Yama Rising

Time flew by quickly, and in the blink of an eye, five years had already passed by.

North Yin Pavilion, Everburn.

A burst of door-knocking rang out, and upon being given verbal permission for entry, Wang Chenghao quickly made his way into Qin Ye's office. He was holding a stack of documents, and he extended a respectful bow as he said, "Your Excellency, a riot has taken place in Shadowend City, and Yin soldiers have already been deployed to quell the unrest."

"Anything else?" Zhao Yun was seated in Qin Ye's position, and he didn't even raise his head as he quickly read through the submitted memorials.

"The end-of-year wrap-up meeting will begin in half an hour. These are all the documents for the meeting." Wang Chenghao placed the documents onto the table as he spoke, and Zhao Yun finally looked up from the memorials as he rubbed his own eyes, then picked up a document to take a look.

During the past five years, Hell had completely gone onto the right track.

The new energy resource had been established worldwide, resulting in massive revenue for Hell. This revenue was then reciprocated into all of Hell's industries, forming a positive, self-reinforcing cycle.

The base stations and research centers for all of the nations and regions in the underworld were bringing back one piece of new technology after another, and at the very least, there were no signs to suggest that the electricity-like energy string could be replaced in the next few decades.

The island of Formosa had already become the center of Asia, not just because it was currently the only import island of the Cathayan Underworld. Even more importantly, all of the underworld's annual energy resource transactions were also settled there. At the same time, it was also the biggest energy resource market in the entire underworld.

The tactic of connecting the dragon jade with the energy resource was an extremely shameless one, but it had been implemented without a hitch. After all, the only nations that this was detrimental to were the three pillars. The Cathayan Underworld's annual GDP was experiencing rapid growth to the tune of close to 30% per year. At this point, the Cathayan Underworld was already filled with academies and factories. Of course, its foundation still wasn't as vast as that of the past Fengdu, but it was already looking no less prosperous.

The graduation of several generations of students had provided the Cathayan Underworld with a massive number of skilled personnel, and at this point, there were already forty million netherworldly citizens who had become Netherworld Operatives, thereby making them official underworld emissaries. Around 100 netherworldly citizens had reached the Anitya Hellguard level, and two had become Infernal Judges, both of which had been given important roles in the government and the military.

The overall power of the Cathayan Underworld was growing at an incredible rate, and all netherworldly citizens were filled with confidence for the Cathayan Underworld's future. It was only a matter of time before the Cathayan Underworld was restored to its former glory, complete with its 10 Yama-Kings.

Perhaps this would take 200 years, perhaps it would be 500 years.

Zhao Yun read through the figures on the documents as he nodded and said, "Alright, leave it to me."

Wang Chenghao took that as his cue to leave, and he gently closed the door after himself. Right after his departure, Zhao Yun heaved a long sigh before raising his head.

He gently massaged his own temples as he inspected the extremely encouraging figures, but he wasn't happy at all. He wasn't suited to doing administrative work like this, and there was something that was constantly on his mind.

"Yanluo Qin..." He cast his gaze out the window, looking at the throngs of people outside as he murmured to himself. "Where are you right now?"

A nation couldn't be without its leader for long.

It had been five whole years since Qin Ye had extended new years greetings to the nation, and he had even been absent from the three major ghost festivals. All of the netherworldly citizens had started to grow uneasy long ago, and even several high-ranking provincial officials had begun to inquire about Qin Ye's whereabouts in subtle ways.

His absence was a constant cause for uncertainty.

Five years ago, the second King Yanluo had declared that Qin Ye was going into indefinite seclusion for cultivation, yet never did Zhao Yun think that his absence would stretch on for this long.

The invitation letters from all of the other underworlds had already piled up into mountains. All of the nations were using any excuse they could to invite Qin Ye, such as art festivals and financial summits. Zhao Yun had turned down as many of those invitations as possible, and for those that he couldn't turn down, he attended them in Qin Ye's stead.

