Yama Rising

In this instant, Qin Ye's Yin energy erupted forth violently. He was so worked up that he didn't even have the spare mental capacity to continue retraining his own Yin energy.

Is the opportunity finally here? He stared intently at the screen, watching as Brando casually brought the messenger bird to his ears, watching as the messenger bird delivered its message, then continued watching as a grim look suddenly appeared on Brando's face.

Qin Ye was clenching his fists so vigorously that his joints were cracking audibly, and his throat had run completely dry. His piercing gaze remained focused intently on the screen as he watched Brando's every move.

In the image, Brando raised a hand to release the messenger bird, then finally stood up from his throne-like chair on the rooftop before turning to Arlot on the rooftop across the street.

Through the movement of his lips, Qin Ye could see what he was saying: "The three death gods are urgently requesting reinforcements, I'll go to Cape May right away."

In this moment, Qin Ye's concentration was so absolute that he had gained the ability to read lips!

After that, he couldn't tell what Brando was saying anymore.

Blood had rushed rapidly into his brain, causing his ears to ring incessantly and even his nose had begun to heat up. His fingers were trembling slightly as he stroked the Yin energy screen, and several seconds later, he closed his eyes before taking a deep breath.

He wasn't allowing himself to set his hopes too high. He had made all of the preparations that he was capable of, but the odds had always been stacked against him, and he was striving to succeed but prepared to fail.

The power of worship from this grand script of death was like a delectable piece of meat hanging right in front of him, and he simply wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't even make an attempt to intercept it.

Furthermore, there was also the prospect of securing Kraken, which would be the perfect living fortress to bolster the Cathayan Underworld's naval defenses and act as a great solution to the problem that the Cathayan Underworld was facing with the upcoming international conference that it had to hold.

Thankfully, luck was on his side this time.

"Since when did I become so ambitious?" He laid a hand onto his own face, which was red with excitement, as he murmured to himself, "I really have been ruined by the second King Yanluo and Arthis..."

He took a moment to calm himself, but didn't immediately set off. Brando had only just left the scene, so if he were to strike too quickly, Brando would immediately turn around.

With that in mind, he decided to keep waiting for a little longer.

The timing of his strike had to be perfect, and that required immense patience and clarity of mind.

In the Yin energy screen, boundless radiance from all over the city of Philadelphia was converging toward the Spear of Longinus, making it glow with incandescent light like a sun in the night.

On the rooftop, Arlot drifted forward and appeared at the center of the street like a stone statue. Behind him was the Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church, and countless bats were flying around him, surrounding him in a hellish veil.

He had already completely taken on his vampire form, giving him the hideous upper body of a bat, and his huge nostrils moved slightly as he flicked out his tongue to lick his own lips. Even a vastly experienced old monster like him couldn't help but experience an elevated heart rate at a time like this.

"How long has it been since I've felt such fierce anticipation?" He gently spread open his wings as he murmured to himself, "But why can't I shake this nagging feeling of unease?"

At the Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church, Fernando suddenly raised an eyebrow before opening his eyes. Friar Owen also opened his eyes virtually the exact same moment, and both of them turned their attention toward the night sky.

In that instant, both of them could sense that there seemed to be someone watching them from within the darkness of the night.

Was there an invisible fourth party involved in this battle for the grand script of death? Who would be powerful enough to intervene?

The two of them exchanged a glance, but neither of them said anything. Basked within the pure white holy light, Fernando's robes were flapping slightly as he took a deep breath, then brought his palms together as if in prayer, but in reality, he was actually speaking in a quiet voice to Owen. "The only party that would dare to get involved here has to be one of the top-tier death gods from one of the four pillars."

As soon as his voice trailed, the Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church behind him suddenly exploded! However, the resulting rubble from the explosion wasn't sent flying in all directions. Instead, every single tile and brick was suspended in mid-air as if they were being held in place by invisible threads. At the center of what was once the church stood the extremely intricately crafted arcuballista. The two bronze giants on either side of the arcuballista had already raised the massive bow, and resplendent white light was illuminating the night as if a white rift had been sliced through heaven and earth.

Everything seemed to have fallen still in this instant, and all sound was overshadowed by the booming and clanging of the divine artifact.

All of the living creatures in the area had also fallen completely still. None of them dared to move in the face of this awe-inspiring power.

The Spear of Longinus was going to be launched in 10 minutes, and it was as if the ticking sound of a figurative countdown timer could be heard.

In the underworld, Qin Ye's lips were tightly pursed as he kept track of the time that had passed by.

It's already been five minutes... I can't keep waiting any longer!

He crouched down slightly like a leopard about to pounce, and at the same time, the blue Yin energy thread extending out of his ring finger moved slightly. As a result, the Porter Spirit in Philadelphia slowly opened its eyes.

Three... Two... One!

In the blink of an eye, Qin Ye had already vanished on the spot, only to be replaced by the expressionless Porter Spirit.

It was finally time to strike!

………………………………………………

Philadelphia.

