Yama Rising

He was slowly ruminating over what Qin Ye had said. After all, he had always wondered why Qin Ye hadn’t immediately reached out to the mortal realm for aid and assistance as far as Hell’s development was concerned.

Loquaciousness and eloquence wasn’t going to get Hell anywhere as far as the negotiations were concerned. Just take a good look at the leaders around. All of them were expert negotiators in their own right, and they would be easily able to see beyond the farce of words and fully grasp the substance of what lay behind.

On the other hand, what Hell needed the most right now was Yin spirits, because they could only develop Yin soldiers if they had Yin spirits in the first place. In turn, it was only with sufficient Yin soldiers that they could slowly but surely begin to take back some of the land that had been lost to Hell. These were all issues that couldn’t be solved as easily as the injection of funds and resources.

Infrastructural works, such as the construction of a national highway that connects city to city, was still something that could only be accomplished with an investment of proper ghostpower. Yin beasts, nature, and even Limbo were all variables that could easily wipe out Yin spirits who were involved. Without sufficient Yin spirits, the amount of resources generated by cities would far outweigh the ghostpower available to process them. Efficiency would fall. And then, to make matters worse, how were they supposed to pay dividends to the mortal realm’s investments in the absence of national highways? Make another rift connecting Limbo and the mortal realm? Impossible.

“Therefore, it would be prudent to first establish the national highway before we commence the partnership between Hell and the mortal realm…” Having sorted through his thoughts, Wang Chenghao finally glanced at Qin Ye in amazement, “Brother Qin, you’re amazing. To think that you were able to--...”

The words of praise that Wang Chenghao had for Qin Ye immediately dissipated into thin air. He was completely blown away by Qin Ye’s outstanding ability to completely halt all avenues for conversation.

“This is a sign of chaos descending into the world. The end of any dynasty would always see the rise of warlords. That said, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. The alliance means that they would likely be gathered in a single location as their base of operations. So long as we destroy them, we’d immediately be able to declare that the entire Eastmount Province has been liberated from the forces of the netherworld. The other riffraff that remain in the remote regions of the province aren’t worth considering at all.”

Qin Ye smiled, “I’ve got to have something to show for my hundred or so years in the mortal realm, don’t I? At the end of the day…”

Granted, it was always an option to construct his national highway from the City of Salvation. However, that would immediately disclose the location of his base of operations. He couldn’t afford to lose his cover back in the mortal realm either.

“Truth be told… there’s still one additional reason why I’ve decided as such.” Qin Ye turned his eyes to the billowing Yin energy ahead of him. They slowly walked into the cloud of Yin energy, with the ten thousand Yin soldiers in tow. Oda Nobunaga heard his words, and immediately gasped in shock.

Oda Nobunaga had thought that he had already figured out the hidden intentions behind Qin Ye’s decision. He had never expected there to be yet another layer of considerations hidden beneath the surface!

Tap. Tap. Tap. There were the soft sounds of three footsteps, followed soon by the rumble of footsteps caused by the rest of the army, who promptly surrounded Qin Ye, Oda Nobunaga and Wang Chenghao in the center and pointed the tips of their spears outwards. Everyone held their ground in a watertight circle of defense.

No Yin beasts… Qin Ye furrowed his brows, desperately recalling to mind the characteristics of Limbo that he knew. As the realm that was sandwiched between Hell and the mortal realm, it was known for its abundance of Yin beasts. Unlike Hell, where the Yin beasts thrived in flocks, the Yin beasts in Limbo were far sparser in comparison. To this end, it wouldn’t be surprising to see only a single Yin beast appearing in a ten kilometer radius. That said, whenever the density of Yin beasts increased, it would invariably give rise to the king of the pack, otherwise known as the monarch beast.

These weren’t matters that could be understood through the lens of simple human logic.

Qin Ye made a shushing gesture, before flying high into the sky and responding to Oda Nobunaga’s query with a hushed tone of voice, “Not much. It’s just a hunch on my part. But if my guess is right… we might actually be able to reap some unexpected rewards in our trip down to Limbo this time.”

However, he didn’t stop looking. Instead, he looked up, and slowly began to scan across the entire horizon, until finally… he noticed the faint silhouette of what appeared to be a city!

“This is…” Both Oda Nobunaga and Wang Chenghao also couldn’t help but gasp in shock as they saw the towering silhouettes in the distance slowly grow larger and larger.

A terrifying thought suddenly occurred to Oda Nobunaga, and he abruptly turned to Qin Ye once more, “This was the other reason that you were talking about? Your guess was actually right?”

“What the hell are you guys talking about?!” Wang Chenghao was completely dumbfounded. Unfortunately, no one was in the mood to respond to his outburst, because both Oda Nobunaga and Qin Ye were staring intently at the city with blazing passion in their eyes.

The city was surrounded with ten-meter high masonry walls. He couldn’t tell what kind of adhesive was used between the blocks forming the walls, but he could tell that there were even some kind of sharp horns or barbs that were protruding from the external facade of the walls. These looked razor-sharp, almost as though they were plucked out from the teeth of Yin beasts. The city didn’t look luxurious, but it was clearly designed with practicality in mind. There were several precincts within the city, and each of these precincts appeared to be built around the concept of military regimentation. It was patently clear that this was a military city, or a garrison of sorts!

However, there was not a single Yin spirit in sight.

Qin Ye’s body flickered softly, and he soon appeared right in front of the smithy in the city. Oda Nobunaga immediately ran over.

Qin Ye walked around, deep in thought. He could tell that the smithy was divided into various sections, in the style of an assembly line. There were even several sets of unfinished armor left on the work benches, with their work tools scattered all about. The furnace itself was ten meters large, and a bright green netherflame raged within it.

There was a small mound of black objects lying right beside the furnace. Qin Ye picked up one of these and looked at it. A briquette? Charcoal fire? Perhaps. It felt like bones, but there was clearly something else that had been added to the mix. He tossed it into the furnace, and the netherflames immediately snapped and crackled.

“Chemicals industry.” Qin Ye maintained a placid expression on his face and walked towards the workbenches where the assembly lines lay. There, he pointed to the armor, “Military industry.”

Qin Ye soon walked out of the smithy. The rest of the Yin soldiers had just arrived, and had just formed up in ranks. Oda Nobunaga nodded at them, and they immediately spread out across every part of the city, kicking down doors and clearing the rooms.

Wang Chenghao was observing the conversation between Qin Ye and Oda Nobunaga all this while. He knew that he was far too inexperienced to be interjecting with his insights, or lack thereof. Therefore, he paid close attention to the details and picked up what he could. After all, he wanted to do his best; he didn’t want to disappoint either of his mentors at all.

“Why do we seem so overjoyed?” It finally occurred to Qin Ye that there was a young, naive Wang One Tail that was following them, and he promptly turned back and chuckled softly, “It’s simple… it’s because… this is simply a teaser of the spoils of war that are to come in future.”

Are you mistaken? How is their rate of economic development considered a spoil of war?

“This garrison gives us an insight as to the extent of development in Kong Mo’s capital! This is what I’d hoped to see! So long as we can take down Qufu, we’d be able to devour all their technology and make it our own. And even if we aren’t able to do so, we’d still have earned ourselves a free city. And in the worst case scenario, if we turn these cities into nothing more than launching pads within Limbo, we’d still make loads from these expeditions! In other words, all your base are belong to us!”

1. This is a popular internet meme from the past that has often also been used as cheat codes in games.