Yama Rising

Yama-Kings weren't unkillable, they were just extremely difficult to kill.

Upon sustaining a lethal injury, a Yama-King would be unable to maintain their external form and had to enter a state of slumber. Theoretically speaking, as someone who had eaten the Taisui fungus, Qin Ye should've fared even worse than a normal Yama-King in this situation and automatically entered the Taisui fungus's cycle of reincarnation, but that hadn't happened.

Right in front of Fernando and Owen's astonished eyes, the wound on Qin Ye's neck was rapidly healing, and color was also beginning to return to his pale cheeks in what was an astonishing recovery.

Qin Ye's throat was in so much pain that he felt as if he were about to go insane. Blood was flowing down onto his chest, giving him quite a terrifying appearance, but he had to maintain a calm smile.

He had always been searching for an opportunity where his opponent wouldn't be able to evade his attack.

He had thought that this opportunity would be very difficult to find, but Arlot had dug his own grave by creating that inescapable cage of blood. Unfortunately for him, he had played right into Qin Ye's Yellow Emperor Protector Seal!

The victory that he had thought he had secured was nothing more than an illusion, and he had allowed Qin Ye to take one valuable step closer to his final goal!

Qin Ye abruptly vanished as a gust of Yin wind, and by the time he reappeared, he was already standing beside the Spear of Longinus. Fernando and Owen reflexively wanted to stop him, but Qin Ye had already laid a hand on the arcuballista.

Even though he was only resting his hand on the weapon, the terrifying power gathering within it was enough to make his fingers tremble.

"Let's make a deal," Qin Ye said as he looked straight into the eyes of the two elderly men.

Fernando was watching Qin Ye with a wary gaze. There was still a hole in his throat, within which flesh and blood were rapidly growing, presenting an extremely harrowing sight to behold. He lowered his gaze as he brought his palms together and replied, "Please allow me to refuse. There are countless werewolves and vampires in the city watching us, so it would be impossible for us not to fire the Spear of Longinus, and... Cardinal Owen, what are you doing?!"

He cast a surprised gaze toward Owen to find that Owen's hand was resting on the switch for the arcuballista, but he was slowly moving the switch to the off position.

"Why don't we listen to what he has to say?" Owen suggested with a faint smile. "Have you not sensed it yet, Fernando? From the moment he secured victory against Arlot, the number of vampires and werewolves in the city have been rapidly decreasing."

Fernando faltered slightly upon hearing this, then spread his consciousness throughout the city, upon which he discovered that this was indeed the case. He turned to Qin Ye with a surprised expression and asked, "Do you have allies in the city? They've concealed their power very well, I haven't been able to sense them."

"That's right." Qin Ye finally heaved an internal sigh of relief at the sight of Owen moving the switch to the off position. He then cleared his throat and withstood the excruciating pain as he said, "I released a death god not long ago, and I'm sure he's extremely eager to take back what belongs to him, so he's naturally doing everything in his power to help me in order to gain my favor. Cardinal Fernando, we've already worked together once before, what reservations could you possibly have?"

Fernando was silent for a few seconds before replying, "The agreement has already been signed. If we don't follow through, then we'll have to face all-out war on both the new continent and in Europa, and the deaths resulting from those wars would further bolster the power of those two underworlds, which is something I'm sure you don't want to see, either."

"Of course," Qin Ye replied. "I'm not asking you to not fire the spear at all, I'm only asking that you delay the firing by half an hour. If you can do that, I'll grant you proselytization rights in three provinces!"

Fernando was still rather hesitant. "I..."

"Cardinal Fernando." A hint of killing intent surfaced in Qin Ye's eyes as he threatened, "If you refuse, I guarantee you that you won't make it back to the Vatican City alive."

Cold looks appeared on the faces of both cardinals, and Owen replied in a steely voice, "I don't think you have the power to follow through on that threat."

"I may not have the power, but what if we're talking about a being above the Yama-King level here? Do you really think I came here without any reinforcements?" Qin Ye didn't give the two cardinals any time to think as he continued, "All you agreed to do is to fire the Spear of Longinus, and I'm not trying to stop you from doing that. Just fire it half an hour late, and you'll still have fulfilled your end of the deal! As for the excuse, that's very simple: just blame it on me! I'll take the blame for everything, and I'm sure the Freemasonry won't be able to say anything then. You've received benefits from them and also proselytization rights from me, I'd advise you not to be too greedy..."

A threatening tone had already crept into his voice in the end, and the eyelids of the two cardinals twitched violently upon hearing mention of a being above the Yama-King level. After a brief hesitation, Owen replied, "Alright, I agree to your proposal, but I hope you can remain faithful to your promise."

A massive wave of relief instantly washed over Qin Ye upon hearing this. He had finally succeeded!

He had slowly uncovered the truth surrounding the grand script of death, then obtained Xu Fu's notes, but decided to stay in Philadelphia to try and intercept the grand script of death. Just now, he had defeated Arlot using the Yellow Emperor Protector Seal, and with the promise from the two cardinals secured, all that was left was for him to reap the fruits of his labors!

No, I still haven't quite succeeded yet. There's still one final step I have to execute at Cape May! A contemplative look appeared on his face as he cast his gaze toward the coastline.

There was still one final step left before he could claim godhood, and he was certain that it would come as a shock to everyone.

"I've given you my contact details before. Now then, I'll be on my way." He instantly vanished before reappearing as a streak of light, making no attempt to conceal himself as he shot forth toward a certain direction.

