Yama Rising

"Hiyah!!" At the foot of the pyramid, 10,000 Yin soldiers were currently training. A black and white Yin Yang design was slowly revolving beneath their feet while giving off a faint luster, and they were rapidly familiarizing themselves with this newly obtained military formation.

Qin Ye was standing at the top of the pyramid, overseeing the proceedings with a serious expression. Wumu was one of the best military formations in the world, and the reason for this was that it was able to enhance Yin soldiers by as much as 30%! Furthermore, it made all of the Yin soldiers encompassed within it completely fearless and immune to intimidation from the Yin energy of more powerful foes. In addition to that, the overall effect of the military formation would be raised by 1% per 100,000 Yin soldiers in the formation.

This didn't sound like much, but under most circumstances, a military formation could already be considered to be first-rate if it could provide enhancements of 20%, and that wasn't even taking into account the fact that the enhancements granted by Wumu were capable of becoming more potent the more Yin soldiers were encompassed within it. The underworld was lacking in everything aside from population, and if an army of five million Yin soldiers could be gathered, Wumu would be powerful enough to raise every single Yin soldier to the Anitya Hellguard level! With the Cathayan Underworld's past population, it wouldn't have been impossible to elevate all Yin soldiers to the Infernal Judge level.

Several million Anitya Hellguards would be enough to overwhelm several Yama-Kings, let alone millions of Infernal Judges.

This was one of the Cathayan Underworld's premier military formations but also one of its simplest in that it did nothing but purely enhance the power of Yin soldiers.

All military formations were only effective on low-grade underworld emissaries. This was a very special type of item, its original copy most likely came from the Aurogon's Eye of the Six Origin Buildings, but it could be copied onto other scrolls. The only limitation was that each scroll could only be used a maximum of 20 times.

The method of usage was also very simple: the underworld emissary holding the military formation only had to spread open the scroll, then select the targets that he wanted the military formation to act upon. The main difference between military formations and arts was that the former's maintenance required constant Yin energy expenditure. It required a foundation to provide it with energy. Thus, generally speaking, the military formation would either be unleashed by a Yama-King in person or tied to a Yin jade mine. After 20 uses, close to half of the energy in a Yin jade mine would be used up.

With Qin Ye's current vast reserves of Yin energy, the military formation was naturally tied to... Fate.

You want to accuse me of stealing Yin energy? What do you mean by steal? It's called borrow! Repeat after me: bo, rrow!

As for whether the second King Yanluo was going to notice that his power was constantly being stolen, that was not something for Qin Ye to worry about. After all, no wise and mighty leader would ever concern themselves with such trivial details, right?

"Yama-King Qin!" Right at this moment, a Yin spirit rushed over to Qin Ye. He was wearing a suit of silver armor with a very unique cape on his back, upon which was embroidered the design of a sun. He extended a respectful bow as he said in an excited voice, "They've begun to move!"

This man's name was Boda, and he was one of the five founding members of the resistance army, having led the resistance army in countless battles against the Eagle Warriors.

Qin Ye immediately turned around before asking, "Which city is it? Philadelphia, Cape May, or Dover?"

"Cape May!" Boda's chest was heaving violently as he licked his own dried and cracked lips.

"What about Philadelphia? Is there still no change there?" Qin Ye asked.

"Not at the moment."

I see... Qin Ye clasped his hands behind his back, and his beaded bracelet fell into his palm with a flick of his wrist. A contemplative look appeared on his face as his mind began to race.

It was already the third day since the night at Saint Peter's Church.

The day before, he had devised an initial plan after consulting the map provided by Benson, and the resistance army had immediately sent out 1,000 Yin spirits, who entered the mortal realm in secret through a Yin Yang Mezzanine before possessing residents of Philadelphia. After that, they controlled their hosts to move toward the nearby major cities such as Cape May, Dover, and Bell, as well as all of the major streets in Philadelphia. They were accompanied by the Porter Spirit and the Spatial Spirit from Qin Ye's Dusk Legionnaire.

