Rumble… Yin energy filled the air, dyeing the skies black like an ever-spreading plague.
Darker than the skies of Hell, and more ghastly than night itself. It was a wave of energy powerful enough to cause the entire port to tremble in fear. Yin energy engulfed Ashmound Port. Su Daji and Qin Hui shuddered with primal fear. Meanwhile, every other Yin spirit working at the ports stopped what they were doing and gasped coldly at the darkness of the skies.
Gu Qing, Zu Chongzhi and the others stood at the front of the port. Even though the waves of Yin energy were boundless and majestic, it didn’t feel terrifying to them in the slightest. In fact, it even felt as though a warm spring breeze was embracing their entire being. Zhang Heng did a double take in the skies, and then cupped his fists and bowed respectfully, “Yama-King… This is a new Yama-King, but his aura feels somewhat… familiar. He’s probably someone that we’re already acquainted with.”
One by one, the engineers cupped their fists and bowed respectfully. Even the monarch beasts immediately lay prostrate on the ground with their heads bowed low. The dock, which had just been bustling with activity earlier, was now completely shrouded in silence. And it was amidst this dead silence that Qin Ye descended from the skies and onto the docks, together with Wang One Tail, the Harken, and Zhao Yun.
“This is…” Li Chun’s brows twitched slightly - Such unbridled, majestic Yin energy… This… is probably one of the Sixfold Ghost Kings!
Have they returned?!
Are there even still Ghost Kings left behind in this world?!
His heart began to thump wildly. The circumstances of the new Hell weren't quite the same as the old Hell, and the new Hell would readily welcome the addition of any military powerhouses to the force. After all, it was going to take easily another decade or so before a proper system of education and training could be developed, so any guidance they could receive now would be like rain in the desert!
“Greetings, King Yanluo! Congratulations for the return of the Ghost King!!” The scholars on the ground greeted with great vigor and anticipation. Zhao Yun waved his hand, and the scholars immediately felt an invisible hand lift them slightly from the ground. Zhao Yun smiled, “Everyone, thank you for your hard work thus far.”
“Think nothing of it, Ghost King Zhao.” Zu Chongzhi laughed loudly and then proceeded to bow deeply once more, “I live as a Cathayan, and die as a Yin spirit of Hell. It is my duty to act for the glory of my homeland. How could it possibly be hard work?”
“That’s right.” Zhang Heng stroked his beard gently as he beamed like the morning sun, “Hell deserves to stand at the top of the world. So what if the old Hell has collapsed? We were able to shed the deadweight as a result of that! The new Hell will rise up even stronger than before!”
Qin Ye glanced around with joy swelling from his heart. It was truly fantastic to see Hell thriving with talents and wealth.
As far as the talents were concerned, there was the mythical Harken, Arthis, the legendary Zhao Yun, and the other scholars including Zhang Heng and Zu Chongchi, all of whom are famous in their own rights. The new Hell might be somewhat small for the quality of these talents right now, but it wouldn’t be long before they could be dispatched to various parts of Hell as provincial leaders and the like!
And as far as wealth was concerned, there was the Mythic Palace of Reflections, the treasures located in the Zhu Clan’s Longxing Temple, the Resentment Crystal Mine, the Yin spirit stone mine located under Ashmound City, as well as the various other veins of resources that the rest of the construction corps were still keeping an eye out for as they explored the unknown lands of Eastmount Province. Two of the three daolords were effectively already pledging allegiance to Hell, and Hell would soon have the Russian Underworld and the Nipponese Underworld answering to them. And then, there was the trade route to be established with the Alkebulan Underworlds and the upcoming negotiations with the mortal realm. To that end, Qin Ye had even laid the groundwork for an alliance with the Plumed Serpent God…
Things are only going to get better from here… Qin Ye shut his eyes and relished in these thoughts. His heart thumped wildly, and he took several deep breaths to calm his heart and mind down.
The new Hell was now set up for success, and all that awaited was ignition!
Revival was imminent!
He gazed out into the open seas, almost as though he could see the other gods of death of the P4 underworlds.
Laugh… laugh all you want… After all, you’re not going to be laughing for too much longer now…
Just wait. In 100 years’ time, I’ll show you what true power is. I’ll silence all you naysayers with irrefutable actions!