He withdrew his gaze, then began to read through a black file with a grim expression.

Three years ago was when the first riot had taken place in the Cathayan Underworld. At the time, a monster that was around 50 meters in size had appeared in Shadowend City, devouring 1,200 Yin spirits.

Unlike in the mortal realm, riots in the underworld weren't violent gatherings of many Yin spirits. Instead, they formed a collective, massive monster, one of which Qin Ye had previously killed, but this was on a far more massive scale than on that occasion.

It was a monster formed by 1,200 Yin spirits, and an entire large village had been razed to the ground. Furthermore, the incident had been kept strictly confidential as the cause was unable to be discovered after the event.

Most riots took place due to a dissatisfaction toward the administration. However, according to the investigation, this village was extremely happy with Hell's administration! Just a few days ago, they had been promoting the agricultural slogan released by Hell, and there was simply no conceivable reason for them to start a revolt.

However, that was what happened, and to this day, everyone was still none the wiser as to the reasons behind the incident.

Just as everyone thought that this was going to be a one-off unexplainable event, the second riot took place 11 months later!

On that occasion, 2,000 Yin spirits in the three eastern provinces had gathered together to form a 73-meter-tall monster! If it weren't for the fact that Qin Hui had discovered it early and quelled it with violence, the consequences would've been catastrophic!

That seemed to have broken the floodgates, and during the two years after that, seven more riots took place, absorbing a total of 3,300 netherworldly citizens! On the previous occasion, the resulting monster was already over 100 meters tall, destroying everything in its wake.

Despite the frequency of these incidents, there were still no underlying reasons that could be tracked down.

This had even affected the roles that were assigned to underworld emissaries. In the face of these riots, underworld emissaries often had to be deployed from other cities and regions to assist in quelling the unrest.

However, in doing so, they were temporarily leaving their own cities and regions unattended, and this had already bred a lot of unease among Hell's underworld emissaries.

Right at this moment, Zhao Yun suddenly raised his head before casting his gaze toward the west.

At the same time, the Harken, who had already been inscribing Yin runes onto the Six Origin Diagrams plaza for several years, suddenly stopped what it was doing before also raising its head.

Zhao Yun faltered momentarily before rushing over to the window and flinging it open.

A gust of Yin wind was suddenly swept up, and it instantly became a fierce gale, causing all of the signs in Everburn to sway violently. Even Zhao Yun, who was standing in front of the window, could feel his clothes being blown back by the wind.

It was as if the eye of a typhoon had appeared somewhere in the Cathayan Underworld, and it was releasing gusts of Yin wind with all its might.

The netherworldly citizens on the streets were fleeing frantically, and many of them had ducked into the shops on the streets for temporary shelter. "The weather reports didn't mention this at all! I've got clothes hanging out to dry at home, I think I can say goodbye to them already!"

"Holy shit, the wind's only growing stronger and stronger!"

All of a sudden, a sign was sent tumbling down by the wind, and the sound of it crashing violently onto the floor rang out along the entire street alongside countless alarmed cries. Furthermore, this was happening in more than just one place. However, Zhao Yun paid no heed to this as he stood atop the North Yin Pavilion. Instead, he was staring intently toward the west with an unblinking gaze.

After a long while, he finally closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. "15 years after the founding of the nation, that line has finally been crossed!"

As soon as his voice trailed off, his eyes sprang open, and he instantly released his consciousness, scouring over the entire nation before settling on a certain place several minutes later.

"As expected, it really was you," Zhao Yun murmured to himself with a smile. "I should be calling you Yama-King Arthis now, right?"

……………………………………………………

"What's going on?!"

"What's happening here?!"

At the six paths of reincarnation, all of the departments had been stirred up into a chaotic frenzy. The entire mountain of fire was trembling violently, and Yin spirits were darting around all over the place.

