Yama Rising

The enormous fleet sliced through the waves, leaving trails of white foam on the surface of the bright blue water.

The fleet was led by a massive trireme, which was the signature warship that allowed the Phoenicians, the Argosians, and the Romans to rule over the Mediterranean Sea. In contrast with the louchuan of Cathay, the trireme was very flat with high-arching bows and sterns, and they generally each had two sails, one large and one small.

This trireme was different from the average trireme in that it was over 500 meters in size, making it worthy of the title of a moving marine fortress. Furthermore, triremes were normally split up into three levels, two for the crew, while the bottom one was the cabin. However, this trireme was split up into seven levels, and the figurehead at the bow was a statue of the two death gods of the Argosian Underworld that was forged from bronze, while the figurehead for the stern of the ship was a statue of Hades, the death god of Argosian Heaven.

Luxurious golden tapestries trailed down from either side of the ship's railings, and as opposed to two sails, it had four massive sails, upon which were drawn portraits of the Argosian Underworld's three most powerful death gods. The ship was so beautiful that it resembled an artistic masterpiece.

Around this ship was the Golden Fleet, led by none other than Erinys!

All Yin spirits of the Argosian Underworld knew that this was the mothership of the Golden Fleet that had once reigned supreme over the Mediterranean Sea, the Hades!

"Heavenly Pillar City, eh? Can't say I've ever heard the name before." On the deck, Thanatos was seated among a large number of Yin soldiers, gently swirling a golden goblet, which was holding a liquid that was as red as blood. His gaze slowly swept over the Yin spirits beside the table, before finally settling on Archimedes.

Archimedes shook his head in response, indicating that he had also never heard of that name before. He was looking a little worse for wear, but his soul was extremely excited.

Due to how severely his soul had been taxed, he was looking far thinner than before. He was wearing a pure white robe with a golden chain around his wrist, on the surface of which countless complex silver Yin runes could be seen. As for the other end of the chain, it was attached to a palm-sized box on the table.

This was a metal box that was completely black in color with no visible seam from which the box could be opened, and Archimedes was holding it with a tight grip as if the box were his most prized possession.

"What does that matter?" He smiled as he said, "Regardless of where the conference is being held, we will be the stars of the show!"

He gently stroked the box as he continued, "We are the first ones to have developed the electron and proton Yin runes. Granted, the new energy resource will still take around two or three more years to be fully developed, but so long as we have these two Yin runes, we are already invincible! Ah, we've arrived... I've really missed this place..."

Right in front of them was the vast Array of the Nine Gods that completely enshrouded the Cathayan Underworld like an all-encompassing bowl.

Countless Yin runes were surging over the surface of the array, and Thanatos rose to his feet as he cast his gaze toward the array with a complex expression. "I detest the way that the second King Yanluo did things, and as it turned out, his political style really was unsuitable for peaceful development. During his reign, the Cathayan Underworld's GDP had fallen drastically, and its relationship with the rest of the world had also become very strained. As a ruler, he was a complete and utter failure, but I have to admit that he is completely unmatched in the field of cultivation."

Erinys remained silent as she stood beside Thanatos, but she could tell what he was thinking. He would rather expand the four pillars to five pillars or strip the Cathayan Underworld of some of its rights than kick the Cathayan Underworld out of the four pillars entirely, and the reason for that was precisely the existence of the second King Yanluo.

Archimedes's eyelids twitched slightly at the mention of the second King Yanluo. "Are you sure he won't be attending this conference?"

Thanatos shook his head in response, then made his way to the bow of the ship as he murmured to himself in an inaudible voice, "It's exactly because of people like him, who have reached the pinnacle of cultivation, that our world has managed to remain so safe."

A wave crashed into the ship, and all of the Yin soldiers quickly parted as a teleportation array that was over 100 meters tall appeared in front of Thanatos.

Boundless Yin energy was swirling within the teleportation array alongside countless Yin runes, giving it the appearance of a black hole.

The existence of the teleportation array itself was like a direct provocation to all of the foreign underworlds.

It was as if the teleportation array was saying: "Come in! You've always wanted to see the true state of the Cathayan Underworld, haven't you? This is your chance! Here on my home turf, let's put an end to all of this once and for all!"

Thanatos's clothes flapped violently amid the gusts of Yin wind swept up by the vast Yin energy, and even though he wasn't face to face with Qin Ye, he could sense the determination of the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld.

Let me see how you've cleaned up the mess left behind by the second King Yanluo! What gives you the confidence to accept our challenge? Show me!

"Let's go!" He waved a hand through the air, and the entirety of the Golden Fleet traveled directly towards the teleportation array up ahead, led by the Hades.

……………………………………

The rush of dizziness was very brief, which was an indication that the creator of this teleportation array was a cultivator of an extremely high caliber. Could it be Ghost King Zhao? A series of thoughts quickly flashed through Thanatos's mind, and as he opened his eyes again, he was greeted by the sight of a vast city.

In front of them was a prosperous port. Perhaps it hadn't been all that prosperous in the past, but with all of the world's representative fleets gathered here, it was given an extremely grand and imposing appearance.

"This is a classic Cathayan city." He cast his gaze toward the distance, past the welcome entourage, and he could already see the faces of many old friends.

He continued to look beyond them, at the tall buildings constructed in the ancient Cathayan style in the distance. The entire city was extremely symmetrical with one tall pagoda extending all the way up into the clouds at the center, surrounded by four shorter pagodas.

This certainly wasn't enough to impress him.

In contrast with places like the three capital cities of the Aegyptian Underworld, Athens, and the majestic Mahabodhi Temple, this city wasn't remarkable in the slightest. The only thing that intrigued him was that this city seemed to be very new, as if construction on it had only just recently been completed.