It wasn't Cape May, nor was it Philadelphia. Instead, he was flying toward the city of Bridgeton in New Jersey.

He was traveling extremely quickly, taking only several minutes to reach New Jersey, and a voice instantly rang out beside his ears upon his arrival. "What are you doing?! Why aren't you going to Cape May right now? You worked so hard to get to this point, yet you're not going to take the Spear of Longinus?!"

It was Tezcatlipoca!

He was swirling around Qin Ye like a cloud of white smoke, but Qin Ye remained unmoved as he replied, "You've been absent from this world for far too long. Why would I take the Spear of Longinus? To kill Kraken? No! The church won't allow anyone to take the spear. The Freemasonry has expended a massive price, and the church has sent two cardinals to guard the spear, that's already a clear indication of their intent to keep the spear safe."

"So what are you going to do then?" Tezcatlipoca asked in a bewildered voice. "Are you going to allow all of your efforts to benefit someone else? If you don't go to that battlefield and slay Kraken in person, the ones to have the last laugh will still be the death gods of the Caribbean!"

"Why would I go to the battlefield in person?" Qin Ye asked in an emotionless manner. "You want me to assassinate Kraken on such a chaotic battlefield? Do you think I'm an almighty god of creation?"

"Then what the hell are you going to do?!" Tezcatlipoca was about to go insane, and his voice was rumbling like thunder in the night.

Qin Ye finally took a glance at him and said, "There are a total of 240 privately owned electricity companies in Usonia, and they account for 78% of the annual electricity production in the entire nation. In addition to that, there are six power plants run by the national government and 1,900 municipal-government-run electricity companies. Those are the only options they have if they want to use electricity."

"What on earth are you talking about?!"

Qin Ye cast his gaze forward, and he could see the lights of Bridgetown on the horizon. After doing some mental calculations, he figured out that he had 15 minutes left to execute the final step.

"What I'm saying is that Bridgetown has chosen the Exelon Corporation, as has Cape May. Through the power of electricity, I'll be able to broadcast myself to Cape May! In the end, the followers will worship me as opposed to the three death gods of the Caribbean! I will be the Slumber of the Stars and the Sea! Don't forget that Cape May is a seaside tourist city with countless LED screens on the beaches! Forget it, you don't even know what an LED screen is. Do you know what a projector is?... Looks like that's not ringing a bell, either."

He had already spotted the television building and was flying toward it at full speed.

He had to execute this all-important step in person!

Shortly thereafter, he swept into the control room of the television building as a gust of Yin wind, then revealed himself, much to the alarm of the staff inside, before turning to the invisible Tezcatlipoca with a faint smile. "Technology is the number one power of production in the modern world."

"Who are you? What are you..." A Caucasian male stood up in the control room with a stunned expression, but his voice was abruptly cut off as strands of Yin energy shot forth out of Qin Ye's fingertips before extending into the brains of all of the staff present.

"Connect to the network between Philadelphia and Cape May right away, and at the same time, prepare to switch on all of the LED screens on the shore of Cape May for a city-wide broadcast!"

His plan was never to go to Cape May in person, at least not now. He could broadcast himself to all of the followers on the beach from the safety of this television building, so why would he venture into that perilous battlefield?

Of course, his ultimate objective was Kraken's body, but the power of worship that he could obtain from such a massive grand script of death definitely would be quite significant as well.

If he had to go to Cape May, then he would only do so once he had absolute confidence.

"My reinforcements should be here soon..." he mused to himself before turning to Tezcatlipoca. "There's one more thing that I need your help with: help me hide from the Heavenly Dao. Don't tell me you don't know how, I'm certain you're capable of doing this. You're not a death god, you are the son of the new continent's god of creation, which makes you a deity who is innately blessed by the Heavenly Dao. So what's your answer?"

………………………………………………….

Over at Cape May, Brando was leading the resistance effort against Kraken. He was the only one capable of withstanding Kraken's attacks, and behind him were countless Yin soldiers, while the fleets down below were unleashing constant cannon fire in an effort to distract Kraken.

"My god..." The tens of thousands of followers on the shore were completely rooted to the spot. They had come here to witness a divine miracle, yet they were watching an epic battle between angels and demons.

This was something that they had never seen before, and it was a memory that would permanently remain in their minds. All of the followers were reluctant to even blink as they stared intently at the sea.

There, Kraken was like a gargantuan moving fortress, swinging its tentacles through the air with devastating power, but Brando was able to keep its attacks at bay every time. However, they were also unable to organize any offensive efforts and could only defend passively.

Death God Dax said that he will put an end to the sea monster's life with a single spear strike...

Someone interlaced their fingers and clasped their hands together in devout prayer, and tens of thousands of other followers soon followed suit. Before long, the sound of a collective choir of prayers had rung out again across the entire shore.

Amid this awe-inspiring scene, everyone failed to notice that the LED screens around them had already lit up, and they also failed to notice that all of the high-end hotels beside the sea with external lights installed had also lit up in unison.

After another violent clash, Brando was sent flying several dozen meters. He shook out his numb and throbbing arms to get some feeling back into them, then gritted his teeth tightly as he cast his gaze toward the direction that Philadelphia was in.

Why has the spear not been fired?! Something must've gone wrong! At this point, the spear should've already been fired and reached New Jersey to complete the divine prophecy, so why hasn't that happened?! Where is Arlot? Did the church decide to betray us? What the hell is going on?!