Yama Rising

A bird was chirping joyfully, trying to spread its wings and take flight, but was unable to fly out of a certain range of the hand that it was flying around.

The owner of the hand was a man wearing a lavish black silken robe with intricate patterns embroidered onto its surface. Its design and details were all extremely exquisite. There was a long beard trailing down from the man's handsome face, and on his head sat a crown of gold and jade. He held a horsetail whisk with a golden handle in one hand, and he didn't seem to have a single care in the world.

He was the very same man that Qin Ye had seen in Bu Wantian's memories.

This was the owner of The Mirage, a cultivator who had lived for over 2,000 years, and was the first person to have eaten the Taisui fungus and survived.

His name was Xu Fu.

Currently, he was seated on a taishi chair in an elegant and lavish hall with extravagant decor, and standing beside him was a chubby middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man appeared to be around 70 years of age, and he was a foreigner, as evidenced by his blonde hair and green eyes.

He was wearing a suit that was entirely tailor-made by top craftsmen, and it was clear that he took a lot of pride in the way that he dressed. However, standing in front of Xu Fu, he wore a fawning smile as he folded his hands in front of himself in a respectful manner.

"Your Excellency, the thirty million US dollars for this year have already been transferred to your account," the elderly man said.

Xu Fu didn't even raise his head as he continued to play with his bird, and he replied in a casual manner, "Is that right?"

"Your Excellency..." The elderly man gulped nervously as he continued in a respectful voice, "My illness... It's time that I took another dose of medicine..."

Xu Fu finally looked up as he leaned back lazily against the back of his taishi chair. He gently drummed the armrest of his chair with his fingers, and only after a long while did he reply, "There's no hurry."

"Your Excellency!" An urgent look appeared on the elderly man's face, and he wanted to say something further, but Xu Fu waved a hand to cut him off as a meaningful look appeared in his eyes.

"I've recently encountered some trouble, so perhaps we'll be reuniting on the Atlantic Ocean soon."

The elderly man drew a sharp breath upon hearing this. "Are you planning to leave the sea near Cathay?"

"Some very troublesome events have recently unfolded." Xu Fu casually picked up his teacup before blowing into it. The vapor that rose up from the teacup rose up as wisps of white mist, giving him the appearance of an ethereal immortal. "Some things that have to remain secret were unfortunately revealed. I've painstakingly built up everything here over the course of more than 1,000 years, and I can leave right away. However..."

He smiled as he continued, "I have to leave something behind to make them wary of me. Hence, I plan to reveal one of my cards."

He took a sip of tea, then said in a calm manner, "You can notify Death God Mictlantecutli or his wife, Death Goddess Mictetikasiwa, tell them that the person whom they met over 1,000 years ago may be able to lend them a hand."

The elderly man didn't reply, and Xu Fu suddenly burst into laughter before giving him a gentle pat on the shoulder. "You've eaten that thing, so of course you're able to see underworld emissaries. On top of that, it's no secret that the two death gods of Usonia are about to pass away due to the crisis in the mortal realm, so why are you pretending to not know anything about this? Rest assured, I'm not saying this to test you."

An awkward smile appeared on the elderly man's face as he asked, "In that case, how do you serve them?"

Xu Fu shook his head with a smile and replied, "There's no one in this world who would dare to make me 'serve' them. Find a way to get into contact with their messengers, tell them that if none of the medicines they've tried in the underworld are helping them, then why don't they try some things from the mortal realm? For example, they could try what you ate."

Right at this moment, his sleeve suddenly stirred slightly, following which a round jade bead flew out. Within the jade bead was an insect that was frantically flapping its wings, and the entire bead was vibrating, such was the vigor with which the insect was flapping its wings.

Xu Fu had been completely calm and carefree just a moment ago, yet all of a sudden, he stood up before hurriedly grabbing the bead. However, less than three seconds later, the jade bead shot out of the back of his hand, punching a hole cleanly through his hand, but no blood flowed out of the wound.

He looked up with a bewildered expression, staring blankly at the jade bead that was flying erratically within the hall. The elderly man beside him also looked up with furrowed brows. "Your Excellency, didn't you say that this was the key to Mirage City?"

