Yama Rising

There wasn't even a single Yin spirit to be seen along the way; it was as if the entirety of Hell had been purged. In fact, they hadn't even encountered any monarch beasts.

Whoosh... The curtain was gently lowered. Aside from the cloaked figure, there was another young Yin spirit in the carriage who was dressed in white.

The carriage was very spacious and lavishly designed with soft padded seats that completely negated the hardness of the carriage's boards. At the center of the carriage stood an ornate table, on either side of which was a luxurious fur bed. The cloaked man was lying on one of the beds, and he asked, "Hell has struck. What do you think of this, Ziming?"

The man in white was the one being referred to as Ziming, and the netherflames in his eyes flickered slightly. Only after a long while did he reply, "I think things aren't looking very good for us."

"Oh?" The man's voice held a questioning tone, but he didn't seem to be surprised to hear this.

Ziming continued, "Only a few years ago, Hell had nothing, but now, it's already made a move against the Daolord of the Beast. According to our sources, the Daolord of the Beast is the most powerful one among the three daolords. Regardless of the outcome of the battle, it's clear that Hell already has the power to directly face the Daolord of the Beast, which means that its power is at least comparable with the second-rate Underworlds in this world. If they were evenly matched, then there wouldn't be a problem, but if Hell had won the battle..."

Ziming paused here momentarily before heaving a forlorn sigh. "Then we're definitely going to be targeted next. With the Cathayan Underworld bearing down on us from above, and Yu Qian and Yang Jiye pressuring us from below, we have no choice but to betray the nation. Commander, from now on, every step we take must be taken with the utmost caution; there's no longer any time left for us to hesitate."

Zhou Yu slowly picked up his teacup, and he remained completely expressionless. Only after a brief pause did he remove the teacup's lid and take a sip of tea, then heaved a faint sigh. "Betraying the nation is not something that we can consider; that is the bottom line of the twelve envoys. I'm willing to bet that even if Liu Yu is on the verge of turning on the Cathayan Underworld, there's no way he would truly betray the nation, and he's not the only one; the same applies to the Prince of Lanling, Ma Fubo, and Han Qinhu. The only one that I'm unsure about is the official of Sindhu, Gao Jianli; he seems to have virtually cut all ties with Cathay."

He gently placed down his teacup before continuing, "Let's wait and see. Soon, we'll be able to learn the outcome of this battle, and that will allow us to make a decision..."

The carriage was traveling very quickly, and after just a few hours, it had already arrived at the Westriver Province from the border. However, the closer they drew to the entry checkpoint, the grimmer their expressions became.

There were troops stationed at the entry checkpoint, and they were brandishing flags that clearly didn't belong to the Daolord of the Beast; these were the red flags of the mortal realm!

Zhou Yu and Lü Ziming exchanged a wary glance upon seeing this. The answer was now very obvious: it was clear that Hell had won this battle.

"You go to the border of Hell first," Zhou Yu instructed with a solemn expression, "Order the gift-bearing convoy parked there to enter the territory of the Cathayan Underworld right away."

"My Lord..." Lü Ziming paused momentarily before asking, "Should we wait for the other envoys?"

"No!" Zhou Yu's voice suddenly spiked up a few octaves as the netherfire in his eyes shimmered and danced. "The race is on to get to the City of Salvation, and the one who gets there first will have an advantage. Han Qinhu and Ma Fubo have also set off, so perhaps they'll get there before us!"

………………………………………………….

"The nation has been united! The new capital will be Everburn City, and the Third Era of Hell is about to officially found a nation!"

"Under the shrewd leadership of Yanluo Qin, the mighty army of Hell was able to unite the nation that has been fractured for over a century in the span of just three years! All 9.6 million square kilometers of Hell have been united as one!"

One attention-grabbing title after another was released in a frenzy by Hell's media outlets, spreading the news across the entire nation!

From the Westriver Province, the Cloudriver Province, and the Rich Province in the west, to Mongolia in the north, to Ashmound in the east, to the Pearl Delta in the south... Every single township and city received a flood of media reports, and all of the Yin spirits across the land, even those who hadn't experienced everything from start to finish like the citizens of Everburn, were struck by a sense of patriotic pride.

