Yama Rising

Right as the tremors began to run through the ship, Qin Ye had already released his Yin energy to protect the entire ship.

The sound of chaotic footsteps rang out outside, and after about 10 minutes had passed by, the door of Qin Ye's cabin was finally knocked on, and Qian Duolai's voice was heard outside. "Your Excellency."

"Come in."

Having secured Qin Ye's permission, Qian Duolai made his way into the room. He was holding a bottle with both hands, and he offered the bottle up to Qian Duolai in a respectful manner.

What's this?

Qin Ye inspected the bottle with an intrigued expression. This was a rather uncommon hexagonal bottle that was completely transparent, and inside it was a rolled-up piece of parchment paper.

A letter in a bottle, eh?

Qin Ye turned to Qian Duolai as he asked, "Why did you bring this to me?"

"This is going to sound very far-fetched, but this is what the ship appears to have crashed into," Qian Duolai replied with tightly furrowed brows. "At the time of the impact, the only thing in contact with the ship was this bottle. It's very difficult to describe what happened... The bottle was like a mountain, and a massive section of the ship's hull has caved in from the impact. The shape of the caved-in section is exactly the same as the shape of the bottle, except magnified countless times."

Qin Ye immediately understood what had happened. This was a sign of power being released, but strangely enough, he couldn't find any traces of power in this bottle.

There wasn't any Yin energy, true energy, or immortal energy, it simply seemed to be a completely ordinary bottle.

Interesting...

Qin Ye continued to inspect the bottle as he waved a dismissive hand.

Qian Duolai took that as his cue to leave, and only then did Qin Ye set down the bottle before removing the cork, then pulled out the piece of parchment paper inside.

He had completed this sequence of actions extremely cautiously, but no mishaps arose during this process.

However, this made him even more cautious. It was as if this bottle were calling out to him, waiting for him to open it!

He carefully placed the piece of parchment paper onto the table and began to slowly unfurl it. His Yin energy had already formed an impenetrable barrier around him, but in the next instant, his pupils abruptly contracted, even though he had only spread less than a centimeter of the piece of parchment paper open.

His entire soul had begun to tremble and sway violently, like a fast-moving ship that had crashed into a giant glacier, and countless voices rang out beside his ears.

It was as if thousands of deranged individuals were howling and weeping right beside him, and it was an absolutely ghastly sound that evoked horror from the deepest parts of one's heart. All of the sounds that he feared were being incorporated into these voices, and all of the fine hairs all over his body had stood up on end, while goosebumps were raised all over his skin.

Furthermore, amid these countless chaotic voices was an illusory voice that was particularly potent. That voice was situated at the very deepest part of these ghastly voices, and it made one's soul involuntarily want to search for it.

"Look at me..."

Screams rang out from all directions, forming a turbulent wave that attempted to shatter the defenses around Qin Ye's soul. Right at this moment, a gash abruptly appeared on Qin Ye's glabella, and from within that gash emerged a completely expressionless vertical pupil.

As soon as the pupil appeared, bursts of inky-black light filled the entire room, forcing back those chaotic voices. At the same time, Qin Ye's eyes abruptly sprang open.

There was a hint of lingering fear in his eyes as he looked down at the piece of parchment paper with an incredulous expression. "What the hell is this thing?"

It was extraordinary that this piece of paper was almost able to break down the defenses around his soul when he was a mid Yama-King!

He took a deep breath to calm himself down, then dabbed at the cold sweat on his own forehead as he stared intently at the piece of parchment paper.

At some point, the piece of paper had already been completely unfurled.

It was riddled with chaotic runes that had been inscribed using an extremely sinister red ink, and it didn't seem to be as simple as just blood. If an analogy had to be made, then this would be like someone being tortured to death, then dragged along a sharp asphalt road by the killer, and this red ink would be the culmination of scraps of their flesh, their blood, and their anguished fury.

Just the mere sight of it struck the beholder with a sense of repulsion and unease.

At the very center of the piece of parchment paper was a triangular eye, and there were strange symbols all around its three edges. Qin Ye couldn't understand anything, but the words "save me" emerged directly in his mind.

"Is this supposed to be some type of text?" A ball of inky-black flames was ignited in his hand, burning the piece of parchment paper to ashes, following which a contemplative look appeared on his face.

"Is this some type of text capable of registering directly in the reader's mind? I've never seen this type of text before, but I think it's safe to assume that this isn't any known type of text on Earth. Even the earliest cuneiform text is different from this."

His brows furrowed slightly as he cast a contemplative gaze outside through his window.

"Who has written this, and where has it come from?"

There was no way to answer those questions.

Right as he was in a state of deep thought, a voice suddenly rang out in his cabin. "That's not any form of text from Earth."

Soul Shackles immediately flew out of Qin Ye's sleeves like pouncing vipers upon hearing this voice as he instinctively acted to protect himself, but in the next instant, his mind registered the voice and identified who it belonged to, upon which he relaxed again.

All of a sudden, boundless radiance descended from the heavens all around the ship, forming a vast sea of light.

At the same time, a pillar of light that was several dozen meters thick struck the ship with unerring accuracy, but the ship merely swayed slightly and remained completely unharmed.

"What was that?"

"What's going on?"