As soon as his voice trailed off, Xu Fu reached out with a hand, and the jade bead was forced back into his grasp as he gnashed his teeth together and said, "Indeed, it is. I left a special restriction in Mirage City, and it wouldn't activate itself unless it encountered grave danger..."

Silence.

The elderly man knew that this wasn't something he should be prying into.

Several seconds later, Xu Fu instructed, "Return to Kanata right away to contact your death god. Go right now."

"Yes." The elderly man extended a respectful parting bow before departing. "I look forward to reuniting with you on Usonian soil."

The elderly man departed, but Xu Fu remained in his seat and was silent for a long time.

Something must've happened... Something catastrophic!

Never did he think that The Mirage, which had been hidden on the seabed for so long, would be discovered. Who could've wandered so far and stumbled upon The Mirage?

No, they hadn't stumbled upon it by chance. He was planning to leave the sea near Cathay precisely because Bu Wantian had disappeared and someone had examined his memories.

Was there someone trying to track him down? Had someone discovered the leads he had left behind over the course of the past 2,000 years?

He really couldn't stay in the Asia-Pacific for any longer. He didn't know who it was that was trying to track him down, but they were aware of the fact that he was a Yama-King, yet they haven't displayed any hesitation at all, tracking down and destroying The Mirage so quickly. It was clear that he was being pursued by someone extremely powerful.

"Even if I'm going to leave, I have to leave something behind for you to remember me by," he mused to himself with a cold smile before crushing the jade bead between his fingers.

………………………………………………….

The seabed was extremely peaceful, almost eerily so.

Hidden currents were rapidly surging past Qin Ye, but he remained as still and unmoving as a mountain, intently observing the two indistinct "lanterns" several dozen kilometers away.

Those weren't lanterns.

In the instant that they lit up, he immediately figured out what they were.

They were the eyes of that giant sea beast!

He had forgotten, as had everyone else, that Mirage City was constructed on the back of that giant beast!

On the surface of the sea, the giant beast was extremely eye-catching, but when burrowed into the dark seabed, no one would be able to notice its existence. Furthermore, Qin Ye and the others had created a massive commotion in the city, yet the giant beast had displayed no reaction at all, and that further contributed to everyone forgetting all about it. Furthermore, there was no information prior to this that indicated that those two cities were the very same city.

However, it was now clear that this was the case.

That white cicada was like a switch, and as soon as it flew into this area, it was able to immediately awaken this almighty sea beast.

Qin Ye was unable to determine its cultivation rank. Strictly speaking, this giant beast had already been dead for over 2,000 years, which meant that it possessed no cultivation rank. However, Xu Fu had been able to transform it into a zombified state through the use of something, perhaps the Taisui fungus.

Judging from its extraordinary size alone, it was clear that this thing had to be at least extremely close to the Yama-King level, and that wasn't even taking into account the fact that it held a massive terrain advantage in the sea.

This was the true guardian of Mirage City!

Qin Ye remained completely still, and the two giant lantern-like eyes continued to observe him intently. However, the pair of eyes quickly vanished as the giant beast lowered its center of gravity slightly.

For some reason, Qin Ye's heartbeat began to accelerate as he was struck by an overwhelming sense of foreboding. The currents surging past him began to speed up, and they were carrying with them murky streams of sand.

Qin Ye knew that the giant beast was only beginning to awaken. With such a massive body, it would take several minutes just for the electrical signals in its body to reach all of its synapses. Even for a human, the bigger they were, the slower their reaction speed would be, let alone this giant beast, which definitely didn't possess as advanced a brain as that of a human.

Within the inky darkness, the surrounding seawater slowly began to become murkier and murkier. Qin Ye felt as if a giant hand had gripped onto his heart, and fear of the unknown was encompassing him from all directions. Even as a Yama-King, the sense of extremely oppressive pressure struck him with a hint of discomfort.

During the few minutes of waiting, bubbles began to rise up from the seabed, and they were rapidly increasing in number, while the seawater also continued to grow murkier and murkier. All of a sudden, a dull rumble rang out across the entire seabed.