These were the least powerful beings in his Dusk Legionnaire at the moment, and if he were to send out Yin spirits of a higher caliber, they would be detected right away.

There was no time for him to assign them specific tasks or give them detailed instructions. There was only a rough overall plan, and fast adaptation and thinking on the fly were going to be very important.

Theoretically speaking, his judgment should be correct. Philadelphia was currently completely useless to his opposition. There was no way that Kraken would be able to enter Philadelphia, and the only possible place for the three death gods of the Caribbean to ascend to godhood was Delaware Bay, which was large enough to hold Kraken. However, he still couldn't convince himself to be fully confident.

If Philadelphie really were completely useless, why were there still four Dukes situated here?

"Who's currently conducting surveillance on Philadelphia?"

Right as his voice trailed off, two Yin spirits suddenly rushed into the room, and after extending respectful bows, they panted as they reported, "Esteemed Yama-King Qin, they've made a move! We received reports from S.H.I.E.L.D. last night that an enormous amount of Yin energy is currently on the move through The Bahamas and Port-au-Prince! The Yin energy is so vast that it's impossible to conduct surveillance over its entire mass!"

The other Yin spirit wanted to say something as well, but he waited until his companion finished before immediately reporting, "Esteemed Yama-King Qin, Warlord Dalton and Warlord Erza of the underworld's Red Eagle Navy are also on the move! They're leading a fleet of 25 ships straight toward Central Usonia!"

Qin Ye's eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. and he quickly fell into deep thought.

He didn't say anything and continued to pace back and forth slowly in the room, but his heartbeat was rapidly accelerating, and his adrenal glands were working overtime.

So it's finally coming... This storm is finally about to begin...

These three pieces of news indicated that the opposition was already fully on the move. Were they being spurred on by a sense of urgency following the Saint Peter's Church incident?

In addition to that, there were still several things to be considered.

Firstly, why hadn't any of the four Dukes left Philadelphia? That didn't make any sense!

Secondly, S.H.I.E.L.D. was a special department in Usonia and didn't have much of a presence in the mortal realm. The fact that they had access to reports from S.H.I.E.L.D. indicated that the resistance army had forces in the mortal realm. As expected of an army that had evaded the Eagle Warriors on multiple occasions.

Furthermore, directly below Port-au-Prince and the Bahamas was the Caribbean Sea!

The Caribbean Sea wasn't a part of Northern Usonia or Southern Usonia. Instead, it was situated in Central Usonia. The Bahamas were the northern gate of the Mediterranean Sea, and the fact that such a vast amount of Yin energy had been detected to be on the move in that area indicated that the three death gods of the Caribbean had set off as well!

Thirdly, Warlord Dalton, whom he had met on one previous occasion, was beginning to move from the west to the east. Qin Ye had specifically instructed Bensons' troops to keep an eye on him and his fleet. This seemed to be only a normal military maneuver on the surface, but unbeknownst to everyone else, attached to one of the ships in Warlord Dalton's fleet was Tezcatlipoca's heart!

"Their arrival will herald the commencement of the final act!" he murmured to himself.

Boda hesitated momentarily before gritting his teeth as he asked, "Are you sure about that, Yama-King Qin?"

It was extremely important for them to accurately deduce the time of the grand script of death's conclusion.

"I'm certain," Qin Ye replied in a confident voice. "The Red Eagle Navy and the Black Shirt Navy both have ties with the three death gods. In other words, they've already been bribed. They're acting as bait to lead Kraken on a wild goose chase in the west, buying the three death gods of the Caribbean and the Freemasonry to prepare in the east. Once the two naval branches arrive, Kraken will also follow suit, rushing from the underworld into the mortal realm!"