There was finally an administration! Finally, they wouldn't have to wander aimlessly across the land anymore! Finally, they could hold their heads up high and declare that they're from the Cathayan Underworld!

To call it a nationwide celebration would be an exaggeration. After all, the nation had only just been united, and no official nation had even been founded yet. Furthermore, it wasn't like some despotic and tyrannical dynasty had been overthrown to give rise to this new administration, so most of the netherworldly citizens didn't feel much of a sense of belonging yet. Even so, the news of the nation's unification filled everyone's hearts with excitement and joy.

Currently, Ashmound City is a thriving hub of activity. All of the provincial governors and city mayors had arrived a week ago, and they immediately held a series of conferences. There were a minimum of two conferences a day, during which the current state of the provinces and cities were discussed, alongside the central policies of Hell and education on the spirit of Hell... The conferences came thick and fast, but no one was complaining.

Everyone knew that these weren't just pointless educational conferences. These conferences were being held with the very real intention of deciding on a direction for this new dynasty. The path of development that was decided upon here would affect the future of every city and province for a very long time. If these leaders weren't interested in actively involving themselves in this process, there were more than enough Yin spirits to replace them.

The resources for each province and city, the tallies of specialty local products, the plans for the future direction of development... Everything was being rapidly sent out, and Qin Ye was so busy that he barely had any time for himself. Even the Harken and Zhao Yun had gotten involved, but they were still lacking in manpower. Around a dozen developmental discussion groups were temporarily set up, and it was only with their help that Qin Ye and the others were able to get any respite.

Qin Ye didn't even have time to ask questions about the forsaken land as every second of his days were spent meeting the governors of the provinces to discuss developmental plans. There was also the matter of moving capitals, which was being overseen by Oda Nobunaga and Oda Nobutada, who were periodically reporting their progress to Qin Ye. In addition to that, scholars such as Zu Chongzhi, Wu Daozi, and Lu Ban were grabbing any opportunity they could to be granted an audience with Qin Ye in order to discuss with him all of the finer details surrounding the Third Era of Hell.

"Yanluo Qin." Wang Chenghao made his way over to Qin Ye quietly in the spacious conference hall before whispering into his ear, "Sir Zhou Yu of the twelve envoys has arrived."

Qin Ye was lying in his chair like a completely wrung-out rag, looking up at the ceiling with a dazed expression. His arms hung limply down the sides of the chairs as he immediately replied in an implacable voice, "Tell him I'm not seeing him!"

I've got no time to chat with the likes of him!

"What if they leave, Brother Qin?"

"Then let them leave!" Qin Ye was taking full advantage of this brief period of respite to respawn the brain cells he had lost. "Just record their names, and I'll get to them when I'm ready. There's no need to inform me of insignificant matters like this in the future. Just you watch: not a single one of them will dare to leave!"

Do they still think that this is the same Hell from six years ago, where I had to suck up to them like an obedient dog? If you want to stay, then stay; if you don't, then piss off!

Wang Chenghao nodded in response before quietly exiting the room, and only then did Qin Ye take a deep breath before getting into a more appropriate sitting posture. His eyes were completely bloodshot as he took a sip of tea, then asked, "Where were we?"

"We were discussing the era name." The only ones currently present were Zhao Yun, the Harken, Lu Ban, Arthis, and Wu Daozi. The development of the provinces, cities, and counties could be delayed, but national matters such as what political system was to be employed, what aesthetic was to be adopted, and what era name was to be decided upon were far more urgent. Furthermore, these matters could only be decided upon by this core circle of individuals present.

Arthis handed him a list and said, "This is what the panel of advisors decided on; take a look."

Qin Ye accepted the list, and the first thing that he saw was the character "hua". [1]

"This was decided in accordance with our corresponding nation in the mortal realm, and most era names of the Underworlds are decided like this. In addition to that, the 'hua' character alludes to luxury and beauty [2], so it's very fitting both in terms of geographic relevance and meaning."

Qin Ye offered no response to this as he moved onto the next character: "han".

"Firstly, Han refers to the dominant ethnic group of Cathay. Secondly, Cathayans are referred to as the Han people by the rest of the world, and thirdly, the history of the character can be traced back thousands of years, as evidenced by the fact that the second dynasty in Cathayan History was the Han Dynasty."