The ground began to move as if an earthquake was taking place. Initially, it was only slight tremors, but the tremors became more and more pronounced, and several minutes later, the seabed quaked violently as an entire landmass rose up from the depths!

The giant beast was over 200 kilometers in size, and even the slightest movement from it was enough to send tremors running through the entire seabed.

Rumble!!

Inside Mirage City, the Yin soldiers had already seized control over all of the major streets, trapping countless evil ghosts in the city. Right as Qin Hui strode triumphantly into The Mirage, the entire world around him suddenly began to tremble and quake!

"What's happening?"

"What's going on?!"

"Is this... an underwater volcanic eruption? Or an underwater earthquake?!"

Qin Hui was struck by a sense of vertigo as heaven and earth spun around him, but as an Abyssal Prefect, he was able to immediately steady himself. However, as he swept his gaze through the surrounding area, he couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.

"What on earth has happened..." He looked up in a slack-jawed manner to find Mirage City standing overhead! The entire city had been flipped over so that it was above him, and he was falling away from the city as if he were flying in reverse.

Within the seawater, countless evil ghosts, buildings, and objects began to drift down in the wake of this abrupt change, and all of the Yin soldiers fell onto the seabed. Qin Hui looked around with a bewildered expression, and he finally caught sight of something...

It was a massive black shadow, the outline of which seemed to resemble a giant turtle!

He hadn't noticed it initially as it was far too massive, spanning over 200 kilometers in length like an underwater continent.

Everything that had happened just now was only because... the turtle had flipped over!

The entire Mirage City was rapidly rising up along with the giant turtle as the city was constructed on its back.

"My god..." He looked on with an astonished expression as the dim light in the sea illuminated the profound patterns on the surface of its body. If he hadn't seen this creature in person, he would've never believed that such a thing existed in this world.

In the face of this giant turtle, he could sense that he was no match for it at all.

No one said anything.

All of the Yin soldiers and evil ghosts were looking up with flabbergasted expressions as the giant turtle rose rapidly up toward the surface of the sea. Only now did Qin Hui return to his senses, and he hurriedly yelled, "Lord Qin!! Where is Lord Qin?! Find him!! Hurry!!"

………………………………………………

Of course, Qin Ye was unable to hear Qin Hui's panicked yells.

In the instant that the giant turtle flipped itself over, he pulled out Fate and plunged it into the turtle's shell. After that, he held onto the shaft of Fate for dear life, following which he was taken on a fantastical journey that was impossible to describe.

The entire world was spinning around him, and countless air bubbles were rising upward. He felt as if he were holding onto a corner of the sea, and he was being jostled around so violently that he didn't even get a chance to clearly see what the giant beast looked like.

On many occasions, his hands felt so numb that he wanted to release Fate, but he knew that he couldn't do that.

If he were to let go, then his connection with Xu Fu would be completely severed! After such a major crisis, there was no way that Xu Fu would continue to remain in the Asia-Pacific.

Finally, the giant beast steadied itself a little, and at this point, Qin Ye had also grown somewhat accustomed to the violent shaking. Only then did he get a chance to inspect his surroundings.

The giant turtle had already swam up a vast distance, most likely at least 2,000 meters. The darkness in the surrounding seawater wasn't as absolute as it was on the seabed. In any case, darkness had never posed an obstacle to Emissaries of Hell, and Qin Ye was able to glean the giant beast's true appearance.

It was a gargantuan turtle.

However, it was a freshwater turtle, as evidenced by the fact that it had paws instead of flippers. He was currently standing on the turtle's back.

It was an indescribable feeling. He felt as if he were standing on a continent, not a turtle, and in the face of such a gargantuan creature, he was made to feel impossibly tiny and insignificant.

He swept his gaze across every single inch of the turtle's body, and he discovered that its shell was like an impregnable fortress that stretched as far as the eyes could see. It was like a gigantic moving landmass with countless sea stars, marine plant life, and rocks littered all over its surface, as well as countless types of marine animals swimming between the landmarks. There was an entire biosphere living on this turtle's body.

It was a giant moving habitat!

Qin Ye was astonished that such a creature could exist in this world.