Yama Rising

“Do you know why we’ve managed to stay alive all this while?”

He took a deep breath and stared Su Daji in the eye, “Because the current King Yanluo is a living person, and he’s still new to the netherworld.”

She suddenly paused.

After all, if she were daft, she would never have lived for as long as she did. If she were daft, she would never have been able to earn the favour of the incumbent kings, regardless of how many times the one sitting in the throne had been. If she were daft, she would never have gained such a measure of influence to dictate who lived and who died around her.

Whetstone…

Qin Hui continued, “They had left us around to sharpen the Third King Yanluo of Hell. Right now, Hell already has a reasonable base of operations, and they’re sitting on tens of millions of Yin spirits. Furthermore, they even have the backing of the Harken and the Second King Yanluo. Don’t you think… they might very soon turn their attention towards us?”

“Or do you think you’ll be able to breach the Array of the Nine Gods that locks us in Cathay?”

His once-cold heart ignited with passion once more, and he continued hoarsely, “If you can’t, then there’s no choice but to fall in line.”

Some time later, she finally responded, “Truth be told, I didn’t have any intentions to meet with you from the onset. You’ve made the trip from afar, evidently from the east. I sensed a great stir coming from Eastmount Province during the Hungry Ghost Festivals that had just passed, and I’ve more or less made some sense of what happened there. In fact, I’d already guessed that you’d already defected to Hell before you came to me today.”

You say that, but… Yanluo Qin has never given me his word before…

“I wanted to indulge in this drunken reverie of mine - even just for another day. Who would’ve thought…” She glanced hatefully at Qin Hui, “You didn’t give me a chance at that at all.”

And these were times when the stakes involved were all too clear. It was a life-or-death situation.

Qin Hui raised a brow in consternation - Are you mad? How can there possibly be a third option in front of both that man and Lord Harken? However, he held back and sneered, “Daolord Dong?”

Qin Hui shook his head, “He’s a write-off.”

“Oh?”

“In fact, he’s only two pieces short from putting together the complete King Yanluo’s Seal!”

“There’s no doubt that the final two pieces must be in the possession of the new Hell.” Su Daji licked her lips and chuckled, “Don’t you think there might just be a chance at a great reversal if we gave it our all?”

Qin Hui quickly composed himself again. Credit where it was due, Qin Hui was probably the one who had the keenest sense of danger of the three. He immediately shook his head, “How can three Prefects possibly suppress the Harken?”

Qin Hui sneered, “Do you think its injuries would remain there forever?”

“And what about him?” Qin Hui stared at Su Daji, “What about the Second King Yanluo? Have you forgotten what kind of existence he is?”

With a soft sigh, she shook her head and gazed high into the sky, “Because… there’s no chance of defeating him…”

“Allow me some time to mull over these things.” Su Daji withdrew her gaze and glanced southwards, “One month.”

Qin Hui’s heart was filled with elation, almost as though he had just participated in a coup that had given the forces of resistance a new lease of life. He felt as important as someone who had been invited to the opening ceremony of the new Hell. Suppressing the wild surge of excitement and anticipation in his heart, he spoke as calmly as he possibly could, “Don’t say that I didn’t warn you - certain things might not be worth as much as time wears on.”

Su Daji waved her hand, “I’ve already prepared a chamber for you to spend the night. Get lost.”

Su Daji watched him leave silently, and then continued to stare into the darkness for several more minutes. After that, she suddenly spoke, “Shen Yin.”

“I’m giving you a letter. Take it with you…”

Shen Yin maintained a bowed posture as he eagerly awaited his orders.

“Yes.” Shen Yin received the letter respectfully, and then vanished without a trace. Several minutes later, Su Daji spoke once more, “Huan Xing.”

“Immediately notify all generals that… they are to cease all expansion efforts right away.”

“Understood.”

Qin Ye naturally wasn’t aware of the ongoings in Pearl River Province.

There were too many things happening right now!

Secondly, the developments within the City of Salvation were all going according to plan. The Ministry of Communications had informed him that they were making arrangements for a political show for him, with the intent that he should return to show his support for several key projects in the City of Salvation, such as a tour around the newly reclaimed tea mountains, as well as the new menagerie where they would breed Yin beasts. After that, Hell’s Media Group would publish a full-page feature in the papers, discussing how deep Yanluo Qin’s love for his country and his people ran.

There was even a fourth item on the agenda. Rus and Hanyang were slated to send merchant ships at the end of the year. This was the first time Hell was going to be opening its borders to the netherworld out there. No… rather, it was only limited to the East Continent. Hell was opening a small crack in its door. This was Hell’s first probative attempt at stepping out of its shell. He had once consulted the Harken on the possibility of opening a sliver of their borders for a period of time.

It wouldn’t be large - probably not larger than a village at that. However, its importance was a far cry from its unassuming size.

For instance, as far as the monetary system was concerned, one of the burgeoning issues was how the citizens were constantly finding their savings increasing. This might be a good sign in the mortal realm, but it was a sign of danger in the netherworld - it indicated that there were no longer sufficient supplies on the market to support the existing consumption of Hell’s citizens! Even the amusement park that had been built just a few months ago wasn’t able to support the spending power of the citizens. After all, they couldn’t possibly play every day. They had to work on most days, and they would at best visit the amusement parks on their days off or on the weekends. How much could a day ticket or two cost? Besides, the citizens would grow weary of even the most exciting attractions after some time.

Furthermore, there were various other ancillary issues, such as Hell’s Media Group. Given Ashmound City’s size, there were only so many things that could be reported on. As the quality of reports dwindled, they slowly even began to report on the most mundane things, including the death of Yin beasts.

And that was none other than the development of nuclear weapons.

Should Hell devour the Resentment Crystals Vein? If so, how? And if not, how were they going to prevent the Russian Underworld from laying their hands on it?

Arthis had been sent to the Mongol Empire. She was the only other powerhouse in Hell that could be sent out into a foreign land apart from himself. Naturally, he was waiting eagerly for her return.

To make matters worse, these were the pressing issues faced by Hell. Apart from that, there were other not-so-pressing issues, including the three daolords, the unification of the nation, and how Hell was going to step back into the international arena…

He didn’t even want to think about these things.

“You’ve got to get used to it.” The Harken lay comfortably on one a ‘Ashmound City’s First Quarterly Agricultural Report’, “You best focus your mind on the works here in Eastmount Province. That way, you’ll finally be able to earn yourself some leverage to communicate with the mortal realm once more. Then, you can finally get them to ship us some bodies of the academicians that have perished to fill the hole caused by the lack of talents in Hell. And with some talents in Hell, you can finally organize your own team of administrators and finally rid yourself of this sea of suffering.”

The Harken continued to take a jibe at him, “So how do you plan on getting started on the mountain of tasks?”

As for the rest?

After all, Hell would be in chaos if its main pillar of support lost its cool.