Yama Rising

Tezcatlipoca remained completely silent as he stood atop the giant beast bone.

Qin Ye's Yin energy slowly propelled him toward the beast bone, and after a long silence, Tezcatlipoca finally asked in a cold voice, "Will you really spare my life?"

Qin Ye smiled in response. "That depends on whether your story is sufficiently spectacular or not. If so, I might turn around for you." [1]

Turn around for me? What the hell does that mean?

Tezcatlipoca wasn't in the mood to be thinking about such trivial details. He closed his eyes and after a full five minutes, he heaved a resigned sigh as if he had accepted his fate. "The mightiest god of the Aztec religion is Ometeotl, also the first god to appear on the new continent. Ometeotl is also our parents. He is both male and female, heaven and earth, light and darkness, fire and water, order and chaos. In short, he is a self-contradicting yet all-encompassing existence. His male form is known as Ometecuhtli and his female form is known as Omecihuatl. He had four children, namely Xipe Totec, myself, Huitzilopochtli, and the final one..."

He paused here before a hint of burning resentment crept into his voice. "Is the Plumed Serpent God, Quetzalcoatl."

A reminiscent look appeared in his eyes as if he were thinking back to memories from thousands of years ago. "Our parent god created us, and we were responsible for creating all things..."

Qin Ye suddenly held up a hand to cut him off there. Tezcatlipoca turned to him with a confused expression, and he explained in a cold voice, "I'm not interested in the history of your religion, I could easily search that up for myself. I'm sure you know what I want to hear."

Tezcatlipoca didn't reply. Of course he knew what Qin Ye wanted to hear, he wanted to hear the secrets of the new continent's religions!

Those secrets were the foundation of a religion, and on the international political stage, such information could play extremely significant roles. This was one of the many differences between politics in the underworld and politics in the mortal realm.

Right as he was hesitating, Fate gently came into contact with the back of his neck, and the chilling sensation made his entire body shudder as he gritted his teeth tightly. "You're making me betray my own race!"

Qin Ye was completely astonished to hear this. "Excuse me? Are you seriously talking to me about betrayal? You are Tezcatlipoca, the first sun god of the Aztec religion. Which one of the subsequent sun gods in the Aztec religion wasn't brought down by you? You've committed more sins against your own people than even Mictlantecutli, yet you're trying to portray yourself as a righteous figure right now?!"

Veins were bulging on Tezcatlipoca, but he had to hold back the urge to attack Qin Ye.

I can't allow my temper to get the better of me. He's a Yama-King of the Cathayan Underworld, even if he kills me, no one would dare to seek revenge against them, and I'm currently nowhere near powerful enough to oppose him.

Qin Ye wasn't paying any heed to Tezcatlipoca's feelings at all as he continued, "Following the conclusion of the First Sun, you lost a foot while slaying the sea monster, Cipactli, thereby making you an incomplete sun god, and you were overthrown by the Plumed Serpent God. You transformed into a coalition of cheetahs in the darkness and devoured most of your people. During the Second Sun, you instigated a war among gods in order to exact vengeance against the Plumed Serpent God, sweeping up devastating winds that destroyed the world that had only just been re-established. During the Third Sun, you raped the wife of the sun god and the former rain god, Tlaloc. In a fit of fury, he cast a storm of fire down in an attempt to kill you, thereby severely ravaging the new continent once again. During the Fourth Sun, you viciously wounded the sun goddess at the time, Chalchiuhtlicue, then completely tarnished her reputation and left her to cry day and night at her own misfortune. Her tears fell onto the new continent as torrential rain, cleansing the entire world. Bruh, how're you going to talk about betrayal after everything that you've done? Do you have some type of fetish for screwing over your own brothers and sisters?"

Tezcatlipoca was gnashing his teeth together audibly, and his expression transitioned back and forth between humiliation and rage before he finally heaved a forlorn sigh. "Who doesn't want to climb over everyone else and stand at the very top?"

A faint smile appeared on Qin Ye's face. "You're a piece of scum through and through. However, when it comes to foreign death gods, I love dealing with scum like you. Come on then, tell me your story."

Tezcatlipoca didn't immediately reply. Instead, he was thinking about what type of secrets he could reveal that were still relevant to the current world. He had to tell Qin Ye something of value so that he wouldn't be viewed as dispensable and killed on the spot.

Qin Ye waited patiently and made no effort to rush him. Only after a full 15 minutes had passed did Tezcatlipoca break his silence again. "I think there is room for us to collaborate with one another as we have a common enemy at the moment. You are also in opposition against the Freemasonry and the three death gods of the Caribbean, right?"

Qin Ye nodded in response. As was the case with all things, the beginning was always the most difficult phase. Now that Tezcatlipoca had decided to speak, things were going to be a lot simpler from here onward.

At this point, Tezcatlipoca had already completely calmed down, and he continued, "Do you know how much power they're truly capable of unleashing?"

Before Qin Ye had a chance to reply, Tezcatlipoca answered his own question. "Truth be told, they're not as powerful as you think. In fact, they may be far less powerful than you imagine! We can completely disregard the three death gods of the Caribbean in this conversation. They're only a trio of Marquesses, and the main reason the Freemasonry chose to collaborate with them is because it doesn't have much time left. There are a total of five Dukes in the Freemasonry, yet only two of them are active. They are Brando of the DuPont Consortium and Arlot of the Rockefeller Consortium. The remaining three are so close to death that their remaining lifespans are being calculated in units of hours. They're so frail that they don't even dare to speak too much, and if they dare to climb out of their coffins, they'll immediately be met by death's embrace."