Qin Ye didn’t get too carried away, and he soon regained his composure. It was fine to have thoughts and ambitions, but what was more important was how to put his plans into motion.
Thus, the first thing he did was to turn to the two Yin spirits who were kneeling on the ground - Qin Hui and Su Daji.
Almost as though they’d sensed Qin Ye’s gaze shifting towards them, Su Daji promptly broke the silence, “G-g-g-greetings Yanluo Qin! G-g-g-great sinner Su Daji humbly seeks your f-f-forgiveness!!!”
Meanwhile, Qin Hui kowtowed hard on the ground, sending a soft shockwave rippling through the ground as he exclaimed with fear and great trepidation, “I pray that Your Excellency can forgive us our sins! We’re willing to swear an oath on our souls to pledge our allegiance to Hell forever! So long as Hell remains standing, so shall we live. But should anything befall Hell, then I…”
Just then, Zhao Zilong interrupted him, “Qin Hui, Su Daji, do you still remember me?”
“Yes! Most certainly! How could we forget the glory and honor of the great Ghost King Zhao? But I pray that Ghost King Zhao will show mercy to us. We’ve been atoning for our sins for the last thousand years! Please give us a chance to make up for our sins!!” Su Daji kowtowed desperately onto the ground. She could hardly be bothered about her image and reputation as the first demon queen in the history of Hell. Everything was meaningless in the face of overwhelming power. She even had tears in her eyes as she pleaded for her life.
Qin Ye marched straight past them with his entourage in tow. Meanwhile, the two ghosts lay prostrate on the ground, pleading desperately for their lives.
“Whether you can make up for your sins is entirely up to you. Come here.”
“Yes!!”
Qin Hui and Su Daji only stood up after the last person in Qin Ye’s entourage passed through between them. And then, they glanced at each other.
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They had dallied a little too much in their defection.
Who would’ve thought that their moment of hesitance would come back to bite them so quickly?
It hadn’t been too long ago that the King Yanluo of Hell had to speak cautiously to them, and yet, he already had them dancing in the palm of his hand right now!
With a soft sigh, the two daolords bit down on their lips and followed anxiously behind the entourage of Emissaries of Hell as they made their way to the pavilion in the middle of the docks.
The pavilion covered an enormous area spanning an area of almost 1,000 meters in diameter. There were three floors, and the plaque that hung right in the middle was etched with the words “Yellow Springs Pavilion”. A couplet ran down the pillars of both sides, stating on the left “Gather all treasures of the netherworld”, and on the right “Accrue merits for all eternity”.
Inside, the pavilion was constructed with exquisitely carved beams and decorated with beautiful paintings. There were lampstands with vivid designs of the Torch Dragons, incense burners shaped like the heavenly crane, and carvings of the Harken resting on a lotus flower placed at every corner of the pavilion. Some of the larger sculptures adorning the place would also be etched with signs stating “Fortune Division”, “Treasure Division”, “Records Office”, “Audit Office”, and so on and so forth.
“The interior is designed in accordance with the style of the Ming Dynasty, albeit adapted slightly to integrate the flair of modern style that is popular in the Insignia Province right now.” Gu Qing explained, “They were quite well-informed of the matters of soft furnishings, and most of these that you see now are artifacts that we have hand-picked from the Zhu Clan’s treasure trove. I’d taken liberties with that to show you what this place could look like. But if you dislike it, we can put them right back where they were.”
“There’s no need. This is very good.” Qin Ye inspected everything closely with great delight as they slowly made their way towards the top floor. Then, as soon as they were there, they opened up the carved windows, only to be greeted by the majestic sight of the sprawling docks before their eyes. The dark seas were contrasted by the dazzling lights of netherflames in the area. It was a marvelous sight.
He turned around and gestured for everyone to take a seat, “Ashmound Port is soon going to be open to the world. The more extravagant it looks, the better. There’s no need to hold back in this regard. Go ahead and use as much of our resources as you want! You have my permission to take anything you need from the treasure trove… Is the inventory list out?”
