Yama Rising

……………………………………………………

The entire room instantly fell silent.

No one had anticipated that Qin Ye would demand the lives of their most elite warriors in exchange for asylum!

No one wanted to die. Everyone was trying to escape from the new continent precisely because they wanted to live, but was this fate unavoidable after all?

"Esteemed Yama-King..." The leader of the Yin spirits finally calmed down. They had been too excited before, correlating Qin Ye's arrival with their survival, but unfortunately, life simply wasn't that easy.

"Is there any other way we can compensate you?"

Qin Ye casually skimmed his fingers along the table, and the almost inaudible scratching sound immediately made everyone in the room tense up. Several seconds later, his smile faded as he replied in a cold voice, "I'm not unaware of the situation that the new continent is in. However, you're not citizens of the Cathayan Underworld, so our nation has no duty to save you. Even if Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa decide to devour all of you, that is simply a part of the new continent's internal politics, and my intervention would be an act that directly interferes with the internal politics of an underworld with independent autonomy."

He paused momentarily before continuing in a firm voice, "I'm sure all of you have heard about just how difficult it is to secure Cathayan Underworld citizenship. The government must be responsible for all of its netherworldly citizens, and seeing as you're not citizens of the Cathayan Underworld, why would I risk making an enemy out of an entire continent just to save you?"

No one replied, and after a brief silence, Qin Ye concluded, "You have half a day to consider my proposal. There's no rush, think carefully about this."

As soon as his voice trailed off, all of the Yin spirits in the room were shocked to discover that they were hovering uncontrollably up into the air before dissipating into Yin energy!

All of the Yin energy seeped out of the room through the gaps around the door, then drifted over to a platform in the settlement before transforming into the group of Yin spirits again.

The leader of the Yin spirits was silent as he pondered the situation, then inspected his surroundings, and only after a long while did he heave a forlorn sigh.

From there, they could see the entire settlement. In front of them was an altar, upon which sat a glowing silver mirror with all types of beast bones placed next to it in a very ceremonious arrangement. Two serpentine totems were also standing on either side of the mirror, while rows of netherfire were burning all around it.

Looking on from there, one could see a vast cloud vortex up above. However, countless rifts seemed to have been torn open on the inside of the cloud vortex; all of those were Yin Yang Mezzanines. At the center of the mirror, countless souls were surging into the vortex along with Yin energy, forming what appeared to be a bridge between the underworld and the mortal realm.

Looking even further into the distance, there was a pyramid!

The pyramid was hundreds of meters tall, and in contrast with the pyramids of Aegypt, which were equilateral pyramids, this was a Mayan pyramid where each level was its own separate area, forming a tiered pyramid rather than one with smooth sides.

The pyramid seemed to have already been standing for countless years and its surface was riddled with vines, making it impossible to clearly make out all of the artwork engraved onto its walls. Netherworldly citizens were residing on every single level of the pyramid, forming a unique living area. There were a few more pyramids in other directions, but those ones were all incomplete.

Looking beyond the pyramids, one would be greeted by the sight of a vast forest, from within which the occasional roar of a giant monarch beast would ring out. However, not a single one of those monarch beasts approached this area.

These pyramids of the sun that were unique to the Mayan and Aztec civilizations, and the members of the resistance army had already been hiding here for a very long time.

The leader of the Yin spirits cast his gaze toward the mirror with a slightly wooden expression. This was a faux divine artifact with designs of a pair of young women etched onto the frame. As he cast his gaze into the surface of the mirror, a two-headed snake with feathers growing all over its neck was materialized out of countless tendrils of Yin energy within the mirror.

"Benson, what are you waiting for?" the two-headed snake hissed. "All I need is 3,000 Yin spirits and I'll be able to make a breakthrough to become a Marquess! After that, we'll be able to travel to the mortal realm and we won't have to stay in this accursed place anymore! Are you not afraid of the Eagle Warriors launching an exhaustive search? Are you perhaps fantasizing that those two old bastards would pass up the opportunity to devour pure-blood native Usonians like yourselves and a pure-blood Usonian totem spirit like me?! They've already gone completely and utterly insane! Is that still not apparent to you?!"

Benson didn't reply, and the two-headed snake seemed to take a deep breath before looking intently into Benson's eyes as he continued, "Are you thinking that they won't search Limbo? Perhaps they wouldn't under normal circumstances, but it's not like you haven't left any leads behind! Some things simply can't be swept under the rug, and they'll begin to suspect this place sooner or later! How much longer do you think we'll be able to hide here?!"

The two-headed snake then adopted a gentle and alluring tone as it continued, "We are on the same boat. I won't do anything to your detriment, and if you sacrifice 3,000 Yin spirits to me, I promise that I'll immediately tear open a Yin Yang Mezzanine and take all of you to the mortal realm! Are you still hesitating about sacrificing 3,000 Yin spirits? They're not even related to you in any way! All of the other mezzanines are already being guarded by Eagle Warriors and this is the last one left! If you continue to hesitate, it could all be too late! I don't want to die here with all of you!"

Benson suddenly asked, "Are you familiar with any emissaries of the Cathayan Underworld?"

