Yama Rising

As soon as this thought occurred to him, Perkins abruptly shuddered as he hurriedly released the wire. His lips were trembling violently, and the complexion of his face was oscillating back and forth between red and blue.

He hunched over in an unsteady manner, looking down at the city below, which was only around the size of a matchbox from his perspective, and he felt as if booming thunderclaps were ringing out in his mind alongside the emergence of countless images. The sensory shock was too severe for him to bear, and he was struggling to remain on his feet.

"Mr. Perkins, are you alright?"

"What's wrong, Mr. Perkins?"

A flurry of commotion instantly rang out from behind him as the group of assessors accompanying him quickly rushed over, and he could even hear the sound of their feet thumping on the wooden floor.

His first instinct was that he had to keep them away so no one else saw what he had just seen!

"I'm fine." His arms were still trembling as he forced himself to his feet, then said to the assessors, "Let's do things as usual and go through the checklist of parameters. At this point, I'm sure I don't have to teach you how to do this. You've all been doing this for several centuries already, so I trust that you no longer need my guidance. Go on, now."

The assessors were still a little perplexed, but none of them wanted to go against their superior, and after exchanging a few glances, they silently departed to carry out their work.

As for Perkins, he remained standing on the spot in silence. Only after a full 10 minutes had passed by did he hunch over slightly and adjust the emerald ring on his finger, then reach a trembling hand out toward the flower pot from earlier. He ran his hand along the wall and slowly inched it forward, then dragged that wire out again.

Having already determined what the wire was, he began to follow it, searching for its origin point and where it led to.

The wire was very long, and soon, he had already followed it for 10 meters, but there was still no end in sight. At this point, he was already certain that this wire circled all the way around the entire terrace, then led into some type of tunnel.

Anyone else standing on the terrace would be enjoying the scenery that could only be presented from such a high vantage point, yet Perkins was scurrying around the terrace like a thief. After around 10 minutes of exploration, he finally discovered that all of the wires led up to the beams running along the edges of the ceiling.

All ancient Cathayan buildings had mythical beasts engraved along the edges of the ceiling. Things like the Pixiu Chimera and the Harken were very common sights under this context, and Perkins immediately caught sight of them.

However, as he cast his gaze along the edges of the ceiling, his soul abruptly shuddered, and his entire worldview began to collapse right in front of his very eyes!

He was overcome by an overwhelming sense of fear toward the unknown, and he could see the gates of a new era!

Around the engravings of these mythical beasts were two more wires.

They hugged the contours of the entire building very discreetly, surrounding the building in a very nondescript manner.

Furthermore, there were countless thumb-sized light bulbs running along the length of the wires!

In that instant, Perkins's mind went completely blank, and he didn't even know who he was or where he was anymore.

This was a clear sign that the Cathayan Underworld had already successfully developed a new energy resource!

When did this happen? If he hadn't just so happened to have stumbled upon all of this during his inspection, how much longer was the Cathayan Underworld planning to keep this a secret?

Why hadn't they announced this yet? What were they plotting?!

Boom!!

His soul began to tremble violently yet again, and even his body was losing its substance as a result. He habitually adjusted his own emerald ring over and over again as he repressed the fluctuations of his soul, but he couldn't calm himself down no matter what.

His mind was entirely filled by an image, depicting this entire pagoda shining with golden radiance, like a beacon of the new era shedding its light upon the dark ages!

What a magnificent sight that was going to be!

In that instant, he suddenly understood everything.

He was gasping for air as he clasped one hand over his own chest, while his other hand was pressed firmly against the railing to support his own weight and prevent himself from falling to his knees.

He finally understood why the state of the world had been changing so quickly during the past year.

Why had the Russian Underworld ceased its exports? Why was the attitude that the other nations held toward the Cathayan Underworld constantly oscillating back and forth? Why had the Cathayan Underworld purchased such massive quantities of compass rocks without going through the international market?

In this instant, everything made sense to him now.

"The Cathayan Underworld has already developed a new energy resource! That has to be it! It's the only explanation that makes everything make sense! No wonder their street lamps are so tall, that's not an oversight at all, they simply don't need to use netherfire for lighting purposes! What they'll be using instead is their new energy resource, one that's extremely similar to electricity! This entire world is going to undergo a massive change, and it's all going to start during the international trade conference! The Cathayan Underworld has been hiding this trump card all this time, and it's undoubtedly going to be revealed during the conference! Why have they refrained from announcing the successful development of their new energy resource for so long? What are they plotting? They must be setting a trap! Even if the Prometheus plan develops their new energy resource, the entire world will still choose the Cathayan Underworld's energy resource because the Prometheus plan's ancillary facilities are lagging too far behind! The longer they refrain from declaring this news, the longer the Heavenly Fire Research Center will continue in its research and development, thereby further whittling down the resources of the three pillars! What a vicious trap!"

The projected investments into the Prometheus plan that numbered in the hundreds of billions didn't seem like much considering all of the three pillars' GDP numbered in the trillions. However, their GDP had to be invested into many areas, such as education, retirement care, propaganda, and after all of those areas were catered, there wasn't much left at all.

Furthermore, there was more than just one scientific project to invest in!

In order to ensure that they were constantly leading the rest of the world, the three pillars had to regularly make technological breakthroughs, which required investments that numbered in the billions into dozens of projects. As such, even for the three pillars, investing in a super project like the Prometheus plan entailed a significant economic strain.

