Yama Rising

Only underworld emissaries could hear this sound, and it subsided just as quickly as it had begun.

"Who could it be?" Tezcatlipoca's brows were tightly furrowed as he fell into deep thought. He had never heard this sound before.

"You don't know who it is?" Qin Ye asked.

"I've never heard this sound before," Tezcatlipoca replied with a shake of his head. "That doesn't make sense. The divine artifact of an acquaintance lies here, so I should be able to recognize them, even if they're an ancient god, but this aura…"

"So be it," Qin Ye said as he cast his gaze toward the white mist up ahead. "Whoever it is, we'll find out once we get there."

In the next instant, the ship plunged violently into the white mist, which was icy cold and encompassed the ship from all directions. Within the mist, the sound of fierce, howling winds was the only sound that could be heard, and five minutes later, a completely new scene appeared before everyone's eyes.

The white mist had disappeared.

To put it more accurately, the white mist was now behind them, standing like a white city wall, while up ahead was a giant island.

The island was around 100 square kilometers in area, and there wasn't a single tree or building on the island, only grass that had grown to be taller than the average adult human.

In the sky above within the wall of white mist, lightning was flashing incessantly, and fierce wind was sweeping through the tall grass. Everything was on clear display, yet for some reason, the beholder was struck by an indescribable sense of fear, as if there were some type of monster lurking within the grass, waiting to drag anyone who dared to set foot on the island to their doom.

Woody's legs were trembling uncontrollably, and he made his way over to Qin Ye unsteadily while using a rifle as a crutch. "Ar, ar, are we really going in there?"

None of them had any idea what horrors could be lurking on the island.

"Stay within 10 meters of us and you won't die," Qin Ye said. "Unless, maybe you want to go to hell right away?"

Woody gritted his teeth and took several deep breaths before falling silent, then nodded at Francis and Gavin.

At the end of the day, they were renowned pirates who had reigned supreme over the Caribbean Sea, and they were certainly better than the average person at controlling their fear.

……………………………………………………

20 minutes later, the group appeared at the edge of the tall grass with Qin Ye leading the way and Tezcatlipoca bringing up the rear.

Gavin gulped nervously as he held tightly onto the rifle in his hands. He knew that the monster bringing up the rear wasn't there to protect them. Instead, he was there to prevent them from running away.

As he looked at the tall grass up ahead, his mind was screaming at him not to go in there. It was telling him to run, that there was no way he could leave this place alive!

"Fuck!" he cursed to himself before stepping even closer to Woody and Francis.

Right at this moment, a burst of rustling suddenly rang out up ahead.

It was coming closer and closer, and Woody took a deep breath as he abruptly aimed his rifle at the tall grass up ahead. In the next instant, the grass suddenly parted, and a white shadow shot forth toward the group.

Before he had a chance to pull the trigger, Qin Ye had already plucked the object out of the air between his index and middle fingers.

It was a paper airplane.

Qin Ye spread it open to find that the words "Agenda of the Omeyocan Plan" were written on it in large text.

"As expected, the Death Star is here."

Qin Ye tucked the piece of paper away into his cloak.

This was the place where all of the mysteries were going to be unraveled.

"Now then, let me see what this so-called hell looks like."

He then began to rise up into the air, but after ascending to only a meter in height, he immediately dropped back down again.

"There's a flight restriction here," Tezcatlipoca said. "You aren't more powerful than Cipactli while it was still alive, so you won't be able to fly here. Allow me."

As soon as his voice trailed off, Tezcatlipoca took a deep breath that lasted for an entire minute, and his body quickly began to bulge like a balloon. Right before the astonished eyes of Woody's trio, he abruptly exhaled, and a burst of faint mist immediately surged through the surrounding area.

All of the tall grass in a radius of several hundred meters around them was folded backward by the mist, and that area was only continuing to expand.

Right after the area crossed a radius of a kilometer, countless crimson eyes suddenly lit up within the tall grass behind them.

"Fuck!" Francis immediately swiveled his rifle around, yet before he could pull the trigger, Qin Ye warned in a cold voice, "If you don't follow my instructions, I can grant you a swift death right here!"

He and Tezcatlipoca then also turned toward the same direction.

There were tens of thousands of these red dots, and they were all lurking beneath the grass, watching the group from afar like countless rats in the darkness. Three seconds later, all of them quickly disappeared.

There's something down there…

Woody was chewing down tightly onto his own lower lip, and his hands were clammy with sweat. There was something inside the grass, and it was waiting for them to go in!

Tezcatlipoca took a deep breath again to withdraw all of the mist, following which his brows furrowed even tighter.

"There are no living beings around here," he said with a surprised expression. "My mist spreads over the ground, and it hasn't detected anything stepping on the ground."

"Is that so?" Qin Ye pursed his lips as he cast his gaze toward the tall grass.

In that case, they had to be situated on leaves or on the stems of the wild grass.

This meant that they had to be extremely small, but there was clearly a massive number of them.

