Yama Rising

A plane flew straight across the sky from Pearl River to Alkebulan.

“You’d better not try anything funny.” Qin Ye wore a sleeping mask and reclined his seat. He was seated in the VIP area, and Abra was seated right beside him.

“I’m making a private trip to the Alkebulan Underworld for some private matters that cannot be disclosed. When we arrive in Alkebulan, you should go through the usual reporting channels.” Qin Ye lifted the sleeping mask slightly and glanced at Abra, “As an informant for the Alkebulan Underworld, you should know full well Hell’s international standing among the underworlds. So, do you not believe the words I’ve said?”

Like hell I believe you!

Ah… I mean… You are from hell after all…

But if this were an official private visit, you would’ve gone through the proper channels, and not through me! You’re obviously some Emissary of Hell that is up to no good!

These were the thoughts in Abra’s heart, but he obviously couldn’t express these thoughts of his. In fact, his hands had been trembling uncontrollably ever since he’d boarded the plane earlier.

They were on a specially chartered plane. Why did Qin Ye have access to something like that? Simple. All it needed was a single word of instruction from a particular old monk.

They were the only two passengers on this flight.

Qin Ye ignored him. It had already been half an hour since the plane first took off. He waved his hand casually. At once, a man dressed in camouflage uniform marched over, saluted respectfully, and then handed him a paper bag.

After receiving the paper bag, Qin Ye slowly opened it up, “Passive resistance is futile as well. This isn’t conducive for our communication anyway. You’re from Malagasy? [1] Good place… Who’s the Mythic Spirit there? Alex? Marty?”

Abra bit his lips and glanced over. He wanted to say - My Lord… I’ve seen the DreamWorks Malagasy animation… But before he could do so, he discovered that Qin Ye was already looking at a map of Alkebulan. Thus, he didn’t say another word.

Qin Ye couldn’t care much about what Abra thought right now, because he’d just discovered a huge mistake stemming from his own ignorance of world geography.

Aegyptus…

Aegyptus is located in Alkebulan!

He had always thought that Aegyptus was located in the Middle East!

Whoosh… He abruptly shut the docket of information. His mind was now in a mess.

If Aegyptus is in Alkebulan, and not--... cough… then, why did the master of Aegyptus choose to head east into the Middle East in the first place?

Why didn’t they go south into Alkebulan?

Is it because the Coalition of Alkebulan Underworlds is too strong? Or is it because the situation there is far too chaotic?

He glanced at Abra. Obviously, he wouldn’t know the answers to these questions. However…

He turned to the soldier dressed in camouflage uniform, “Are we heading through Aegyptus?”

The soldier responded, “No, sir.”

Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief.

Aegyptus was the location of one of the P4 underworlds after all. They would most certainly take notice if an Abyssal Prefect flew right past in their airspace. Most importantly, he wasn’t prepared to cross paths with an underworld of such caliber at the present moment.

However, before his heart could even feel settled, the soldier went on.

“We were supposed to have taken a connecting flight through Al-Qahirah. [2]”

“But ever since a few years ago, Cathayan planes passing through Al-Qahirah have all been… affected in some way or another. Finally, just eight year ago, Cathay made the call to completely cut off all flights to Al-Qahirah.”

“Affected?” Qin Ye suppressed the uneasiness in his heart as he pressed the point, “What do you mean?”

The soldier shook his head, “It’s hard to describe… For instance, what was most commonly reported was simple malfunctioning of equipment and instruments, almost as though they had just seized up for a moment. Then, there were reports of temperature dips in the aircraft, and even… some high-altitude supernatural incidents. That said, all of them would eventually land safely in the end.”

“Understood.” Qin Ye nodded and put his sleeping mask back on, “Then, what route are we taking?”

The soldier glanced at his watch, “We’re stopping by New Dilli for a transfer to Eritrea’s Asmara International Airport, before finally flying straight to Malagasy. The total journey will take about seven hours. Sir, would you like me to notify you in advance?”

“Please make sure you wake me up an hour in advance.”

With that, the conversation ended, and the surroundings were shrouded in silence once more. The darkness from the sleeping mask allowed him to devote all of his attention to his thoughts.

He’d already guessed the cause of the anomalies in the planes arriving at Al-Qahirah.

These were probably caused by the Aegyptian Underworld’s search for Emissaries of Hell!