The two-headed snake was rather taken aback by this question, and only after a short pause did it reply, "No. That's one of the almighty four pillars, even if they send out only a Count, other nations outside of the four pillars must treat them with just as much respect as they would a Marquess, and Marquesses from the Cathayan Underworld are treated like death gods. Are you still pinning your hopes on them? Do you think they'll save us? Ah, I get it, you want to apply for political asylum, is that right? What gives you the confidence to think that they'll accept your application?"

A derisive sneer appeared on the two-headed snake's faces as it continued, "The new continent has three religions, and many years ago, it had a significant chance to become the fifth pillar. I'm not reminiscing about the past, only a coward would do that. I'm just trying to tell you that Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa are far more powerful than you can imagine! They're able to speak as equals to even the rulers of the four pillars! Do you think the four pillars would risk making an enemy out of them just to save you? Don't be so naive, you idiot!"

Benson paused momentarily before replying, "What if we give them sufficient compensation?"

"Wake up!!" the two-headed snake's faces were twisted with fury and frustration as it lunged forward, but the mirror stopped it cold in its tracks. "At the very least, a Marquess with significant administrative power would have to come here to grant you political asylum! Don't think that I don't know what you've been up to! You've been trying to communicate with foreign underworld emissaries, haven't you? Why do you think a high and mighty Marquess from the Cathayan Underworld would heed your calls? What incentive would they have to save you at the expense of making enemies out of Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa? What compensation could you possibly give them to make this worth their while?!"

Its voice softened again as it continued, "Listen to me, Benson. We are on the same side. Why would you rather trust foreign underworld emissaries over me, a native totem spirit? All I'm asking for is a sacrifice of 3,000 Yin spirits..."

Before it had a chance to finish, a giant black cloth had already been draped over the entire mirror.

Benson extended a deep bow as he said, "Thank you, I know what decision I need to make now."

The black cloth bulged and swayed as if there were some type of demon frantically struggling beneath it, but it then quickly settled down again.

In front of the altar was a table. Benson made his way over to the table, then cast his gaze toward the group of Yin spirits gathered in front of him.

They had followed him from the very beginning on one perilous journey after another, escaping Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa's Eagle Warriors time and time again...

They were the leaders and psychological pillars of the entire resistance army, and they had a common objective: to survive.

It was such a simple goal, yet it was looking more and more out of reach by the day.

Perhaps everyone had realized that Benson was about to make a decision, and all of them remained silent. Only after a full minute had passed did Benson grit his teeth as he declared, "I'm going to agree to Yama-King Qin's request."

Before anyone had a chance to speak, he raised a hand to stop them. Verbalizing that decision seemed to have lifted a massive load from his shoulders, and he continued, "You must all be quite confused, right? Why would I trust this Yama-King Qin over Dusakalan?"

"We're not confused at all," a native Usonian man replied. "According to all legends of Dusakalan, it's a heinous being with boundless greed and no moral compass to speak of. Sacrificing Yin spirits to such a being is something that we absolutely cannot allow! We have to lead everyone to survival, not lead them from one hell into another."

He paused momentarily before continuing, "As for Yama-King Qin, we may have never met him before, but he's already far more trustworthy than Dusakalan. At the very least, he didn't ask for a sacrifice, so that means that he's not a bloodthirsty individual, and the Cathayan Underworld has never been all that ruthless or belligerent to begin with."

A forlorn look appeared on Benson's face as he sighed, "Despite all of Dusakalan's flaws, there's one thing that it's right about: we have no right to request political asylum from the Cathayan Underworld."

He looked up at the heavens with a wry smile and continued, "And he has no need to take the risk to accept us unless we can provide him with enormous compensation..."

As soon as his voice trailed off, an elderly man with a head of white hair said, "Benson, have you considered the possibility that Yama-King Qin is deceiving us? What if we do as he says and send out our most elite troops to help him, but he still doesn't take us with him in the end?"

After a long pause, Benson replied, "Of course I've considered that..."

He then lowered his head with a sorrowful expression as he continued, "But do we have any other choice?"

A furious look appeared on his face as he said, "The death gods of our own nation have forsaken us! All they want to do is devour us! Who else can we trust? Dusakalan?! At the very least, Yama-King Qin is a Yama-King, and there are no more than 100 Yama-Kings in the entire world! Is that not enough for us to trust him? Do we have any better options?"

His chest was heaving violently as he slammed his fist onto the table, and veins were bulging on the back of his hand as he said with gritted teeth, "As for whether he's trying to deceive us, we'll be able to gather some clues once we find out what exactly he wants us to do for him. If this is a task that even a Yama-King like him finds difficult and requires assistance in, perhaps it really is something important enough for our contribution to be seen as worthy compensation in exchange for political asylum! Either way, we'll be taking a gamble."

He picked up a knife from the table, then sliced open the palm of his own hand, and a wisps of Yin energy flowed out of the gash like blood. "Come, everyone, there's no time to hesitate any longer. If we fail or are deceived, then at the very least, we did our best, and I would have no regrets! We did everything in our power to survive! After this, I'm going to go see Yama-King Qin right away and I'll be leading our most elite troops in person for this mission!"