Yama Rising

Chapter 531: The Hanyang Underworld

His words were sharp and incisive.

Of course I don’t want to go!

I wasn’t able to retain a feudal official under my command, and he’d instead struck out on his own and founded a whole new underworld! How could I even have the nerve to show up?

“Alright, then I’ll reject--... WHAT?!” Qin Ye turned back as though he’d seen a ghost, “Are you throwing me under the bus just because you’re no longer going to be around?! Let me make this clear - whoever wants to go can sign up for it! I’m not going!”

Qin Ye relished in Xu Yangyi’s praise for a moment, before his eyes flickered wildly, “Are you suggesting that… someone is trying to contact us through Liu Yu?”

Both men locked eyes and exclaimed in unison, “The nameless god of death of the Russian Orthodox Church!”

“Who knows?” Xu Yangyi muttered softly, “International politics are mercurial in nature. Relations between underworlds can change in the blink of an eye, and there can be a multitude of reasons for which they’re looking to contact you. If we take things at face value…”

“Can’t hold back?” The prospects of a thought like that caused his heart to skip a beat, “Is there… any way to keep them restrained?”

Three seconds later, Xu Yangyi retrieved his club and leaned it against the side of his bed, “Sorry, what were you saying earlier? I didn’t quite catch you there.”

Xu Yangyi cast Qin Ye a look of approbation as he sighed, “Cathay and Rus may share much of its borders, but they rarely have any territorial disputes. That said… ‘rarely’ isn’t quite the same as ‘never’.”

Qin Ye gasped, “Hell and the Russian underworld… are also facing some insignificant territorial disputes that can easily be glossed over?”

On the other hand, Xu Yangyi couldn’t even be bothered engaging Qin Ye on this front. Over the last three weeks, his interactions with Qin Ye had given him new insights about the Third King Yanluo of Hell, and he couldn’t help but feel a little bit disappointed.

“Of course I’m not underestimating him!” Qin Ye rolled his eyes, “Just tell me whether you want me to go or not, and how you’re going to guarantee my safety!”

“Back then, he was able to hold out for ten moves against me. Even Anubis didn’t hold out for any more than thirteen moves against me. I’d taken his accessory sword as a symbol of my victory. You may return it to him. Once you do, I’m sure he’d have no choice but to hold back with whatever demands he’s making.”

He tried again, and failed once more.

“The odds of success in casting myths depends largely on the depth and breadth of your experiences.” Xu Yangyi was no more than 20 centimeters away from Qin Ye right now, and he gazed deeply into Qin Ye’s eyes, “You have to make the trip to Hanyang.”

“He must be sending you an offhanded message that he currently has the favor of the nameless god of death of the underworld of the Eastern Orthodox Church. This is only to be expected. After what transpired at the previous imperial court meeting, he’s clearly aware that he would have to curry the favor of another major underworld if he’s looking to maintain his independence in the world. Unfortunately, within the East Continent, Hindustan is too far away, while Izanami is simply too capricious, unreliable and weak. By elimination, the only one who could possibly help him cast myths is naturally none other than the nameless god of death.”

“Ah, that’s right.” Xu Yangyi finally released his grip on the sword and leaned back onto his bed, “The nameless god of death isn’t actually nameless. Every god of death out there knows his true name, so don’t just address him as the nameless god of death. You’d be a laughingstock of all underworlds out there.”

“That’s his real name.”

But he didn’t leap right into action. Instead, he slowly ran his finger along the scabbard of the gemstone-encrusted sword for some time, before revealing a bitter smile on his face.

To think that the Second King Yanluo was able to decipher that much information from a single statement. He’d even been able to determine who my next opponents may be, and what I can learn from them. Such elegant moves and decisiveness is clearly borne out of his wealth of experience as a King Yanluo of Hell.

Qin Ye shook his head in dismay, and then turned to inspect the sword in his hand.

And yet… it remained lodged in its scabbard.

“Of course...” Qin Ye tossed the sword onto the table helplessly, “Liu Yu is flaunting it before me. He’s waving it in my face, telling me that he’s got his arm wrapped around the thigh of the Tsar. If I don’t go and make an example of him, then… I’m sure more would follow soon after. Gao Changgong, Han Qinhu, and the rest who have declared independence would soon pledge their allegiance to the god of the Hindustani underworld. And when that time comes, not even the Yang Clan would be able to do a thing about the chaos that would ensue.”

Qin Ye glared at her.

Meanwhile, Arthis gave Qin Ye a contemptuous glance - Kiddo, don’t you realize that I’ve got you all figured out?

“Uhuh.” Arthis’ expression stiffened, “And then, what happens after you see her?”

“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Arthis lowered her voice, “You’d better not let word get out that you’re related to her. Otherwise… you wouldn’t be repaying your debt to her. You’d be… setting her up.”

The room was filled with silence again. Qin Ye picked up the reports on his table and began to look through them. All of them already had the Harken’s endorsement, and he was just looking through the documents to get up to speed once again. But, several moments later, he discovered that he simply couldn’t peel his eyes off the report that Arthis had placed on the table.

The intentions were clear. It was an invitation issued to the King Yanluo of Hell, inviting him to witness the opening ceremony of the Hanyang Underworld. It was even sealed with their own unique seal.

“You rebel against your motherland, and still have the gall to invite me as a witness to the opening ceremony of your underworld? Liu Yu… you truly leave me with no other choice…” Qin Ye gently flipped over the invitation and chortled bitterly.

So what if he’s strong? I don’t want to suffer a fate like Cao Cao did…

With that, Qin Ye crossed his arms across his chest and sank deep into his own thoughts.

Unfortunately, the confrontation on the international stage had come so quickly and stealthily that Qin Ye simply didn’t have the time to prepare himself for it. And this issue was particularly aggravated by the fact that Cathay still hadn’t managed to establish its global intelligence network. To make matters worse, Cathay had been absent from the international stage for the longest time.

Is this invitation also going to be used as a sounding board to test Hell’s readiness to emerge onto the international stage?

Hell was currently at its weakest across a timespan of thousands of years. Qin Ye didn’t possess any capacity to deter Arturo. And without deterrence, how was he to make a statement?

He massaged his temples for some time, wracking his brains to think of means to deal with the troublesome situation, but to no avail.

As the newly-minted King Yanluo of Hell, he simply couldn’t afford to reject an invitation that had been sent straight to his office!

“Forget it, I’ll deal with them as they come. Besides, there’s at least the silver lining of learning how to properly cast myths and fabricate miracles…” He stood up and sighed wistfully, “I’ve still got two months until the end of October. That’s just right. I’ll get properly acquainted with the functions of a King Yanluo, and then, I’ll go meet Liu Yu and this legendary nameless god of death of the Eastern Orthodox Church!”

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