“It’s out.” Wang Chenghao nodded and handed over a stack of documents, “There are 39 million pieces of Yin Jade, 49 types of Yin artifacts, and 999 pieces of each item. Furthermore, there are a total of 50,000 sets of light armor and 5,000 sets of heavy armor, 30,000 sets of crossbows and 5,000,000 arrows. On top of that, we have 10 types of weapons of mass destruction, and 49 sets of each type of such weapons. Our preliminary estimate is that everything is worth 70.78 trillion Yin spirit stones. And this is not counting the Yin spirit stone that the Longxing Temple is built using, and the traps and mechanisms found withins the Longxing Temple as well.”
Qin Ye looked up at Wang One Tail in surprise.
A person’s maturity usually came with life experiences. But who would’ve thought that a simple trip to Daehan could actually draw out his aptitudes as a personal secretary?
“Well done.” He picked up a cup of tea and took a sip from it.
The tea tasted excellent.
It was warm to the touch, and left a lingering fragrance in his lips. The most valuable things in the netherworld were invariably things that gave Yin spirits the feeling of warmth, be it food, drinks or types of entertainment.
He knew full well that the tea grown in Ashmound City was worlds apart from this type of tea. Naturally, this must be something from the Zhu Clan’s treasure trove. But what he didn’t expect was for the contents of the treasure trove to be valued in the tens of trillions! To put things into perspective, Cathay’s GDP was only about 100 trillion RMB, and the old Hell’s GDP probably wasn’t too far off from that. Who would’ve thought that one of the Eight Great Clans would have such immense wealth at its disposal?!
No wonder they’re called one of the Eight Great Clans… He sighed softly, and then nodded at Wang Chenghao, “Continue.”
Wang Chenghao continued with a prim and proper expression on his face, almost as though a well-oiled presentation machine, “We’ve consulted the scholars, and they are of the view that the treasures contained in the Longxing Temple are… priceless. We’re talking about a treasure trove that is over 100 years old. It’s important to take into consideration the fact that Hell has been silent over this last century or so. Naturally, its exports have vanished from the netherworld, and the best-selling tea, silk, porcelain, art exports and other similar items have become rarities in the international market. Even though we haven’t done any ground research, the scholars have all deduced that the demand of these items will remain just as high, while the supply will only dwindle over time. Naturally, we’re talking about an increase in their value.”
Zu Chongzhi nodded slightly, “These are the conclusions of Brother Wu Daozi. He believes that an uplift of around 30% is required to accurately reflect their true market value at this point in time. In other words, we’re talking about goods that are somewhere in the region of 100 trillion. This is no different from Cathay’s GDP last year. Lord Qin, the Longxing Temple is truly a godsend!”
Qin Ye sighed softly as he made a mental note to go through the inventory list to see which items should be sold and which ones kept.
“Then, that leaves the final variable of how large the incoming fleets are going to be.” Qin Ye rubbed his chin, “Ashmound Port isn’t small, but we’re talking about reparations of the Russian Underworld, as well as trade with the various tribes of the Alkebulan Underworlds. The incoming fleet of merchant ships cannot possibly be small in number. This is going to be the first port of the new Hell. We absolutely cannot afford to open up in a lacklustre fashion and become the laughingstock of the netherworld.”
“My Lord.” Just then, Qin Hui and Su Daji promptly interjected with a resounding kowtow, “If I might, I have something to say.”
A thought suddenly occurred to Qin Ye - Since when did this government of mine start speaking with such formality and platitudes?
“Speak.”
“Yes.” Qin Hui kowtowed deeply, and proceeded to keep his head bowed low even though there were a number of Judges, Hellguards and even Soul Hunters around, “Two days ago, Su Daji and I joined hands and hunted down the great sinner Kong Mo, executing him right at the edge of the Array of the Nine Gods. But it just so happened--...”
He took a deep breath, and Su Daji finished the sentence for him, “It just so happened that we encountered the combined fleet of the 17 Alkebulan tribes! And their flagship… is none other than the notorious Black Pearl!”
Bloody hell?!
Qin Hui lowered his head and glared at Su Daji.
You… Su Daji, how dare you betray me!
Why are you even vying with me for this little credit of mine?! Are you trying to show me up?!
I was just catching my breath to sort through my thoughts! Are you women just as garrulous as the other?