Yama Rising

His finger was pointing at the new continent.

"Firstly, we must lay out the objectives that the other underworlds have for targeting us," Lu Ban said in a serious voice. "There are only two possible objectives, the first of which is to dethrone us as one of the four pillars, and the second of which would be to expand the number of pillar nations. Through our deduction, the panel of advisors has determined the second possibility to be most likely. They haven't been able to ascertain the true state of the Cathayan Underworld, so choosing the first option would be far too risky, and even a slight misstep could trigger a world war. Thus, there is a greater chance that they would pursue the second option. However, regardless of what they choose, they must operate under the rules of the Coalition of Underworlds, which is characterized by a voting system. Each underworld or conglomerate entity of underworlds holds a single vote, and in order to earn more votes, we must show the other underworlds your attitude. On top of that, we need to recruit more powerful underworlds to our side, thereby telling everyone that we're not alone, and the place where we'll have the most potential to recruit powerful allies will be none other than the new continent."

Qin Ye stroked his own chin as he said in a contemplative voice, "The Mythic Spirits of the Alkebulan Underworlds were created by the Plumed Serpent God, so they didn't attain their power themselves. Those death gods don't know that, but they've also sensed that something is amiss about them, which is why they've always looked down on the Mythic Spirits of the Alkebulan Underworlds. As for Northern Europa, its geographic location is too secluded. Only the new continent has three mighty religions and has a massive territory, thereby making them the best allies for us."

Qian Duolai poured a cup of tea that he handed to Qin Ye, and Qin Ye accepted it, but didn't drink it right away.

He cast his gaze toward the tea in the cup as he murmured to himself, "No, that's not all."

He set down the teacup as he rose to his feet, then clasped his hands behind his back as he continued, "Most importantly, the two rulers of the new continent have no qualms whatsoever. If we can get them to stand on our side, then they would essentially be a pair of walking nuclear bombs that we could use to threaten any underworld at any time. All of the major underworlds are fearful of them as they're completely unpredictable and uncontrollable, which is why they want to avoid provoking the three religions of the new continent at all costs. As for the subsidiary underworlds to those major underworlds, they can only follow the orders of those major underworlds."

This was something that Qin Ye hadn't thought of before this.

Several seconds later, he continued, "However, the two rulers of the new continent won't be attending this conference. They're completely engrossed in searching for opportunities for survival on the new continent, and they don't care about the state of the world at all. Only the representatives of the three major religions will be in attendance, and without the leaders of the new continent to lead them, the other underworlds won't be anywhere near as wary of them."

Indeed, if it were only going to be the likes of Xolotl attending the conference, then the underworlds aiming to strike at the Cathayan Underworld would only be concerned, but not afraid. They didn't dare to be completely insane and unreasonable as the two rulers of the new continent could, so they weren't as intimidating to the other underworlds. Following the passing of the new continent's two rulers, they still have to continue living in this world, so they couldn't afford to burn all of their bridges.

The only people who would dare to oppose this entire world would be the two rulers of the new continent, whose insanity had drowned out their fear long ago. In fact, the main objective of this conference was to discuss how to prevent them from getting their hands on documents pertaining to forbidden arts. 

With that in mind, Qin Ye was struck by a sense of enlightenment. An intelligent man like him didn't require much guidance, and this was already enough for him to understand everything. Even so, he continued to ponder even deeper.

If the two rulers of the new continent could stand with him and support him no matter what, then the Coalition of Underworlds would have to worry that if the outcome of this conference didn't sufficiently benefit the Cathayan Underworld, then they could hand over documents pertaining to forbidden arts to the new continent as a means to spite the entire world.

Going even further than that, perhaps they would be afraid that in a fit of rage, Qin Ye would decide to join forces with Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa to instigate a world war!

Both of those options sounded a little far-fetched, but in reality, there was a very good chance that both scenarios could eventuate if the Coalition of Underworlds weren't careful!

In that case, would they dare to go ahead with their original plan?

Would the other indecisive and neutral underworlds dare to take such a massive risk to vote for the other three pillars?

The only ones who would dare to strike at one of the four pillars would be the four pillars themselves. Prior to doing that, they would definitely communicate with all of the other underworlds that held voting rights. The opposition was already beginning to play their cards, which indicated that their communication efforts had already borne some fruit. If the Cathayan Underworld didn't make a move and simply went with the flow, then it would be at the mercy of the other three pillars. However, if the two semi-deranged rulers of the new continent were to side with them, would the other underworlds still dare to vote against them?

It wasn't the case that all of the underworlds were subsidiaries of the other three pillars. At the very least, the Alkebulan Underworlds and the Northern Europa Underworlds weren't. Furthermore, there were all these other alliances and coalitions. Why had these come into existence? It was precisely to gather the strength of weak minorities in order to resist powerful entities like the three pillars.

Several minutes later, Qin Ye exhaled as he said with an intense look in his eyes, "If we can accomplish this, then we will indeed be able to ensure that we pull through this relatively unscathed, but how do we achieve this? The underworlds that are acting against us will definitely eliminate all of the potential allies that we can recruit to our side, and we have no ties with the new continent whatsoever. Xolotl may have helped us prevent Xu Fu from fleeing to the new continent, but there's no way that he'll vote for us. The likeliest scenario is that he'll relinquish his vote, but we don't want that. Instead, we want him to vote for us."

A contemplative look appeared on his face as he gently swept a hand through the air, and a rock appeared. The rock was giving off a colorful radiance that was hypnotizing as it was beautiful.