The Spear of Longinus had already reached its final stages of gathering power, and it was set to be fired within 10 minutes. However, Arlot wasn't letting his guard down in the slightest. All of a sudden, Fernando, Owen, and he all looked up toward the same spot in the sky.

All of a sudden, a burst of terrifying Yin energy swept through the entire city from that exact same spot! The owner of the Yin energy was making no attempt to conceal themselves, and the Yin energy was piercing straight toward the church like a sharp sword!

Arlot faltered slightly upon seeing this. He didn't think that there really would be someone who dared to enter the fray here!

"There's an intruder!!" His mouth abruptly gaped open to half a meter in size, and his thunderous voice was making the ground tremble violently as he flew up into the sky. Countless bats converged toward him like dark clouds from all directions, forming a pitch-black screen in an area with a radius of half a kilometer around the Gloria Dei Old Swedes Episcopal Church.

The sound of footsteps then rang out in the distance, and Arlot's huge bat ears moved ever so slightly. The intruder had clearly been very cautious, waiting only until after Brando was long gone before striking.

At the same time, the fearsome Yin energy in the air indicated that they were also a death god!

They didn't have the confidence to face two death gods at once, choosing instead to only take one on, which meant that when pitted up against a single death god, they were confident that they would be able to defeat their opponent or escape should things go awry!

Hold on, Brando left just now because of an urgent request for reinforcements... Could it be that this was a trap all along to lure him away?!

In the face of this massive threat, thick veins began to bulge on Arlot's neck as he roared, "Who's there?! Show yourself!!"

His voice was like rumbling thunder, and it was audible throughout the entire city.

The only reply he received was the sound of a second footstep. The first footstep had rung out over 10 kilometers away, yet this one was only several kilometers away!

Whoever it was, they were rushing along at full speed without any reservations, and it was clear that they were very powerful!

Damn it!!

A third footstep rang out, and this one was only two kilometers away!

My friend! Arlot's wings were trembling, and within the black screen formed by the countless bats, an unsettling blood-red color had appeared over his entire body as he crouched onto the ground like a fierce tiger. "I am Arlot Rockefeller, and the forces gathered here belong to the Freemasonry, the three death gods of the underworld's Caribbean Sea, and the church! If you leave now, we'll be sure to compensate you handsomely!"

Even at such close range, Arlot was still unable to detect the intruder's Yin energy, and that was very disturbing to him.

How is this possible? Why am I unable to detect their Yin energy, even though they're clearly also a death god? Legend has it that the only Yin energy that a death god is unable to detect belongs to ruler death gods of powerful underworlds, but there's no way that such a being could be present here! Could it be that they're using some type of divine artifact? Fuck! That would make them even more troublesome to deal with!

It was clear that the intruder was intent on raining on their parade.

At this point, he had already calmed down as he knew that there was no way that the intruder would be willing to leave. Despite this, he still made one final attempt to end things peacefully, even as he was entering a battle-ready state. "If you leave now, I can give you five hundred million USD or underworld resources of an equivalent value!"

However, there were no sounds of subsequent footsteps, which meant that the intruder was still nearby and hadn't left!

Arlot looked around with a wary expression. The intruder was remaining still and silent, indicating that they were gathering power, and what followed was going to be a devastating full-frontal attack!

Having lived for all these years, he was finally going to clash with the monsters of the underworld.

In the mortal realm, no one would dare to mess with a cardinal member of the Rockefeller Family like this, but it was a completely different story for those from the underworld.

"What are you waiting for?!" he roared as he turned back to the two elderly men. "We're on the same side! Fire the spear now!!"

Friar Owen finally raised his head and cast a calm gaze toward Arlot. "Firstly, the Spear of Longinus will have to travel a distance of over 100 kilometers to reach Cape May, and it's not an easy task to aim across such a long distance. Also... who said we were on the same side?"

Arlot faltered slightly upon hearing this.

"You..."

"Mr. Rockefeller, the church is only collaborating with you out of respect for your surname," Fernando said in a cold voice. "However, the end of the deal that we have to uphold is only to fire the Spear of Longinus."

A sense of foreboding welled up in Arlot's heart upon hearing this.

Indeed, the church was already making a great compromise to collaborate with demons like them.

The only reason they were able to collaborate with one another was that the church would be firing the Spear of Longinus so it would be in their control the entire time, and they were helping the three death gods of the Caribbean in the underworld rather than directly assisting the Freemasonry.

Thus, he had no right to order them to do anything, nor did they have a duty to help him.

Right at this moment, a pleased voice suddenly rang out. "I was waiting for you to say that. In exchange for your efforts here, I'll grant you proselytization rights in three underworld states and help you extradite your missionaries!"

Fernando and Owen's eyes instantly lit up upon hearing this.

Immediately thereafter, the entire sky brightened.

The boundless black screen formed by the countless bats was torn apart by a pair of giant hands formed by netherfire. The hands were hundreds of meters in size, and the screen was parted to reveal Qin Ye in a set of Yama-King robes and a mask on his face.