"What is going on here?!" A black-robed Yin spirit was gripping tightly onto a table as he yelled, "Where are the Black and White Anitya Hellguards?! Why aren't they here at a time like this?!"

As soon as his voice trailed off, the table that he was holding onto was flung violently across the room. All of the bookshelves in the room then collapsed, and everything on the table fell onto the ground. It was as if a hurricane had suddenly swept through the entire room.

The black-robed Yin spirit had no idea what was happening.

Is there a riot? But that's impossible! This is the six paths of reincarnation, the place with the most military forces in the entire nation! Who would dare to start a riot here? Could it be an earthquake then? But that disaster doesn't exist in the underworld!

Before he had a chance to think about the situation any further, a burst of enormous Yin energy suddenly erupted from the center of the six paths of reincarnation. He was then struck by a rush of dizziness, and by the time the dizziness receded, he found himself already standing outside the six paths of reincarnation!

He looked down at his own trembling hands, struggling to believe that an eruption of Yin energy alone had blown him out of the six paths of reincarnation.

How powerful did one have to be to achieve that?

In the entire six paths of reincarnation, the only one powerful enough to do this was Warden Arthis, yet she had been in seclusion for the past decade!

At the same time, the Black and White Anitya Hellguards were standing not far behind him, staring at the Soul Shackles in their hands with astonished expressions.

It was clear that they had only just returned from soul capturing duties, and there were 12 Yin spirits trailing along behind them. However, in this instant, the Soul Shackles suddenly disintegrated without any warning, and at the same time, the Yin spirits behind them also began to slowly open their eyes.

"What just happened?" The two Anitya Hellguards exchanged a dumbstruck glance, but before they had a chance to think about anything else, an earth-shattering boom rang out across the entire Lotus City Underworld!

BOOM!!!

All of the underworld emissaries in the city looked on with their mouths gaped open in incredulity.

The six paths of reincarnation had sprung to life!

Karmic flames of six different colors were erupting out of every single layer of the lotus-flower-shaped pavilion, encompassing the entirety of the six paths of reincarnation within it. At the same time, all of the underworld emissaries working in the six paths of reincarnation, which numbered in excess of 100,000, were blown out of the fiery mountain in unison.

"Arrrgh!!"

"Holy shit, what just happened?!"

"Is this an earthquake? Does that even exist in the underworld?!"

Countless Yin spirits were sent flying out of the fiery mountain, presenting a breathtaking sight to behold. However, all of the underworld emissaries outside were more astonished by the transformation taking place in the six paths of reincarnation.

Six-colored karmic fire was rising up toward the heavens incessantly, enveloping the entire six paths of reincarnation. Directly above the six paths of reincarnation, countless gusts of Yin wind converged from all directions, forming a vast vortex.

"Look!" an underworld emissary yelled as he pointed up at the top of the six paths of reincarnation. "Is there something up there?"

Indeed, there was.

In the instant that these changes had begun to take place in the six paths of reincarnation, a humanoid figure had appeared above it.

It was Arthis!

Her black hair was dancing wildly behind her, and her eyes were tightly shut as she stood at the center of the Yin energy vortex. Furthermore, those black clouds were slowly crafting her body!

"Her soul is being refined by karmic fire, while her body is being forged by Yin energy..." The Harken, Zhao Yun, and Qin Changxin had all arrived on the scene.

The Harken looked on with an awestruck expression as it sighed, "The first Yama-King of the new Hell is finally about to appear..."

Right at this moment.

BOOM!!!

A burst of violent tremors suddenly ran through the sky, and the Yin clouds that had gathered around Arthis shuddered violently, looking as if they were about to collapse!

Zhao Yun faltered slightly upon seeing this, then abruptly turned toward another direction. "There's someone else who's also making a Yama-King level breakthrough, and they're far more powerful than Arthis! The Yin energy is being drawn toward both of them, and it doesn't know where to go!"