"Protect Yanluo Qin! Hurry!"

"All troops, prepare for battle!"

Right as the entire ship was about to erupt into a frenzy of activity, Qin Ye's calm voice rang out to reassure everyone. "It's alright, I'm just being visited by an old friend, so there's no need for panic. Continue toward Australis."

After issuing that order, Qin Ye didn't pay any further heed to the activity on the ship. Instead, he cast his gaze toward the pillar of light that had appeared in a corner of his cabin.

This was a dazzling pillar of white light that was giving off an air of holiness, as if it were capable of cleansing everything within it.

This was a divine descent, and Qin Ye only knew one person who made such flashy entrances.

He sat down in front of the table, then filled two teacups, and by the time he was done, a figure had already taken a seat across from him. "Long time no see."

"Indeed," Qin Ye said as he pushed a cup of tea toward the figure. "You seem to be recovering quite well."

The figure seated across from him was none other than the Plumed Serpent God, and on this occasion, he had taken the form of a man with a dark complexion, wearing a long brown robe and golden Aztec-style ornaments on his arms and around his neck. There was also a beast skull sitting on his head, attached to which were bright and vibrant feathers, and the parts of his body that were bared were riddled with white tattoos.

He accepted the teacup as he smiled and replied in fluent Cathayan, "It's all thanks to you."

It really is all thanks to me, I'm glad to see you know your place...

Qin Ye rested his chin on his hand as a smile appeared on his face, and he suddenly said without any warning, "I met Tezcatlipoca."

The Plumed Serpent God shuddered ever so slightly upon hearing this. It was a barely detectable reaction, but Qin Ye was able to capture it.

"He's just a failed pseudo-god." The Plumed Serpent God set down the teacup in a calm manner, making it appear as if he wasn't the perpetrator behind the tragedies of the five suns.

"A pseudo-god?" Qin Ye asked as he feigned a surprised expression. "He was the sun god of the First Sun in the most powerful religion on the new continent! How can he be referred to as a pseudo-god? If he's a pseudo-god, then what are you supposed to be? Don't forget that you were banished and renounced by the entire Aztec religion!"

"I'm different from him."

"Pardon me for being frank," Qin Ye said with a smile. "But the main difference between you and him is how valuable you are to me."

The Plumed Serpent God's brows furrowed ever so slightly upon hearing this. In the next few centuries, pandemonium was undoubtedly going to ensue on the new continent, and originally, Qin Ye only had the Plumed Serpent God as a foothold on the new continent, but he had an even better foothold now, thereby severely diminishing the value that the Plumed Serpent God could offer to him.

As Dax, Qin Ye would be able to roam freely all over the new continent, while in contrast, the Plumed Serpent God was only a puppet that still hadn't managed to separate himself from the Heavenly Dao yet.

With that in mind, a fawning smile appeared on the Plumed Serpent God's face, and he said, "In order to separate myself from the Heavenly Dao, I can't do anything to help you in return. Thus, in exchange for your help, I'm willing to offer you a special gift."

"Oh? Go on," Qin Ye prompted with a smile as he set down his teacup.

The Plumed Serpent God leaned forward slightly as he asked in a low voice, "Are you interested in the treasure vault left behind from the era of Aztec mythology?"

Qin Ye's expression changed ever so slightly upon hearing this, and he had to admit that he was intrigued.

This was the treasure vault of an entire religion! This was definitely one of the trump cards that the Plumed Serpent God was counting on using against the Aztec religion once he was separated from the Heavenly Dao, but he was offering it up to Qin Ye without any hesitation.

It had to be said that the Plumed Serpent God was extremely decisive and shrewd.

The Plumed Serpent God added, "Rest assured, no one will come after you even if you open the treasure vault. You've already met Tezcatlipoca, so you should be aware that our mighty parent god is currently in a state of slumber, and no one knows when they'll awaken. That treasure vault will be a present to you as thanks for your help."

A hint of a smile appeared on Qin Ye's face, "So you're giving me something that's not even yours? There's not much sincerity there."

Before the Plumed Serpent God had a chance to reply, Qin Ye's smile faded as he said in a serious voice, "We'll talk about the treasure vault later. For now, I need you to tell me something."

"I'll be sure to tell you everything I know."

"Did you just say that the message in that bottle was from another world?" Qin Ye asked. "I don't care about where it came from, all I want to know is how the message managed to enter our world. Don't tell me that you don't know! You've been integrated with the Heavenly Dao in the past, and during that time, you've learned some of the things that the Heavenly Dao knows, you've admitted that to me in person before."

Outside the underworld was Limbo, and outside of that was the human realm, while heaven lied beyond the human realm. From a spatial perspective, the three realms were like the yolk, white, and shell of an egg! There was no gap for anything to enter the underworld, so how had this thing from another world managed to find its way into the underworld?

The being that had created that bottle was definitely no ordinary being!

His heartbeat was beginning to accelerate a little as these thoughts occurred to him. Originally, he was planning to ask the second King Yanluo about this, but the Plumed Serpent God could also provide him with the answers that he wanted.

If he could find out how this bottle had made its way into the underworld, perhaps he would be able to enter that alternate world through the same pathway!

That would be the beginning of his conquest of the underworld's space!