s side whether they liked it or not!

After a protracted period of silence, an old man dressed in military uniform sighed tersely with a hoarse voice, “So that’s how it is. My grandson… died a victim to one of these supernatural incidents. Investigations turned up no results whatsoever…”

He glanced at Qin Ye, “I finally understand that all we’ve been doing is merely addressing the symptoms, and not the cause.”

The atmosphere in the room instantly loosened up slightly. Just then, another old man wearing a myriad of military medals lamented, “Well said… The current situation is so much better than back then during the revolution. At the very least, we’ve got a city and Yin spirits to work with. And you could even say that the defenses of this city renders it practically impregnable. So long as we have our base of operations, we can plan ahead with assurance in our hearts. There’s no need to be hasty, and we can slowly work out the finer details.”

The old man raised his eyebrows curiously, before asking in dismay, “What does Mr Qin mean by that?”

He paused for a moment and drew a deep breath, “All hell will break loose. I’m afraid that the underworldly Eight-Nation Alliance might come knocking on Hell’s doors once more.”

There was a period of protracted silence. Several moments later, everyone gasped in exclamation, while Old Zhao was the first one who managed to collect himself, “You’re saying that… there are other underworlds out there?”

“Of course.” Arthis finally spoke up, “The netherworld is similar to the mortal realm in that an underworld’s jurisdiction is limited to its territorial boundaries. How many different nations are there up in the mortal realm? Many of them have their own sets of religions or mythology. Everyone… you don’t actually think that Cathay’s underworld rules over the entire netherworld, do you?”

She hunched her back slightly, “Let me just put it out there. Each of these mythic figures possess strength that is at least equal to Lord Ksitigarbha. Their underworlds possess thousands of years of heritage and history behind them, and none of them are weaker than us in any way. Any one of these underworlds would easily have hundreds of millions of Yin soldiers under their charge, including a multitude of Abyssal Prefects, a sea of Infernal Judges and an ocean’s worth of Anitya Hellguards and Soul Hunters! Tamed Yin beasts are dime a dozen. If we allow them to march into our lands, Cathay… would truly become no different from purgatory on earth.”

Pin drop silence. Everyone grew taciturn as they wondered how terrifying the cataclysmic invasion of forces was going to look. They had initially thought that Hell was already well on the road to recovery, so how could they have expected the sudden curve ball by Arthis, telling them about the armageddon that was soon to befall both Hell and Cathay alike?

After all, such baggage would only cause them to overthink things, which would in turn unduly shackle their decision-making processes.

It was no different from how Cathay boldly launched its thirty-year reform policies with its eyes fixed solely on the goal of leaving the most embarrassing chapter of its empire in the past! Anything that was beneficial to the nation was absolutely worth the attempt.

“We were able to seize control of Eastmount Province in no more than a year since the founding of the new Hell. Hell’s capital is located back in Insignia Province. With Eastmount Province in the bag, the other localities sandwiched between these locations, including Breakwaters Province and Insignia Province itself, would be ours for the taking. From there… we can proceed south and occupy all four coastal provinces! Then, with Eastsea acting as a stronghold, Hell would practically have the perfect opening to this grand game of chess!”

They were only at the opening of the grand 100-year plan of the new Hell.

Arthis remained completely silent as she leaned against the doorway with a somewhat complicated gaze in her eyes.

With Ashmound under Hell’s control, Eastmount was ripe for the taking. The only obstacles standing in their way right now were the daolord and Kong Mo. For all intents and purposes, Qin Ye was already working with a brand new province.

He was actually able to speak eloquently to a group of bigwigs and assuage all of their concerns even when they were flustered. Everything was completely outside of Arthis’ expectations.

It would be a completely new age of Hell!

Arthis was full of confidence in that very moment.

The young Yin spirit from before immediately walked over and bowed with a pristine smile, “Greetings, Mr Qin. My name is Xu Changyou, first assistant to the current secretary general of Eastmount Province. I’m also among the first batch of Yin spirits to have come to Ashmound City. I’ll be rendering the full report of our inventory.”

“The full list of industries and professionals under Hell’s charge are as follows. Law enforcement - 470,000 Yin spirits. Agricultural and farming industry - 200,000 Yin spirits. Clothes and fabrics industry - 240,000 Yin spirits. Food and beverage industry - 530,000 Yin spirits. Beauty industry - 470,000 Yin spirits. Light industry and chemicals - 1,340,000 Yin spirits. Weapons and armaments industry - 150,000 Yin spirits…”

“There are a total of 17 industries which currently employ a total of 3,420,000 professionals. Sir, please feel free to inspect the list of technical professionals in Ashmound right now.”

1. This refers to the multinational coalition that invaded China in 1900 and saw the looting and pillaging of Beijing and North China for over a year. The Boxer Protocol was signed as a result of the invasion.