Yama Rising

Pieces of gold were sent flying in all directions, yet Qin Ye's body had taken on a wraith-like quality, and none of the golden shrapnel was able to strike him.

However, his attention wasn't on the explosion. Instead, he was already beginning to think about why this had happened.

That golden box was the core of the new continent, and it contained all of the space exploration experience that the new continent had accumulated during the past few decades. In fact, it could even contain the production method for the eye of the sun god, and there was no way that any harm would be allowed to befall such an important thing.

Thus, the only possibility was that it had been tampered with before it was given to him.

The underworld emissary who had given him the box was standing right outside the door, and for the sake of confidentiality, Qin Ye hadn't allowed anyone else to enter the room that he was staying in, so it was clear who was to blame.

A piece of shrapnel flew directly toward Qin Ye, but was sent flying away by a flick of his finger, and his mind was racing as he sought to make sense of the situation.

"Could it be that Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa don't want to give me this information, so they decided to destroy it and pin the blame on their servants? Alternatively, could it be that they were trying to kill me outright with that explosion?"

All of his Yin energy had already erupted out of his body, and he was ready to release hundreds of messenger birds at a moment's notice.

Golden shrapnel was flying through the air all around him, and the sound of the thundering footsteps of Yin soldiers could be heard from all directions. He could sense that there were at least several thousand Yin soldiers rushing toward his ruler death god suite at this moment, and even more Yin soldiers had already raised the alarm. The sound of long horns were ringing out across the entire city of Chichenhagen, and tens of thousands more Yin soldiers were rushing up from the bottom few levels.

What was he supposed to do here?

His hands were trembling slightly as he considered whether to stay or leave.

He was on the highest level of alertness possible as he quickly analyzed the situation, and he raised his foot several times before setting it back down again each time.

The situation simply didn't make sense to him!

In the distance, countless soldiers from the Sabertooth Tiger SS had already appeared, and he gritted his teeth tightly as he decided to stay.

If he were to leave now, then he wouldn't be able to find out the truth.

He had already sent out all of his messenger birds just now, and he was confident in his own ability to last a few hours.

Before he had a chance to think about the situation any further, two bursts of Yin energy had already risen up into the heavens from the top of Chichenhagen.

They were so vast and enormous... Qin Ye could sense that they were even more powerful than the Yin energy of the three pillars' ruler death gods! They were truly on the cusp of going beyond the Yama-King level, and as soon as the two bursts of Yin energy appeared, they instantly surrounded the entire city of Chichenhagen as if they had a mind of their own. At the same time, Mictlantecutli's authoritative voice rang out across the entire city. "Lock down all of the passageways! All Eagle Warriors and Sabertooth Tiger SS troops, assemble right away! No Yin spirit is permitted to leave, and all troops have permission to strike down anyone who dares to leave! Xolotl, Ah Puch, Supay, keep a close eye on all of the pathways in and out of the new continent, and strictly prohibit anyone from entering or exiting the new continent!"

As soon as his voice trailed off, two pairs of eyes settled on Qin Ye in unison.

Qin Ye's hands were clasped behind his back, and at this moment, his room was in complete disarray. At the end of the corridor, a Prefect-level underworld emissary raised a hand to stop all of the approaching Sabertooth Tiger SS troops, but at the same time, he was also blocking Qin Ye's path to departure.

Time seemed to have fallen completely still, and in the next instant, two bursts of enormous Yin energy pierced through everything, disregarding all of the city walls and restrictions before descending no more than five meters in front of Qin Ye. Immediately thereafter, Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa appeared in front of him.

"Are you here to finish the job?" Qin Ye asked with a smile.

He appeared to be quite calm and collected, but his hands were clammy with cold sweat, and his fight or flight instincts were fully activated.

There were two advanced death gods here, and Chichenhagen was their home territory. In addition to that, they had hundreds of thousands of elite troops under their command, making this an extremely perilous situation for him.

Their eyes met, and Mictlantecutli strode forward as he leaned on his cane, then explained, "There's been a misunderstanding, Yanluo Qin. We are not yet so senile and foolish that we would provoke the Cathayan Underworld and risk facing the wrath of the second King Yanluo and Ghost King Zhao. All we want is to be able to leave this plane, we have no other objective aside from that."

What he was saying made sense, and it was exactly because of this that Qin Ye decided not to leave in the end.

However, the golden box had exploded right in front of him! Was he supposed to believe that it was just a coincidence?

Thus, he offered no response, and Mictetikasiwa said in a solemn voice, "You really have misconstrued our intentions, Yanluo Qin. Just now, we could sense that the seal we had placed on the golden box had been activated, but it wasn't activated using the Yin runes that we had placed on it. The security measures placed on the box aren't inferior to those placed on the black boxes of the mortal realm, and we oversaw every single step of the box's creation in person. Something like this naturally has other functions aside from just opening and closing. In a dire situation, we would rather have it self-destruct than for all of the information we've painstakingly gathered to be leaked. Mictlantecutli and I engraved these Yin runes onto the box in person, and we've branded our soulfire onto it as well. No matter where or when it's opened, we'll be able to immediately sense it, and we are also very puzzled as to why the self-destruction Yin rune group was activated."