He licked his own lips before continuing, "I'm sure you know the current situation that the new continent is in, so there's obviously no way they would dare to die."

A grim look appeared on Qin Ye's face. Indeed, if they were to die, they would fall into the hands of Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa. Both of them were desperate to make a breakthrough, and they certainly wouldn't pass up the opportunity to devour three Duke level souls.

Tezcatlipoca continued, "Hence, they have to make a choice. The world of the living has its own rules, and Brando and Arlot are under immense pressure from the other major consortiums. If they want to continue to live like kings and have whatever they want, then they can't afford to lose the support of the consortiums and be knocked down from their pedestals. Thus, they have to fulfill the request made by the other consortiums, and their request is very simple: they want to have their own territory in the underworld so that their souls would be safe, a place where their Duke level patriarchs, who were on the brink of death, would be able to protect them."

A derisive sneer appeared on his face as he continued, "It's ironic, isn't it? They are humans who want to continue living in the underworld. However, it's not an impossible request to fulfill. All they require is for a death god to grant them a city, although doing so would be breaking the rules of non-interaction between the mortal realm and the underworld, thereby placing them under enormous pressure from all of the underworlds."

"Is that why they chose the three death gods of the Caribbean?" Qin Ye asked. "Those three want to become Dukes more than anything else. Thus, the two sides collaborated and the Freemasonry became investors in these three death gods, is that correct?"

Tezcatlipoca nodded in response.

I see... A contemplative look appeared on Qin Ye's face. He was finally closing in on the truth behind this grand script of death.

From the very beginning, during his pursuit of Matthew, Brando's intervention was clear proof of the three death gods' participation.

This was because humans were unable to command Yin spirits. In other words, Yin spirits would never willingly accept a master from the world of the living.

The logic was "you can't directly threaten me, so why should I accept you?"

The Yin spirit by the name of Brand that Qin Ye had met on the highway had also said that he served the three death gods of the Caribbean. They were protecting Matthew, as was the Freemasonry, so it was very clear that they were on the same side. The only thing that had stumped Qin Ye to this point was that he couldn't think of the reason behind the formation of their alliance. In the power struggle between the Freemasonry and the church, the power of three Abyssal Prefects was nowhere near enough to have a decisive effect.

With the information that Tezcatlipoca had just provided to him, Qin Ye was able to easily arrange his own thoughts.

The three death gods of the Caribbean weren't all that powerful, but their identities were very special. For the Freemasonry, Ah Puch, Xolotl, and Supay were all beyond their reach. These were true death gods who had stood at the top of the world for several thousand years. Their names were synonymous with death on the new continent, while in contrast, the three death gods of the Caribbean were the perfect candidates for them to approach.

He rubbed his own chin as he murmured to himself, "I don't know where these three pirates popped up from, but they really did manage to successfully establish their own independent nation that's acknowledged by the Coalition of Underworlds. If I were the Freemasonry, I would make the same choice."

He then turned to look straight into Tezcatlipoca's eyes. "How did you find out all of this? Also, I can sense from your Yin energy that you're very close to becoming an advanced Duke. Even in your weakened state, they shouldn't have been able to capture you."

His gaze swept over Tezcatlipoca's body. His chest had been sliced open, revealing a complete lack of internal organs and bones. His eyeballs were missing, and even his speech was being powered by Yin energy, indicating that his tongue was most likely gone as well.

In addition to that, even his heart had been taken to the sea to be used as bait for Kraken. It was clear that he had been completely and utterly defeated, then dissected, but how had that happened, and in his current state, how did he know all of this insider information?

Was the Freemasonry into watching corny movies and replicating that stereotypical villain who disclosed their entire sinister plan just for the sake of it to the captured protagonist, only for the protagonist to escape with complete knowledge of their plan?

There was no way that the Freemaosnry would be this stupid.

However, he didn't directly ask for this information. He was completely in control here, and showing excessive eagerness would make him appear desperate. Tezcatlipoca was completely at his mercy, so all he had to do was wait for Tezcatlipoca to slowly tell him everything.

From Qin Ye's gaze, Tezcatlipoca immediately understood his question, and he replied, "Why do you think I was captured by the Freemasonry?"

A wry smile appeared on his face as he answered his own question. "It's because there is a Fifth Sun after the Fourth Sun in the Aztec religion!"

Qin Ye made a slight gesture, prompting him to continue.

The pieces of information that Tezcatlipoca had disclosed so far didn't seem to have any relation to one another, but as was the case with all puzzles, they had to be pieced together bit by bit.

What he wanted to know was the truth behind the grand script of death!

He had already experienced just how he could gain from intercepting a grand script of death, and as long as it wasn't too dangerous, he definitely wouldn't mind intercepting another one!

However, in order to accomplish this, he had to first understand the truth behind the grand script of death, which was always strongly related to the mythology and traditions of the nation in which the grand script of death was unfolding.

The Fifth Sun, eh? Qin Ye had a feeling that this was where all of the secrets of this grand script of death were.

A serious look appeared on his face as he said, "There are some records of the Fifth Sun in Aztec mythology. According to those records, that is an era of chaos and no one knows exactly what happened during that time. In fact, there are many conflicting records left behind by Aztec tribes stating that the Fifth Sun doesn't even exist."

"No, it definitely does exist!" Tezcatlipoca replied in an implacable voice. "The Fifth Sun is the root cause behind how the new continent ended up in its current state!"

[1] [I think this is a reference to the singing talent show, "The Voice", where judges sit on spinning chairs initially with their backs to the contestants, and they choose to turn around if they think the singer is talented enough.]