Yama Rising

As soon as the servant's voice trailed off, Perkins stumbled forward a few steps, and the servant was given quite a fright by this as he immediately backtracked with a wary expression. "Mr. Perkins, are you alright?"

Perkins rushed over to the servant before grabbing his shoulders with both hands and asking with intense, bloodshot eyes, "What kind of lantern festival is this?"

"The lantern festival is... a lantern festival..." The servant was perplexed. What other types of lantern festivals could there be?

"I'm asking you what type of lantern festival it's going to be! Is it going to be with normal lanterns or... or that type of lantern?!"

Thankfully, the servant had undergone national etiquette training, so even though he was internally denouncing Perkins as an idiot, he still maintained a polite smile as he replied, "It will be a palatial lantern and firework ceremony, which is held every year on the 1st of October to celebrate the founding of the nation."

I see... Thank heavens for that...

Perkins removed his hands from the servant's shoulders, and only then did he realize the complete loss of his composure. "Thank you for the explanation. You can go now."

The servant bowed with impeccable manners, then left the room. As he closed the door, he immediately rolled his eyes as a disdainful look appeared on his face. "Is that man an idiot? Where did this hillbilly come from? How does he not know what a lantern festival is? He looked like a rabid dog back there! Looks like the GTO should really focus on improving the etiquette of its staff!"

Perkins naturally couldn't hear the insults being directed his way. He quickly paced back and forth in his room, and he quickly began to tense up once again.

Hold on a minute, if this really is just a normal firework palatial lantern ceremony, Yanluo Qin wouldn't have invited me to spectate it, and it certainly wouldn't be a spectacle worth watching...

He had a feeling that a monumental moment in history was going to take place on this night!

He quickly adjusted his own suit before making his way to the top of the pagoda with a myriad of emotions churning in his heart.

He wanted to see the answer to his questions, but he knew that if the answer was the one that he expected, then this entire world was going to be tipped on its head!

All of the underworlds and death gods were going to be scrutinizing this moment intently, and the state of the entire world was going to undergo drastic changes!

He wanted desperately to know the answer, but at the same time, his legs felt like lead, and he was too afraid to find out the answer.

The world wasn't prepared at all for something like this!

The pagoda was normally completely deserted, but at this moment, there were dozens of Yin soldiers occupying each floor. Perkins made his way to the top floor with a heavy heart, then scaled the final staircase to reach the top of the building.

Down below was a vast sea of black Yin energy that resembled a layer of clouds. Up here, it was already impossible to see the city down below. The only landmarks that were visible were the tops of the four slightly shorter surrounding pagodas that were peeking through the clouds like four mountain peaks.

Tea and snacks had already been prepared at the center of the top floor, and several taishi chairs had been placed around the table. Zhao Yun was seated on one of the chairs, casually eating some sunflower seeds, and he gave a nod to acknowledge Perkins's arrival.

Perkins's gaze quickly swept over Zhao Yun as he cast his eyes directly forward, where a young man wearing a black dragon robe was seated on a recliner chair right in front of the railing up ahead. He was holding a cup of wine in one hand, and he raised the cup in a casual and elegant manner in Perkins's direction as he greeted, "Welcome, Director Perkins of the GTO, I've heard much about you."

That's the Cathayan Underworld's King Yanluo!

Perkins gulped nervously at the sight of Qin Ye. This King Yanluo had a very youthful appearance, but he possessed cunningness and guile far beyond his years. He had only occupied the throne for several years, yet the three pillars hadn't managed to best him yet!

If the second King Yanluo were still in power, then that would be very normal.

However, this King Yanluo was so young and his cultivation rank was so low that it was downright unimaginable for him to have achieved all of this!

Furthermore, the most remarkable thing about him was that he always managed to beat his opposition while remaining within the constraints of the rules. He was far more gentle in his approach than the second King Yanluo, and due to his more amicable political style, many nations across the entire world had begun to develop a positive image of the Cathayan Underworld.

All of these thoughts flashed through Perkins's mind in an instant, and he extended a deep and respectful bow as he said, "Director Perkins of the GTO pays his respects to the ruler of the Cathayan Underworld."

"Take a seat," Qin Ye offered, and Perkins immediately did as he was told, making his way over to a chair before sitting down on it in a careful manner, before inspecting his surroundings.

As soon as he did so, the netherfire in his eyes instantly flickered slightly.

Everything was too casual here...

There were no guards in the surrounding area at all! While it was true that Qin Ye was a mid Yama-King himself, and he also had Zhao Yun for accompaniment, thereby making any further guards redundant, there still had to be a sense of ceremony!

How could the ruler of one of the four pillars not be surrounded by countless officials and Yin soldiers? Unless...

Perkins's hands began to tremble slightly as a thought occurred to him.

Unless Qin Ye didn't want anyone else to hear what they were going to be discussing next!

Perkins's breathing drew to a halt as this thought occurred to him, and he felt as if he were dancing on the edge of a sharp knife that could cut him in half with the slightest misstep.

"What are you so afraid of?" Right at this moment, a gentle hand placed itself onto his shoulder, and Qin Ye appeared beside him, then pulled out a silken handkerchief to dab at Perkins's forehead. "I'm an advocate for peace and reason, so there's no need to be afraid in my presence."