At this point, the ship's gangway had already been laid down, and Thanatos adjusted his clothes briefly before walking down the gangway with Erinys and Archimedes in accompaniment. This was a lineup of one ruler death god and two death gods, and it was an indication of just how seriously they were taking this conference.

Beyond the port stood the flags of all 34 underworlds, and at the foot of the flags, an Abyssal Prefect of the Cathayan Underworld smiled as he cupped his fist in a respectful salute. "Qin Changxin welcomes the arrival of one of the Argosian Underworld's ruler death gods. It is an honor of the highest degree for Heavenly Pillar City to be hosting such prestigious individuals as yourself."

An impeccable smile appeared on Thanatos's face as he nodded in acknowledgment of Qin Changxin, who asked, "Your Excellency, would you like to go to the main pagoda right away, or do you have some other plans?"

In the mortal realm, this would be a very normal question. For every international conference, the participants would have to at least travel on flights that lasted several hours, which could be quite a taxing affair, but there was no need for rest for the Yin spirits of the underworld.

Before Thanatos even had a chance to reply, Izanami emerged in her wooden sandals and said, "There's still a day left until the commencement of the conference, so we're relatively early. No one has come to Heavenly Pillar City before, and Lord Thanatos and I would like to explore the city alone. There's no need to trouble you any further from here."

Thanatos's expression remained unchanged, but his brows had furrowed ever so slightly.

Something's wrong...

Essentially, what Izanami was saying was: "Piss off! I have something to say to Thanatos!"

Why was she in such a hurry?

He swept his gaze around the area, and his heart immediately sank in response to what he saw.

Yamaraja, Anubis, and the ruler death gods of five more underworlds had emerged to greet them, but that was all!

An incredulous look appeared on his face as he took a closer look, but there really was no one else!

Thanatos was the ruler death god of the Argosian Underworld, one of the four pillars, yet only seven death gods had emerged to greet him!

This wasn't a matter of losing face or anything like that.

Even though the Zhu Rong plan had stolen the limelight from the founding of the Utopia Alliance during the last international conference, the alliance still existed, and it had been developing quite well in the past decade.

Following the removal of international barriers, many of the underworlds around the three pillars had benefited significantly from an economic perspective. However, there were a total of 17 underworlds in the Utopia Alliance, yet not even half of them were present!

Furthermore, where was their most important Asian ally, the nameless god of death of the Russian Underworld?!

The fact that even he wasn't here was extremely disturbing to Thanatos!

An indescribable sense of urgency suddenly welled up in his heart as he turned to Izanami with a smile and said, "That sounds great."

In response, Izanami heaved an undetectable sigh of relief.

Qin Changxin naturally wasn't going to stop them, and he extended a respectful bow before departing, maintaining perfect etiquette throughout the interaction.

As soon as he left, Yamaraja made his way directly over to Thanatos, then said in a grim voice, "There's been an unexpected development."

Thanatos's eyelids twitched violently upon hearing this. "What unexpected development could there possibly be? Archimedes has already brought the proton and electron Yin runes!"

Yamaraja didn't reply. Instead, he turned and departed from the port, and Thanatos, Archimedes, and Erinys immediately followed along. The four of them entered a luxurious carriage, and with a gentle flick of the coach driver's whip, the carriage sped away.

The interior of the carriage was extremely luxurious and spacious, roughly around 40 square meters in area, which would easily be able to house 10 death gods. This was clearly a custom-made carriage, and it was drawn by 16 skeletal warhorses. The carriage interior had a luxurious chandelier, beautiful decor, delectable snacks, soft sofas, and a lush, snowy white carpet. However, none of the death gods were in a mood to enjoy the setting.

"Thanatos, you should've come a week earlier." Yamaraja's expression had become extremely grim as he spoke, and Thanatos's brows furrowed tightly upon seeing this. The sense of unease in his heart was growing more and more pronounced. Something that even Yamaraja was taking so seriously was clearly not going to be a trivial matter. What could've possibly urged over half of the nations in the Utopia Alliance to reconsider their stances?

"What is going on?" Thanatos asked in an extremely grim voice. "Surely there's nothing that can trump what we've prepared! Don't tell me that the Cathayan Underworld has also discovered the electron and proton Yin runes already!"

"No," Anubis said with a shake of his head. "We haven't seen any sign that they've developed the new energy resource, but there's definitely something wrong here."

He picked up his coffee cup before taking a sip, then set the cup down again as he asked, "Do you know the truth behind Heavenly Pillar City?"

The truth?

Thanatos's brows furrowed even more tightly upon hearing this, yet before he had a chance to think further about this, Izanami said, "This is... one of the six kings."

Thanatos had just raised his coffee cup to his own lips, and he almost spilled his coffee in disbelief upon hearing this.

He wasn't the only one, Archimedes had also looked up with a stunned expression at the other ruler death gods, while Erinys had been completely rooted to the spot as if she had been struck by lightning. Only after a long silence did she manage to protest in a feeble voice, "That's impossible..."

"Are you certain?!" Thanatos's breathing immediately began to accelerate as he wiped off the coffee that had spilled onto his hand. "Did you just say that this city is one of the six kings?"

Anubis nodded in response with a firm expression. "That's right, it's one of the six kings, and the Cathayan Underworld has made no effort to disguise that fact. Do you understand now, my friend? Do you understand why so many underworlds chose not to greet you?"

Thanatos's mouth gaped open slightly in astonishment, and he was struggling to process this bombshell.

He finally understood why the welcome for him had been so pitiful, and he couldn't help but think back to the conference in Nara, where no one had dared to accept the olive branches extended by the Cathayan Underworld. On this occasion, they were getting a taste of their own medicine!

It was the exact same situation, where no one dared to welcome them!

After a span of 10 years, the Cathayan Underworld had returned the favor!