Tezcatlipoca said, "About 50 kilometers directly up ahead, there's a patch of empty land where there's no grass."

That should be where the altar is situated…

Qin Ye nodded in response, then swept a sleeve through the air, and a chain that was formed by Yin energy instantly shot forth to connect him with the other four people in the group.

He then rushed forward as fast as the wind, and the three humans behind him didn't even get a chance to cry out in surprise before they were dragged along behind him.

Qin Ye was leading from the front with his Yin energy fully released. Mortals wouldn't be able to see this, but all supernatural beings were able to see a vast sea of Yin energy around Qin Ye, and all of the grass in the surrounding area was completely flattened to the ground. This was a warning to all of the living beings on the island, telling them to stay away or be killed!

None of them were saying anything, and they were flying along at around half a meter above the ground. Qin Ye was acting as the engine that was driving everyone forward, while Tezcatlipoca brought up the rear.

Woody, Francis, and Gavin were completely tensed up, and they were breathing heavily, while their eyes were completely bloodshot and wide open. Their rifles were aimed in three different directions, and if any signs of disturbance arose in the surrounding area, they weren't going to be sparing with their bullets at all.

The group was drawing closer and closer to the plot of empty land up ahead, and Qin Ye was also on high alert, ready to lash out any moment if required. Right as they reached within 50 meters of their destination, a string of whistling sounds suddenly rang out all around them.

This was the sound of arrows being fired, but how was that possible?

In the instant that they lowered their heads, a black shadow appeared above them, forming an inky-black screen in the sky.

Woody's trio was greatly alarmed by this, yet before they could shoot upward, the black cloud quickly swept over their heads, following which the surrounding area fell completely silent again.

Qin Ye swept a hand through the air, and a black shadow shot forth from behind him before landing on his palm. He took only a single glance at it before his brows furrowed tightly.

"What is it?" Tezcatlipoca made his way over to Qin Ye, and a grim look also appeared on his face at the sight of the object sitting on Qin Ye's palms.

It wasn't an arrow. Instead, it was a blowdart.

It was like a miniature carrot with fletching formed by grass, while the tip was a black bone needle that was giving off strong Yin energy.

"Is that… a blowdart?" Tezcatlipoca looked at the projectile with a stunned expression before casting his gaze toward the boundless tall grass.

How many of these monsters were lurking in this grassland?

That was the first thought that sprang into his mind, following which he began to wonder what exactly these things were.

There was no way that they could be humans. Humans wouldn't be able to hide in the tall grass without standing on the ground as their body weight would be far too much for the grass to support. Thus, if these had been humans, the mist that he had released earlier would've definitely been able to sense them.

Thus, this had to be a type of living being that was far smaller than humans. It was unclear how long they had lived here, but they had made this grassland their home, and they had even established their own civilization!

"Have you seen those things before?" Qin Ye asked in a grim voice.

"No… This is incredible!" Tezcatlipoca was staring up ahead with a dazed expression, and the only thing that he could see was the tall grass swaying in the wind up ahead.

He withdrew his gaze before falling into deep thought, then said, "I have a theory… This is the place where Cipactli perished, so this island should be a part of its remains. However, it wasn't an important piece, which is why it wasn't taken for the creation of the fifth sun god."

"Then how do you explain this thing?" Qin Ye asked as he raised the blowdart that he was holding.

Tezcatlipoca replied, "That can be attributed to the blood of a divinity. Cipactli was known as the Eternal Devourer, and it possessed innate godly attributes. Otherwise, its body wouldn't have been used to create the fifth sun god. The only explanation that I can think of for this is that its blood triggered some strange changes in the ecosystem of this island."

Qin Ye didn't say anything.

Only after a long while did he speak again. "Tezcatlipoca, I'm beginning to see why the Plumed Serpent God was able to plot against you so easily now."

A hint of anger flashed through Tezcatlipoca's eyes upon hearing this.

This was a blatant insult! Qin Ye was essentially calling him an idiot!

He repressed his anger as he asked, "What do you think then?"

Qin Ye tossed the blowdart aside before asking, "This island only 'awakens' every night at 12 AM. Where was it before that?"

"On the seabed?"

Qin Ye nodded in response. "Do you think this grassland can grow on the seabed? You mentioned an ecosystem? Where could the ecosystem have possibly come from?"

The fury in Tezcatlipoca's heart instantly vanished, and he was left feeling quite embarrassed by his own oversight.

Before he had a chance to say anything, Qin Ye continued, "The ecological environment on the island had to have been affected by something else. The blood of a divinity was only responsible for creating these strange living beings. Someone has set up a restriction on the island, a restriction that makes it only appear at night. Only after that will the blood of a divinity be able to affect the island and cause some changes."

"Who could it be?" Tezcatlipoca asked.

The fact that neither of them could sense the restriction meant that the person who had set it up had to at least be an advanced Yama-King!

"Perhaps it could be… the Plumed Serpent God?" A smile appeared on Qin Ye's face as countless chains abruptly erupted out of his sleeves, unleashing his Heavenly Dragnet!