"Yanluo Qin!" Perkins's hands were trembling even more severely now, causing the tea in his cup to spill all over his hand, and he gritted his teeth as he mustered up all of his courage before asking, "What exactly is it that you want me to see?"

If he didn't ask that question now, then his curiosity was going to make him explode!

Qin Ye smiled as he picked up Perkins's hand, then led him over to the railing. He raised a hand, pointing a finger into the distance before sweeping ir over the four pavilions in the distance as he asked with a smile, "Don't you think something is missing here?"

Perkins pursed his lips and shook his head in response.

Right at this moment, the melodious chime of a clock rang out from below the clouds, and Qin Ye released Perkins's hand as he asked with a smile, "Don't you think this place is missing some sparkle?"

The clock chimes signifying the arrival of National Day rang out across the entire island, and at the same time, all of the air at the top of the pagoda seemed to have congealed. Perkins wanted to stand up, but his knees were too weak, so he could only sit on the ground as he held his own upper body upright by holding onto the railings, while peering through the gaps in the railings toward the sea of clouds down below.

It was also at this time that Zhao Yun rose to his feet, and he took a deep breath, upon which all of the surrounding Yin energy surged toward him like the tide, forming a vortex of Yin energy with a radius of several hundred meters around the pagoda. At the same time, his voice rang out like rumbling thunder throughout the heavens.

"Units 1 to 10 of the Yin Mountains Power Station, get ready!"

A series of light screens suddenly appeared in the east, illuminating Perkins's deathly pale face and his trembling hands that were locked tightly around the railing.

The screens depicted groups of extremely excited Yin spirits wearing white lab coats, and behind them were electric generator sets that were close to 20 meters tall and several dozens of meters wide!

There was no mistaking it now, the Cathayan Underworld was serious about this!

His mouth gaped wide open, and countless emotions surged through his heart, causing him to tremble uncontrollably, but he was staring intently at the light screens, unwilling to miss even the slightest of details.

Inside all of the light screens, all of the engineers and scientists replied in loud voices, "The Yin Mountains Power Station is ready to be activated at any time!"

Zhao Yun nodded in response before declaring, "Units 1 to 300 of the Western Power Station, get ready!"

Several hundred light screens appeared one after another in rapid succession above the clouds, following which countless vigorous voices shook the heavens in response.

"Unit 1 is ready to be activated at any time!"

"Unit 5 is ready!"

"Unit 21 is ready!"

"Unit 130..."

"Unit 200..."

The high-ranking officials of all of the government departments, including the likes of Qin Changxin and Qin Xinzhong, seemed to have sensed something, and all of them had emerged onto the top of the North Yin Pavilion.

They cast their eyes toward Everburn in unison, watching the countless specks of netherfire burning in the distance.

They could see all of the Yin spirits gathered on the plazas throughout the city, holding candles in their hands as they awaited the promised fireworks.

An amused smile appeared on Qin Changxin's face upon seeing this.

My apologies, but you won't get to see any fireworks today. Instead, you're going to witness the rise of a new era!

Qin Xinzhong suddenly heaved an emotional sigh. "To think that the Cathayan Underworld was able to reach this step from nothing in just over 10 years... This is truly incredible..."

Deadsend, Ashmound, Eastwood, Shadowend, Mirage... All of the mayors of the Cathayan Underworld's cities had been alerted in advance to what was going to happen, and they had all gathered on the tallest buildings in their respective cities with their family and friends to eagerly await the dawn of the new era!

"Units 1 to 100 of the Aurogon Power Station, get ready!"

"Units 1 to 200 of the Nine Yin Power Station, get ready!"

"Units 1 to 200 of the Suiren Power Station, get ready!"

It took Zhao Yun a full 30 minutes just to call out the names of all of the power stations, and the response that he received came in the form of thousands of light screens, depicting the excited faces of countless Yin spirits, all of whom were raring to go, eager to usher in this new era.

In total, it took a whole 50 minutes for everything to be ready.

As a result, the fireworks display for the new Hell's 16th National Day was delayed by 50 minutes.

Perhaps countless netherworldly citizens were already complaining about the delay, but that did nothing to dampen the moods of everyone above the clouds.

Qin Ye finally rose to his feet, then extended a deep bow toward all of the light screens around him, and in this moment, even he was overcome by emotion.

An unimaginable amount of resources and hard work had culminated in this occasion, and he was about to witness history.

"Thank you for your hard work over the past decade, everyone."

He stood up straight again as he declared, "On this day, let us draw a conclusion to this era! The future belongs to us, and it's up to all of you to usher in the new era! Now then, on my command... Activate all of the generator sets!!"

All of the generator sets across the entirety of the Cathayan Underworld were activated in unison at his behest!

All of the Yin spirits depicted in the surrounding light screens instantly pressed the buttons that their fingers had been resting on, and in that instant, a string of slight tremors seemed to have run through the entire nation.

The giant wheel of history was going to crush everything in its path en route to creating a new era.

A chapter in history had drawn to a conclusion, and a new one was about to be written.

From this day onward, the world was going to welcome an era of rapid development, filled with countless possibilities and opportunities!

Five minutes later, bursts of dazzling light pierced through the clouds from the ground below, illuminating the entire pagoda into an immortal paradise!