Hell lockdown could never be treated the same as the lockdown of any other lesser underworld. This was the lockdown of an entire underworld in possession of a Forbidden Art. Everyone would be affected, including the surrounding underworlds, as well as the balance of powers in the international arena. Everything would change because of Hell’s sudden sequestration from the world!

I’m afraid that… all eyes must be on Hell right now. They’re all waiting and watching for even the slightest traces of movements from within.

He didn’t pay any heed to Abra any longer. Instead, Qin Ye rested for some moments. Cathay operated on a time zone that was five hours ahead of the time in Alkebulan. Therefore, it was necessary for Qin Ye to adjust his body clock accordingly.

But just as he was about to drift off into sleep, he felt someone touching his arm, and he immediately opened his eyes.

His surroundings were already bright. They had taken off at 4.00 a.m. in the middle of the night, and the clock at the front of the plane showed that it was already 10.00 a.m. in the morning.

“Sir, we’re entering Eritrean airspace right now.”

Qin Ye nodded and went to the washroom to freshen up. He took several deep breaths, sat back down in his seat, and then finally opened the window.

At once, his pupils shrank.

There was a city in the skies!

His eyes gazed upon the horizon across the skies, staring intently at the tall and magnificent buildings that sat in the clouds! Moreover, some of the structures were built in a highly idiosyncratic fashion.

Pyramid…

There’s actually a magnificent pyramid resting on top of the clouds!

Unfortunately, it was located too far away, so he wasn’t able to see it clearly. However, he could clearly sense that there was someone located at the tip of the pyramid!

No. To be more precise, he could sense the presence of a foreign emissary.

He didn’t know who it was, but the Yin energy emanating from the top of the pyramid filled the entire sky with dense Yin energy. This meant that… it was a true Yama-King! In other words, it had to be the Pharaoh of the Aegyptian Underworld!

Qin Ye’s breaths grew shallow and ragged. The clouds both above and below him were even slowly but surely beginning to swirl about as a result of his emotional fluctuations. Even the sea below was sloshing about more powerfully than usual.

Qin Ye knew better than to continue staring at the magnificent sight. At once, he closed the windows once more.

Fortunately, they weren’t able to see him.

Eritrea was a part of Alkebulan territory that belonged to one of the Mythic Spirits, and they were separated from the Aegyptian Underworld by Nubia [3] They were currently flying over the Bosaso International Airport that was located right next to the Gulf of Aden. If the Pharaoh were to sweep his gaze this way, he would most certainly encroach upon the territorial rights of the Mythic Spirsit of Alkebulan. But, even then, they most certainly made a statement with their underworld.

It was akin to the proclamation of the existence of… a king.

There might be many lords in the Alkebulan lands, and it might still be a fact that the Aegyptian Underworld hasn’t unified Alkebulan. However, they were declaring that there was only one king.

This was the declaration of one of the P4 underworlds, the Aegyptian Underworld!

“Sir, our plane is about to descend. Please be careful.” The soldier stood beside him and cautioned him.

Qin Ye wasn’t quite in the mood to see anything else right now. He found it difficult to grapple with the fact that he was located in such close proximity to an underworld of such might and influence. Thus, he remained absolutely silent throughout the next 15 minutes of descent, before finally opening the window once more.

“Holy shit…” Even though he was already prepared for something like this, he couldn’t help but curse silently in his heart at this very moment.

Eritrea was located just south of Nubia, and southwest of Saudi Arabia. Incidentally, the sea separating Eritrea from Saudi Arabia was none other than the famous Red Sea.

Its waters flowed through Aegyptus, Nubia, and Eritrea, before finally reaching the mouth of the straits and into the Gulf of Aden.

Had he once paused to consider how important the Red Sea was to Aegyptus? They were one of the P4 underworlds of the netherworld, so how could they possibly give up a location of such geographical importance?

Unfortunately, the truth hit him harder than he thought. They were currently flying only several hundred meters above the ground, and it was only then that he finally appreciated what it meant to be hailed as one of the P4 Underworlds.

The sparkling waters of the Red Sea were practically covered with countless ghost ships right now. Everywhere he looked, he could see tattered sails of the ships fluttering with the wind. By his estimate, there were at least a thousand ships on the Red Sea right now!

