Yama Rising

However, he didn't immediately spring into action. This was because there was a trail of silver Yin runes leading from the feet of the snake women statues all the way to the center of the church. These Yin runes were like chains that firmly locked the items that the statues were holding into place.

The altar at the center of the church was in the form of a three-headed serpent statue. It was larger yet shorter than all of the snake woman statues, and its three serpentine heads were arranged in a triangular formation, upon which sat a stone platter.

The platter was split up into five sections and each section bore artwork of the stars and the sun. It was an extremely ancient artifact, as evidenced by the cracks and moss all over its surface, but Qin Ye could still clearly sense the godly power imbued within it.

All of a sudden, his ears twitched slightly. Outside the entrance of the church at least several hundred meters away, he could hear a resounding boom.

They're here... A cold look appeared in Qin Ye's eyes. He could sense a burst of a Yama-King level Yin energy outside, and it was filled with sinister killing intent. He had already set up restrictions on the two doors leading to this place, making it impossible to get to him in a short time, but he definitely didn't have much time on his hands, either. At the very most, he only had three minutes!

He had to obtain Xu Fu's notes within three minutes no matter what!

He withdrew his gaze and repressed the urgency in his own heart as he stared intently at the stone platter.

At its center was a hole, and an indistinct aura that was striking even Qin Ye with a bone-chilling sensation was seeping out of the hole.

"There's something trapped beneath here!" he murmured to himself as he rapidly arranged his own thoughts, paying no heed to the commotion ringing out in the distance. "The platter itself is connected to the 20 snake woman statues. In order to access the items that the statues are holding, I need a key!"

He could try to directly destroy the statues, but what if there were a self-destruct mechanism within them?

Xu Fu's notes were far too important, and he didn't dare to take the gamble.

He gently stroked the hole with his finger. It was very round and its opening was larger than its interior, indicating that it was tapering down in a conical shape.

Right at this moment, a particularly resounding boom rang out, indicating that the first door had been shattered. Almost immediately thereafter, the sound of violent banging rang out from the final door leading into the human bone church.

Thump!!

The violent tremors were causing the entire underground church to tremble, yet the Yin runes on the door were flashing incessantly, holding the door together for the time being.

"My name is Arlot Rockefeller." An authoritative voice rang out from outside the door. "I propose a deal for you, my friend. I don't care where you've come from, the Freemasonry and the forces of the Caribbean Sea will forgive all of your transgressions and ensure that you can depart safely from Usonia. However, you must leave this place right away!!!"

His voice abruptly spiked up as he uttered these final few words, and cracks appeared all over the walls and ceiling of the passageway outside. However, Qin Ye remained unfazed. After staring at the hole for several seconds, a thought suddenly occurred to him, and he immediately reached into his own sleeve.

Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out in his mind. "You've finally come..."

The voice was very feeble. "I've been waiting for a very long time already..."

Qin Ye's expression changed slightly upon hearing this. He had already come into contact with the death god's finger, and he inspected his surroundings through narrowed eyes as he asked in as calm a voice as he could muster up, "Who are you?"

"Who I am is not important. What's important is that I'm almost dead," the voice replied. "I can sense that you're very powerful and are capable of saving me. If you save me, I can promise you compensation beyond your wildest dreams! All you need to do is put the key into the hole and the array will temporarily be deactivated. After that, you can choose to take one item from here, and the seal will be broken thereafter. Once that happens, I'll be able to come out."

Right at this moment, the door behind Qin Ye began to bulge violently, and it clearly wasn't going to be able to last much longer. In the next instant, a thunderous wolf's howl erupted throughout the entire human bone church.

It was Brando!

"Get out of my way!!" He was so furious that he was on the verge of insanity. "I'm going to kill that cowardly piece of scum!!"

BOOM!!! An earth-shattering boom rang out, and it was so loud that it would be enough to permanently deafen the average person. Qin Ye quickly made a series of hand seals, forming a profound Yin rune combination, then flew over to the door and applied another layer of restrictions to it.

He was moving very quickly, and at the same time, he said in a calm voice, "It's very important to me who you are."

The voice was growing quite urgent now as it replied, "Do you not want another death god as an ally? Trust me, I'll be your most loyal ally. Can you not sense that, my friend? There are two Duke level death gods right outside this door. You're very powerful, but you're still no match for them. Only by joining forces with me will we be able to escape from this place. Trust me! The restrictions you've set up on the door will be broken within a minute!!"

Right at this moment, a burst of violent shockwaves abruptly erupted from the door, as if to support the voice's assertions. Qin Ye's clothes were flapping violently amid the shockwaves, yet he still displayed no reaction whatsoever as he calmly said, "This is your final chance. Tell me your name!"

"Fine! My name is Tezcatlipoca!!"

The voice abruptly sprang up a few octaves as it finally answered Qin Ye's question, and immediately after receiving that answer, Qin Ye plunged an object into the hole.

It was the severed finger that Matthew had left behind!

With a gentle turn of the finger in the keyhole, a deafening boom rang out across the entire church.