His eyes narrowed slightly as he cast his gaze toward a pyramid in the distance with a cold smile on his face. "This is not a movie. Even with the Freemasonry's immense wealth and influence, there's no way it would be able to sweep an event as catastrophic as Kraken wreaking havoc in Delaware Bay under the rug. I'm willing to bet that they would've only been able to convince the Usonian government to not get involved for a single day. In fact, it may even be shorter than that, perhaps 12 hours or 16 hours. Don't forget that right above Delaware Bay are the cities of Philadelphia, New York, and Washington DC. The Freemasonry still isn't powerful enough to control the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the president wouldn't dare to allow them to do whatever they pleased for too long. If they can't conclude the grand script of death in the allotted time period, the government will intervene and bombard Kraken with missiles. They won't be able to kill Kraken, but once Kraken flees the scene, their grand script of death would be placed in an extremely awkward situation."

Several seconds later, he concluded, "There's no way they would allow that to happen."

THis plan had been brewing for over 100 years, but it most likely wouldn't even take 10 hours to conclude the final act.

Silence.

Several seconds later, Boda asked with tightly furrowed brows, "Yama-King Qin, how do we find out the exact time that they're going to execute their plan?"

"Do you have any troops stationed near the Great Blue Hole?"

"We do," Boda replied as his eyes lit up.

Indeed, the instant that Kraken passes through the Yin Yang Mezzanine will herald the commencement of the final act!

"Fantastic!" Qin Ye could barely contain his own excitement. "When the time comes, I'm going there in person to see this grand scene for myself."

I have to be calm right now... All of the required information has already been gathered, but if I want to intercept this grand script of death, every step of the plan must be executed to perfection.

His mind was racing as he turned toward a Yin spirit and commanded, "Send out a messenger to pass this onto Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa, make sure it reaches them at all costs!"

He pulled out his own token before tossing it to the Yin spirit, who nodded in response before instantly vanishing as a gust of Yin wind.

The message that Qin Ye had for the two rulers of the new continent was already enclosed in the token, and this was their final trump card.

If he were to succeed, then he would be facing the full wrath of the Red Eagle Navy, the Black Shirt Navy, the pirates of the Caribbean, and four Dukes. If he wanted to escape, then he would require some assistance.

I wonder how the Usonian government is going to explain a divine descent in the mortal realm... A faint smile appeared on his face as this thought occurred to him.

After that, he turned to Boda and asked, "Who's conducting surveillance on Philadelphia at the moment?"

"Mr. Benson is overseeing the city in person, so please rest assured, Yama-King Qin. We have a lot of experience when it comes to monitoring Yin energy at or above the Marquess level. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to evade Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa up to this point," Boda replied with a serious expression. "Possessing cats and rats is something that we often do to keep ourselves safe, and if any changes take place in Philadelphia, we'll immediately know."

Qin Ye nodded in response.

The storm was coming. He didn't know why the four Dukes in Philadelphia were still in the city, but he could only watch the situation and adjust as it unfolded.

The biggest advantage he had was that he was in the shadows while his opposition was out in the open. The Spatial Spirit was already hiding in Philadelphia, and that was the final security he had set up in the city.

He shook his head to rid himself of the erratic thoughts going through his mind, then asked, "Have your troops already arrived in Cape May and Dover? Are they safe?"

"They're safe for sure," Boda replied as he offered up a stack of documents. "This is a list of names of all of the Yin spirits to have arrived in Cape May and Dover, as well as their Yin energy signatures."

Qin Ye swept a finger through the air, and the documents flew up before many of the names on them were crossed out. As for the remaining Yin spirits, every one of them had a speck of netherfire beside their name.

With all of this prepared, Qin Ye could descend at any time!

His Dusk Legionnaire could disregard all restrictions, but if he wanted to descend into the mortal realm, he required a summon from the host occupied by those Yin spirits to open up a passageway for him.

A speck of netherfire appeared on Qin Ye's fingertip as he mused, "Now then, let us see what's become of the site where the final act of the grand script of death will take place."