But, given the sheer volume of waters in the Red Sea, these ghost ships wouldn’t occupy more than a small corner of the Red Sea. What truly astounded him was the fact that all of the ships were emitting copious amounts of Yin energy. Some were ancient three-masted sailing ships, some were Spanish ships, and some were even heavy Midian ships. They drifted about in the day, invisible to the mortals going about their bustling port activities around them. Meanwhile, the ghost ships swiftly drifted in and out of the dense clouds of Yin energy in the vicinity, almost as though sailing between the mortal realm and the netherworld.

“Emissaries of foreign underworlds…” Qin Ye sighed and shut his eyes once more.

It was worth reiterating that it was nearly noontime, and that each of these ghost ships were sailing on a dawn voyage. In other words, there was at least an Anitya Hellguard travelling on each of these ships to enable such an ability. There were at least a thousand Hellguards on the Red Sea right now! Or, at the very least, Yin spirits operating Hellguard-class Yin artifacts that enabled their dawn voyage!

Furthermore, this was nothing more than a glimpse of the capital of the Aegyptian Underworld.

In fact, it wasn’t anything more than a glimpse of the might and influence radiating from a single, powerful port of the Aegyptian Underworld.

To describe them as powerful would be far too much of an understatement.

It was sheer brilliance.

This was a civilization in its full glory!

Qin Ye couldn’t even begin to imagine what Hell must have been like back in its heyday, when it was hailed as one of the P4 underworlds, just like the present sight he was witnessing.

He shook his head, and then continued to scrutinize the ships on the Red Sea.

He could see an emblem drawn on the sails of the ghost ships depicting a scale with a feather on one end and a heart on the other.

Legend has it that Anubis uses a scale like this to assess whether his citizens were guilty or innocent. So long as the heart was heavier than the feather, it would be devoured by the monster Ammit, that was known for having the head of a crocodile, the upper body of a lion, and the lower body of a hippopotamus.

This was a means of securing passage to the Aegyptian Underworld.

As the plane descended, things slowly came into view, and Qin Ye finally saw it. Far in the distance, there was a colossal blue hole on the surface of the Red Sea. Several ghost ships that were sailing towards it vanished as soon as they arrived at the hole.

That must be a rift to the Aegyptian Underworld… and a massive one at that.

Qin Ye pulled up the window once more. As the plane drew closer and closer to the ground, he could sense wisps of stirring Yin energy emanating from beneath his feet. These wisps of Yin energy appeared to be filled with a sense of disgruntledness as it appeared to declare ownership of the Eritrean lands.

As expected, there’s a Mythic Spirit governing these lands… and he’s likewise a Yama-King at that… Qin Ye massaged his throbbing temples. The earlier sight of the Aegyptian Underworld had startled him and given him much to think about, and he needed some moment to digest it all.

Thus, he remained on the plane, resting in his seat.

Even though there was also a Mythic Spirit in Eritrea, it wasn’t the one that Abra answered to. Naturally, it wouldn’t be a good idea to head out of the plane uninvited. Besides, Eritrea was a little bit too close to Aegyptus for comfort. There were probably darkfeathers scouting the region at all times as well.

And it would be a huge problem if they discovered the existence of an Emissary of Hell around these parts…

Fortunately, the transfer didn’t take too much time, and they soon took off once more. This time, their destination was Malagasy.

And we’re finally off… Qin Ye heaved a sigh of relief. But just as the plane was ascending into the skies once more, he suddenly noticed something…

There was suddenly another person seated by the windows in the plane!

This man was dressed in a ramrod straight suit, and he sported dark skin. The soldier made a few rounds around the plane, but he didn’t appear to notice anything amiss.

On the other hand, this uninvited guest appeared to have been watching Qin Ye all this while.

“Hello.” He smiled faintly and spoke in fluent Cathayan, “Emissary of Hell… What a rare sight…”

Abyssal Prefect…

He’s actually also an Abyssal Prefect!

Qin Ye was immediately jolted right back to his senses. Separated only by the aisle between them, Qin Ye did his best to smile back genially, “And who might you be?”

“Minister of the Eritrean Tribe, Mayasu.” The man placed his left fist over his chest and bowed slightly in respect, “By order of my lord, I’m presenting the esteemed Emissary of Hell a small gift for passing through my country.”

1. Madagascar will remain as Malagasy, but given that the author has been using normal references for most countries outside of China, I’ll do the same as well.

2. Cairo.

3. Sudan.