Yama Rising

"So this is the escape route you had planned? A path to the underworld?" Gusts of Yin wind surged past Qin Ye's ears alongside the anguished howls of lost souls as Qin Ye's body began to slowly materialize. Prior to his departure, he had already abandoned Edward's physical body.

As a living human, Edward would definitely perish upon entering the underworld. Even though he had possessed Edward, Edward's soul was still present in his body, and there was no way it would be able to withstand the immense Yin energy in the underworld.

He could be interrogated, but there was no reason for Brando and the others to kill him.

In fact, if Brando and the others were smart, they wouldn't even interrogate him. Instead, they would wipe his memories and let him leave in the hopes of being able to capture Qin Ye should he ever repossess Edward.

Unfortunately for them, that wasn't going to happen.

………………………………………………..

Two figures landed on the ground amid the wreckage of the church. On the left was Brando, whose entire body was charred black and had lost an arm, while on the right was a tall and thin man wearing ancient Count attire. However, at this moment, the sleeves of his clothes had been completely torn apart, and in the place of his arms were a pair of giant bat wings that were flapping in the air. In addition to that, his pants had also been torn to shreds, while his legs had transformed into a pair of azure claws that was riddled with veins and had an extra joint compared to a human leg.

"Damn it!!" the man accompanying Brando cursed in a furious voice, and the sound of his voice spread through the entire space as an extremely high-pitched soundwave.

The underground church was already on the verge of collapse, and it was instantly shattered by these soundwaves. As a result, five glowing balls of golden light emerged from the human bones used to construct the church.

The human bones fell away like water around the balls of light, and Brando was panting slightly as he reached out a hand, upon which all of the balls of light flew toward him.

The balls of light contained a pair of eyes, a dried brain, a spinal cord, a pair of hands, a pelvic bone, a tongue, and a skull.

These were all of the body parts that Tezcatlipoca had been missing!

"Brando, you almost made all of our efforts completely go down the drain!" The tall and thin man's lips were trembling with rage as he said, "I'm going to impeach you during the next conference!!"

"You think I wanted this to happen?!" Brando roared in response. "Do you know how much money the DuPont Consortium has invested in those three death gods?! It can only be more than what your Rockefeller Family has invested!! Throughout the past few centuries, all of us have been striving to break down the barriers between the mortal realm and the underworld, but without their approval, there's no way for us to go through! On top of that, the environment in the underworld is extremely perilous, spelling certain death for all living beings below the Duke level. There's no point for us to go through alone, we need to be able to take teams of scientists and researchers with us! This is an extremely rare opportunity! The three death gods promised us that if, and when they succeed, they'll immediately create a paradise in the underworld where living humans can reside! This is what we've been waiting for all along, why would I intentionally destroy this opportunity?! Do you think I've gone insane?!"

The tall man's face was slightly twisted as he said, "If you're so eager to prove your innocence, then hurry up and oversee the next step! We are the only two Master Masons that the Freemasonry can draw upon, so we're not going to receive assistance from any other allies!"

Brando took a deep breath before asking, "What have the three death gods said?"

"They told me that the Kraken has already reached the coastline," the tall man replied. "When the time comes, we'll send it to the mortal realm through the Yin Yang Mezzanine because that thing can only be used in the mortal realm. Once we slay the Kraken, the grand script of death will be complete! This is the final opportunity for both us and them! Even without Tezcatlipoca, we'll be able to create at least half a death god!"

Brando heaved a faint sigh of relief upon hearing this. "I'll see you at the port in a month."

The tall man nodded in response before spreading his wings and flying up into the air. "Brando, don't disappoint everyone. We've prepared for far too long and invested far too much for this opportunity, we can't afford for things to go awry."

………………………………………………..

The abyss beneath the church led to the underworld, and within it, Yin wind was howling violently amid the sorrowful sobs of countless lost souls. Both Qin Ye and Tezcatlipoca were very familiar with this journey. Qin Ye had already achieved his main objective for this trip, so he was feeling a lot more relaxed as he suddenly said, "It'll take us at least half a day to reach Limbo, are you just going to remain silent this entire time."

Tezcatlipoca remained silent as he turned toward Qin Ye with a calm expression.

Are you glaring at me? Oh boy, what a brave lad you are! By the way, are you more powerful than I am? If so, I'll allow this, but if not, who the hell do you think you're glaring at?!

The once almighty sun god was currently nothing more than a skinned cat, and Qin Ye smiled as he continued, "How about I ask the questions while you give me the answers? It's the least you can do considering I saved you."

"You..."

A cold look appeared in Qin Ye's eyes as he cut off Tezcatlipoca. "As the one who saved you, I get to decide what compensation I receive, not you. Do you think you have the right to negotiate with me?"

Fate began to revolve on the spot rapidly behind Tezcatlipoca as Qin Ye was speaking, letting loose a menacing ringing sound as it did so.

"How about I ask the questions and all you have to do is nod or shake your head?" Qin Ye proposed with a smile. "I'd advise you to cooperate if you want to live."

Tezcatlipoca countered in a cold voice, "Slaying a god is an extremely risky endeavor. We are on the new continent right now, would you dare to slay the first sun god to have ever emerged on this continent?"

Qin Ye remained completely unfazed as he shrugged in response. "Well... To answer your question, let me remind you that I'm a Yama-King from the Cathayan Underworld. Do you think I would dare to kill you or not?"

Silence immediately descended upon the scene.