Even if their plan were to succeed, it would all be for nothing as the Cathayan Underworld had already gotten there ahead of them!

Furthermore, they were keeping their new energy resource a secret and watching with glee as the three pillars continued to pour vast amounts of resources into a futile cause! What a vicious plan this was!

"You seem quite surprised." A calm voice suddenly rang out beside Perkins, instantly snapping him out of his train of thought.

"Who's there?!" He instantly turned around, and all of a sudden, a hand grabbed onto his wrist before pulling his emerald ring off his finger.

"So this is the eye of Esméralda, one of the 108 Demon Stars serving under Hypnos. It's said that she can see anything through her eyes regardless of how far away her eyes were detached from her body." Zhao Yun stood behind Perkins in a casual manner as he gently stroked the ring. "Storing one of her eyes in a ring is a great idea. However..."

He smiled as he tossed the ring back to Perkins. "Have you not noticed that this ring's ability has been completely nullified in the instant it passed through the Array of the Nine Gods? Did you really think that the barrier set up by the second King Yanluo would be so easy to pass through? Even if you gouge out one of Thanatos's eyes, he still wouldn't be able to see anything, let alone the eye of a Demon Star!"

Zhao Yun sat down onto a chair off to the side, then crossed his legs and tapped the table in front of him "Take a seat."

Perkins had taken on an ashen complexion, and he collapsed onto his chair more so than sat down on it.

As soon as he sat down, he immediately said, "Esteemed Yama-King of the Cathayan Underworld, this isn't what you think..."

"I didn't think anything of this," Zhao Yun replied in an indifferent voice. "A trivial matter like this isn't worthy of my consideration. However..."

He paused momentarily as he cast an amused gaze toward Perkins, who was so tensed up that he was as stiff as a board, and said, "Our King Yanluo wants to see you."

"Y-Y-Yanluo Qin? Why would his esteemed self want to see me?" Perkins was stuttering from fear. Everything that he had seen thus far had completely gone beyond his expectations, and it could already be considered a feat that he was able to speak at all.

Zhao Yun smiled as he gently skimmed a finger over the table and said, "Many things have happened in the underworld during these past few years. As a director of the GTO, you would be very much privy to all of these, and our King Yanluo wants to know exactly what's been happening lately."

"B, but that's against the rules..."

"Don't be in such a hurry to refuse," Zhao Yun said as he stood up and vanished as a gust of Yin wind, leaving behind some parting words as he did so. "According to the regulations, the inspection should take no more than a week, following which all of the assessors should return to the GTO, but as a director, you can stay behind and continue your inspection. It just so happens to be the case that our Cathayan Underworld will be putting on a show in 15 days, and we would like you to be present for that. Finally, I'm sure you're aware of what you can and can't say once you leave this place."

There was no need to ask whether Perkins agreed to this arrangement at all, he had no right to refuse one of the four pillars!

The Coalition of Underworlds would only be the Coalition of Underworlds with the four pillars involved. Otherwise, it would be nothing more than a ragtag bunch of weak underworlds.

Thus, Zhao Yun departed, and the terrace fell silent again.

The meeting between the two had been extremely brief, lasting no more than three minutes, and Perkins couldn't help but wonder if it had all just been a hallucination.

However, the remnants of the fearsome Yin energy lingering in the area told him that a meeting had most definitely just taken place!

Only after Zhao Yun's departure was Perkins struck by an overwhelming sense of relief, as if his life had just been spared, and his teeth began to chatter uncontrollably as he collapsed back against his chair.

"They're putting on a show?" he murmured to himself.

What could this show possibly be?

He cast his gaze out toward the vast biological mothership beneath the pagoda, looking at the countless streets and alleys, as well as all of the netherfire street lamps that were only there to keep up appearances.

Wasn't this already the most spectacular show possible?

"The times are about to change..." he murmured to himself in a trembling voice. "The gate to the new era has already been pushed open, and several thousand years of history are about to be erased. Who is going to be the ruler of the new era? The battle for supremacy is one that's going to involve the entire underworld..."

In the end, a wry smile appeared on his face as he realized just how powerless he was.

The giant dragon that had been lying dormant for over a century in the east had finally awakened, and it was about to tear the balance of this world into shreds!

……………………………………………………

15 days passed by in the blink of an eye.

Eight days ago, the inspection team had already left the Cathayan Underworld. Throughout the entirety of their stay, they hadn't been able to set foot outside the Heavenly Pillar City at all, so they could only take back information about the Heavenly Pillar City with them, and nothing more.

However, their leader, Director Perkins, had decided to stay behind.

His eyes were already severely bloodshot from the past 15 days of waiting, and he was eager to see what this show that had been promised to him was going to entail.

He wanted to know how this giant dragon was going to tear the entire world apart, while the rest of the world was still completely in the dark.

"Mr. Perkins." The door was slowly opened, and an underworld emissary made his way into the room. Perkins immediately stood up to stare intently at the underworld emissary.

During the past 15 days, he hadn't set foot outside his room at all because he simply hadn't been in the mood to go anywhere. He had a feeling that this was the day that the Cathayan Underworld was going to announce its return to the pinnacle of the world, and he was going to bear witness to this monumental occasion!

His only question was in what way was this announcement going to be made?

He opened his mouth several times, but was unable to say anything, and the servant extended a slight bow with a polite smile as he said, "Mr. Perkins, our King Yanluo would like to see you. Please come to the top of the pagoda to witness the nationwide celebratory lantern festival."