Qin Ye continued to remain silent.

Right at this moment, bursts of radiance from military arrays rose up into the heavens around the palace where Qin Ye was staying, and a cold look appeared in his eyes as he watched Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa through narrowed eyes. Mictlantecutli immediately raised a hand as he commanded, "All troops are to retreat to at least 1,000 meters away from this palace, and no one is permitted to enter the vicinity without my express permission!"

"Yes!"

Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa knew that this was an extremely sensitive situation, and if they couldn't defuse it correctly, it was very much possible that the Cathayan Underworld could declare war on the new continent!

However, they had no idea what had just happened, either!

Even now, Qin Ye still hadn't withdrawn his Yin energy, so it was clear that he didn't trust them, and that was quite understandable to them. They had handed over the most important black box of their nation to him in order to fulfill a promise, only for the black box to instantly explode. If they were in his shoes, they would also be extremely skeptical and furious.

In fact, there was a very good chance that Ghost King Zhao was already on his way, perhaps alongside other Yama-Kings from the Cathayan Underworld!

Amid the deathly silence, he took a deep breath, then stepped forward with a serious expression. He then crossed his arms in front of his chest and closed his eyes as he murmured, "Four Winds, Four Waters, Four Rains, Four Mist! Let the four sun gods and the Heavenly Dao bear witness to my vow!"

An indescribable feeling instantly descended upon Qin Ye, as if some unfathomable being had turned its attention here.

No one else had arrived on the scene, but Qin Ye could feel himself being watched by something.

His expression changed slightly upon seeing this. This was a Heavenly Dao vow, one that could never be revoked. Could it be that Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa really did have nothing to do with this? Could it really have just been a coincidence?

"I, Ruler Death God Mictlantecutli of the new continent, (I, Ruler Death God Mictetikasiwa of the new continent,) vow to never aim to harm Yanluo Qin for any reason during our lifetimes! Please bear witness to our eternal friendship with the Cathayan Underworld!"

As soon as their voices trailed off, that indescribable feeling instantly disappeared, but Qin Ye could clearly sense that some type of unfathomable connection had been formed between him and the two ruler death gods.

It seemed to be a connection by the name of... trust.

"Are you willing to trust us now?" Mictlantecutli asked with a grim expression. "We have no intention of plotting against the Cathayan Underworld!"

The tense atmosphere in the area finally subsided, and Qin Ye slowly withdrew his Yin energy. Unbeknownst to everyone else, his back was already drenched in cold sweat.

There was no way anyone else could understand the suffocating sense of pressure that the trio had been under. If any of them had said or done the wrong thing, then the consequences could've been absolutely catastrophic!

Just as the standoff was about to reach a climax, it was peacefully resolved, and both parties heaved an internal sigh of relief. Only now did Qin Ye break his silence. "I require an explanation."

He paused momentarily before continuing in a cold voice, "I had a look into the box right before its explosion, and it was empty."

"That's impossible!" Mictetikasiwa exclaimed. "From the very beginning, every single step of our Tonatyw plan was recorded in that box, including even the method for creating the eye of the sun god! You have to trust us, Yanluo Qin! No one in this world would dare to go back on a promise made to the second King Yanluo!"

Qin Ye nodded in response. This was another reason why he had decided to stay.

Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa did have some motive for plotting against him, but at the same time, they had to be aware that promises to some people simply couldn't be broken. Otherwise, they wouldn't have made this promise in the first place.

Furthermore, they had taken Qin Ye to see the Heavenly Platform and the Eye of the Stars, as well as the supercritical tide, and it simply wouldn't make sense for them to do that if their objective had been to kill him from the very beginning.

Thus, all three of them fell silent. It was an extremely strange situation, one that no one knew how to make sense of.

Several seconds later, Mictlantecutli finally broke the silence. "Let's not stand around here any longer. Please come with us to the Four Rains Palace, and we'll be sure to give you an explanation there."

……………………………………………………

10 minutes later, the trio was situated on a balcony of the Four Rains Palace.

There were no other Yin spirits here aside from them, and the entire area within a radius of 100 kilometers of this place was being constantly monitored by the three ruler death gods. If any potential culprit were to reveal themselves, Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa would swoop on them in an instant!

The balcony was very large, and it was connected to a palace that had been entirely constructed from wood, but framed with golden edges, thereby combining the Aztec and Middle Eastern styles. The pillars were constructed from ivory, and pieces of purple drapery were fluttering around the balcony. At the center of the balcony, a table laden with fruits and coffee had already been prepared, alongside several chairs.

"On behalf of the entire new continent, please allow me to apologize for our security oversight, Yanluo Qin." Mictlantecutli personally poured a cup of coffee for Qin Ye, then offered it up with both hands, acting in an extremely respectful manner.

At a time like this, he really didn't want to clash with the Cathayan Underworld.

Qin Ye accepted the coffee. The misunderstanding had been cleared up, but he was still furious.

Where was the information that he wanted?! This was his primary objective for coming to the new continent, yet it was gone!

Who was it that had dared to tamper with the golden box right under their noses?