Amid the silence, the sound of Tezcatlipoca gnashing his teeth together could be audibly heard, but as he opened his mouth to speak again, his voice had returned to a calm and placid tone. "Alright, I'll answer your questions."

"See? That wasn't so hard, was it?" Qin Ye maintained a polite smile as he feigned a contemplative expression. "Where should we start? Ah, why don't we start in sequential order and go back to the spear strike you unleashed against me."

Before Tezcatlipoca had a chance to say anything, he continued, "That spear strike reeks of desperation. You wanted to kill me because of the Plumed Serpent God, but at the same time, you are the first person I've ever seen who's dared to attack a death god from the Cathayan Underworld in such a blatant manner. Why did you do that? It's because you were scared, isn't that right?"

Tezcatlipoca didn't deny this. There was no point in denying the sentiment anyway, what he should be focusing his attention on was figuring out how to survive while at the mercy of this Yama-King from the Cathayan Underworld.

Qin Ye put on a cruel smile as he slowly chipped away at Tezcatlipoca's mental defenses. "You may be the first sun god to have ever appeared on the new continent, but you've been sealed for far too long. You attacked me in an attempt to establish some form of dominance, to try and show me that you're still dangerous. Unfortunately, your attack was as feeble as a swipe from a house cat. You wanted me to become wary of you, that's the best way for you to ensure that I won't kill you. How pitiful. You once stood at the very pinnacle of the new continent, a continent with three major religions that only missed out on becoming one of the four pillars by the slightest of margins. You were once the ruler of this powerful first-rate underworld, a mighty sun god, yet that pathetic spear strike was all that you were capable of."

"How dare you!!" Two specks of netherfire lit up in Tezcatlipoca's eye sockets as he erupted into a thunderous rage.

A derisive sneer appeared on Qin Ye's face. "Is that already too much for you to stomach? Don't worry, there's much more where those insults came from, you better brace yourself..."

You fucking... I'm going to spear you to death!! Which Yama-King of the Cathayan Underworld are you?! Why have I never heard of you before?! Don't you have any diplomacy etiquette?! If you don't have anything good to say, then keep your damn mouth shut!

Some giant sets of remains had already begun to appear in the passageway, indicating that they were approaching Limbo. Qin Ye casually flew along the passageway as he said in a calm manner, "Now then, let's move onto the second question: why did you lie to me? Why didn't you tell me that the entire church would collapse once the seal was broken? I thought about this earlier and I've arrived at the conclusion that this was also because of the Plumed Serpent God. You initially thought that I was a follower of the Plumed Serpent God, but as I drew closer, you discovered that I was also a Yama-King, and there's no way that a Yama-King would become a follower to another Yama-King. On top of that, the scent of the Plumed Serpent God on me must be very faint, so you decided that your initial assessment was incorrect."

He clicked his tongue as he continued, "I can't wait to tell you my final answer. Let's go back to when we first met, that was the basis upon which all of your subsequent actions can be explained. You called me 'my brother' back then. As you may have already guessed, I'm on good terms with the Plumed Serpent God. He's the pioneer of a major continent but unfortunately, he had a rush of blood to the head and decided to withstand a forbidden art head-on, reducing him to an extremely feeble state, and I was the one who saved his life. Right now, he's a powerful ally of mine."

The netherfire in Tezcatlipoca's eyes were burning fiercely as he stared intently at Qin Ye.

Qin Ye continued, "After I joined forces with the Plumed Serpent God, I made a dedicated effort to learn about Aztec mythology. After all, you never know when an ally could turn on you, and it's best to be well-prepared. I have to say that information on your religion was very hard to find. I'm not saying your religion isn't important or powerful enough to be renowned, but the severe loss of followers you've suffered in the mortal realm has led to the decline of your religion. I guess you can only blame the native Usonians for not being able to stand up to the advanced weaponry of the colonists. The strong will thrive while the weak will be bullied, that's something that has remained true since the beginning of time. The only difference is that some races disappeared after being oppressed, while others managed to rise again. Everyone knows that the Plumed Serpent God has a brother by the name of Xolotl, but very few people are aware of the fact that the Plumed Serpent God is actually only the second of four brothers, which means that he also has an older brother in addition to Xolotl. That older brother is you, the first sun god, Tezcatlipoca! You were buried by your younger brother's very own hands, making him a sworn enemy of yours!"

He raised his head and cast his gaze forward, upon which he was greeted by the sight of a giant Yin beast that was split up into two sections. One section was a deathly pale infant's head, while the other section was the face of an elderly woman with disheveled white hair.

It was a massive creature, roughly 100 meters in size, and it was gnawing viciously on a bone of a giant beast that was even more massive than itself. Limbo was a place that no one wanted to venture into, and it was renowned for the huge number of monarch beasts that it housed. However, in the instant that the monarch beast sensed Qin Ye's aura, it immediately turned tail and fled without any hesitation.

Tezcatlipoca had already stepped onto the bone of the giant beast, yet as soon as he set foot onto the bone, a clear ringing sound erupted beside his ears.

Fate was already resting silently against the back of his head.

"Are you going to kill me now?" he asked in a calm voice as he turned around to face Qin Ye, who was making no attempt to conceal his own enormous Yin energy.

"Perhaps," Qin Ye replied with a smile. "How about you tell me your story and disclose some information that I'm interested in? If you have some useful things to say, perhaps I can spare your life. After all, I'm sure the Plumed Serpent God would be ecstatic if I were to bring your head to him. I'm certain that you're one of the people that he most desperately wants dead. In fact, you probably stand at the top of that list."