Would this Heavenmend Rock be enough?

If a death god were to perish, they would inevitably become one with the Heavenly Dao. Heavenmend Rocks could help one grasp certain laws of the Heavenly Dao, which would perhaps allow them to retain a shred of sentience within the Heavenly Dao, but this wasn't the time to be using this trump card.

What Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa wanted now was to survive and not become a part of the Heavenly Dao at all!

The Heavenmend Rock could only achieve its greatest impact once the two rulers of the new world were certain that becoming one with the Heavenly Dao was unavoidable. At this point, they were still 200 to 300 years away from death, so the Heavenmend Rock wouldn't be alluring enough to make them travel all the way to Nara to attend this conference and support the Cathayan Underworld.

The ideal situation would be for Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa to arrive in person and side with the Cathayan Underworld. Even a vote from the likes of Xolotl wouldn't achieve the same effect.

However, how could he make this happen?

Qin Ye was temporarily at a complete loss as he massaged the rock in an absentminded manner.

The second King Yanluo had told him to figure this out on his own. What could he use to lure those two old monsters from the new continent to Nara?

Even after thinking for a long while, he still couldn't figure out anything, and he shook his head before turning to everyone else in the room. "Even with the votes from the new continent, that still wouldn't be enough."

"Indeed," Lu Ban replied. "However, those votes would be extremely influential, especially when it came to swaying the decisions of the neutral underworlds. It is indeed true that those votes alone won't be enough, but if we want to be able to turn the tables, then we have to make use of everything that we can."

He then pointed toward another spot on the map. "This is the Northern Europa Alliance, while this is the Coalition of the Alkebulan Underworlds."

He turned to Qin Ye with a solemn and urgent expression as he continued, "My Lord, what we have to do now is establish relations with these two entities. Ideally, we want to make them our strategic partners. After that, we'll sign a whole host of agreements with them, then spread the news far and wide! Previously, I said that these two places weren't held in very high regard, but that only applied to the four pillars. These two entities have a total of over 10 death gods combined, so for the other underworlds and underworld conglomerates, they are still very much a force to be reckoned with! If we can sway their vote, that would sow unrest and hesitation among the other neutral underworlds. Even more importantly, these two entities have massive territories, and no matter how powerful the other three pillars are, they can't extend their reach into those places. During the next few days, we have to contact the Northern Europa Underworlds and Alkebulan Underworlds to put on a show and sign as many mutually favorable agreements as possible. In addition to that, we have to promote our actions to all of the underworlds, and that would definitely create a stir. Finally, once the underworlds of the new continent arrive, we have to convince them to do the same and sign high-profile agreements with us using any method possible. That is the key to our survival!"

There were no direct military clashes during the international conferences, but the tumultuous undercurrents were even more perilous than outright wars.

The room fell completely silent, and Qin Ye contemplated the situation for a long while before finally giving a decisive nod.

This was indeed the best way to proceed given the current situation. They were going to accumulate allies rapidly over the course of the next few days, then bring things to a head upon the arrival of the representatives of the new continent. In particular, everything would be blown wide open if they could convince Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa to come to their aid as well.

"So the most important thing right now is to think about how to lure those two old monsters here," Qin Ye murmured as he cast his gaze toward Zhao Yun. "What do you think?"

Zhao Yun's brows furrowed slightly as he shook his head in response. "I thought that the Heavenmend Rock would be enough to convince them to side with us, but it seems that I was wrong."

Qin Ye gently combed his fingers through his own hair to calm himself down.

There were still six days left, and there had to be a way. The second King Yanluo was rather lackadaisical at times, but he definitely wouldn't joke about something so serious.

"So all we can do now is wait." Qian Duolai finally broke his silence. He was a man of few words, but everything that he said was worth listening to. "The more actions we take now, the more we'll be revealing to our enemies. As we wait, we'll be able to see who will initiate contact with us during the next few days, and we're also waiting for the arrival of the Coalition of Alkebulan Underworlds and the Northern Europa Alliance. We can actively recruit the Alkebulan Underworlds, but the Northern Europa Alliance is a bit more complicated. None of the four pillars had tried to forge a relationship with it because it was in such close proximity to the Argosian Underworld. Thanatos has all but explicitly said that it intended to conquer those five nations at some point, and none of the other three pillars were willing to go directly against the Argosian Underworld. However, that was 100 years ago. Now that they're trying to re-establish the world order, anything goes. The Northern Europa Alliance also needs a powerful ally right now, and no one fits the bill better than the Cathayan Underworld."

Qin Ye cleared his throat in an awkward manner upon hearing this. He couldn't help but feel a little sheepish to call the Cathayan Underworld a "powerful ally" in its current form.

Having said that, as long as they could last through this conference, then go to the new continent to recover Xu Fu's notes, the Cathayan Underworld would indeed become a powerful ally in as little as 20, no, 15 years!

Having decided on the plan of action, everyone knew what they had to do. Qin Ye swept his gaze across everyone in the room as he declared, "So we wait until the day that we're actually going to strike. Prior to that, no one is to act recklessly! Do not appear in any settings with large gatherings of foreign underworld emissaries unless absolutely necessary!"

"Yes!"

Thus, everyone departed, and Qin Ye poured himself a cup of tea as he cast an absentminded gaze out the window.

Seeing as you're intent on bringing me down, then come! Let me see if your spear will pierce my shield or if my shield will snap your spear!