It was as if a level five earthquake were unfolding, and countless human bones were clattering down from the walls and ceiling of the church. At the same time, the sun totem at the center of the church suddenly lit up before instantly falling dark again. At the same time, all of the Yin runes in the entire church began to flash erratically before finally fading into complete darkness.

"NO!!!" Two furious voices rang out from the other side of the door. At the same time, their Yin energy had swelled to an unprecedented peak as they began to frantically attack the restrictions on the door.

The earthquake was becoming more and more intense, and Qin Ye immediately rushed toward the snake woman statue that was holding Xu Fu's notes without any hesitation. Right before the statue collapsed, he managed to grab the notes.

I've finally got it!!

Even though the notes were sitting in his hand at this very moment, he was still struck by a strong sense of surrealism. Amid the violent tremors, Qin Ye couldn't help but close his eyes and let loose a long cry of exultation.

From this point onward, the Cathayan Underworld was going to go on a completely different path from the rest of the underworld!

Right at this moment, he suddenly shot back in retreat, even though his eyes were still shut. A burst of golden light swept through the air right in front of, severing a few strands of his black hair. At the same time, he hugged Xu Fu's notes toward his own chest without any hesitation. Ripples surged across his chest, and the entire notepad was plunged into his own body.

He would sooner die before he allowed these notes to be lost!

He reopened his eyes just in time to see the three-headed serpent statue fall away amid the violent tremors to reveal a bottomless Yin Yang Mezzanine.

Within the Yin Yang Mezzanine was a giant wearing Aztec attire, wielding a spear that was aimed directly at Qin Ye's throat.

He wasn't purely a human. Instead, he had the head of a leopard and was over three meters tall, wearing classic Aztec gold and feather accessories.

His headwear and armor were all extremely intricately crafted, and he was holding his spear in his left hand and his shield in his right. However, his body was incomplete.

His eyes were only a pair of holes that were missing the eyeballs, and there was a wide gash on his chest, revealing a complete lack of internal organs and bones. It was more correct to say that he was a dissected cat rather than a fearsome leopard.

"This is the compensation you promised me?" Qin Ye asked in a slow voice as he clasped his hands behind his back.

The giant wore a smile on his face that was bordering on insanity as he stared intently at Qin Ye. "When did you figure out my intentions?"

"When I stuck the key into the hole," Qin Ye replied. "What you had said to me was: 'All you need to do is put the key into the hole and the array will temporarily be deactivated. After that, you can choose to take one item from here, and the seal will be broken thereafter'."

He seemed to be completely unfazed by the two bursts of Yama-King level Yin energy threatening to burst through the door as he continued in an unhurried manner, "However, I did what you said, yet the entire church collapsed. You refrained from disclosing this detail to me even at a time like this, so how could I not be wary of you?"

"That's it?" the giant asked in an amused voice.

"Of course not," Qin Ye replied. "The most important factor that clued me in to what you were going to do is your identity. The Aztec civilization is one that is extremely aggressive and belligerent. Your religion is established on the basis of devouring other religions, so there was no way I was going to trust someone like you, the original sun god, Tezcatlipoca."

Tezcatlipoca chuckled in response. "If you knew all of this, why did you still dare to..."

Edward cut him by pointing a finger directly upward as he interjected, "I'd advise you take a look above your head. I'm sure you're very familiar with this."

Tezcatlipoca faltered slightly before looking upward, and in the next instant, he suddenly let loose a fearful roar before frantically stumbling back in retreat!

It was Fate!

Fate was hovering right above his head! In contrast with its normal form, on this occasion, the top of Fate had split open into what appeared to be a lotus flower with layer upon layer of petals, and at the very center was a small golden needle.

"That's Fate!" His voice was trembling with fear and disbelief as he cast his gaze toward Qin Ye. "Who are you?"

"In your own words, who I am is not important. Tell me how to get out of here!" Edward's smile faded, and his voice was suddenly imbued with chilling killing intent. "Don't tell me you don't know. Once those two Yama-Kings burst into this place, I may not die, but you'll die for sure!"

Boom!! A hole was finally opened up on the door behind Qin Ye in the face of the relentless assault. A furious red eye stared intently through the hole at the collapsed human bone church, and a voice that was filled with unspeakable rage rang out. "I don't care who you are, I'm going to make this your final resting place!!"

Countless Yin energy bats flew into the church through the hole, and at the same time, countless gorey tentacles also surged through the hole with violent force.

Qin Ye took a casual glance at his own watch. "They're going to break through my restrictions within 10 seconds."

"You're a very smart man," Tezcatlipoca said with a cold smile and tightly gritted teeth. "Unfortunately, smart people never tend to live very long."

As soon as his voice trailed off, he thrust his spear violently toward the ground, and the floor beneath their feet fell away violently. Countless human bones were sent clattering down into the bottomless abyss down below.

In the next instant, both of them rushed toward the abyss without any hesitation, right as two thunderous roars of fury rang out from behind them.