Qin Ye continued to remain silent. These two era names didn't match what he wanted.

The Underworld was the Underworld, while the mortal realm was the mortal realm; there was no need for Hell to incorporate cultural elements of the mortal realm into its era name. He wanted to set an era name that was either unique or described him.

For example, the "Shuai" Nation... [3]

That's even a homonym of the term "shuai guo"! [4] Qin Ye found that to be very fitting.

In all honesty, he couldn't think of any era name more fitting for Hell, but unfortunately, he didn't dare to propose such an era name as he still valued his life.

Zhao Yun would be reluctant to raise any objections, but he could sense that the Harken was constantly ready to pounce the moment he proposed any preposterous era names.

It seems that not all dogs are man's best friends...

After turning down a series of era names such as Tang, Xi, Tai, Rong, and Sheng, there were still several dozens of characters left, and he couldn't help but complain, "I know that naming our nation something like the Shuai Nation would be preposterous, but who suggested characters like Tai, Tian, Mei, and Yan" The Tai Nation [5]? The Tian Nation [6]? The Mei Nation [7]? The Yan Nation [8]? Can we actually think about this? If you ask me, we should just keep it simple and call it the Kingdom of Lordaeron [9]! And how about we change the name of Everburn City to Stormwind City [10]?"

Wu Daozi faltered slightly upon hearing this.

Stormwind City is a very nice name; why does it feel like it would be very appropriate to have an accompanying city by the name of Ironforge [11]?

"Right, and while we're at it, why don't we name the city's guardian Medivh and force all of our allies to call themselves the Night Elves [12]?" Arthis scoffed in a cold voice.

Qin Ye was astonished to hear this. Have you already evolved to this extent? Has your knowledge already gone beyond the continent of Valoran and reached the continent of Azeroth [13]?

One name after another was rejected, and most of them were turned down by Qin Ye. The entire list of suggested era names was considered, but no consensus could be reached.

The room had fallen completely silent.

The era name was the face of a nation, and no one wanted an imperfect era name.

Amid the silence, Qin Ye suddenly suggested, "How about Qin? The Qin Dynasty [14]?"

Wu Daozi sat bolt upright in his chair before relaxing again. "Are you not opposed to era names that have already appeared in history?"

Qin Ye really wanted to slap the list in his hand across this clueless scholar's face.

You've already suggested Siam and Usonia, both of which are nations that currently exist, yet you dare to criticize me for suggesting the name of a past dynasty?!

"The character 'qin' alludes to abundance and prosperity," Zhao Yun mused. "Cathay is the first nation in history to complete the monumental feat of unification [15], and Qin is also our Yanluo's surname, so I think it's very appropriate."

This was no laughing matter, and everyone immediately fell into silent contemplation as they mulled over this suggestion.

They had thought that this was nothing more than an errant character thrown out by Qin Ye, but the more they thought about it, the more appropriate it seemed!

Several minutes later, the Harken said in a contemplative manner, "The 'qin' character holds significant cultural importance in the history of Cathay. On top of that, the founding of the new Hell can be seen as the beginning of a new cycle of reincarnation, heralding another era of 3,000 years. I also think it's very appropriate."

After carefully mulling over the matter for five minutes, Wu Daozi rose to his feet and cupped his fist in a serious manner as he said, "The nation has only just been united, and the abundance and prosperity that the character 'qin' alludes to is very good symbolism for this budding nation. In addition to that, there's the cultural relevance... I also support this proposal!"

"I also concur!" Arthis declared as she stood up with a serious expression.

At times, inspiration really did strike out of nowhere. Qin Ye heaved a long sigh of relief, and said, "In that case, then let's take this to a vote. Those who are in support of Qin as the era name of the Cathayan Underworld, raise your hand."

Everyone present immediately raised their hands in unison.

"Good!" Qin Ye cast his gaze toward the scene of peace and prosperity outside his window as he declared, "Inform all departments that from this day forth, the Cathayan Underworld shall officially change its name to the Qin Dynasty!"

[1] [The raw term for Cathay is 华国, and the 华 character is pronounced as "hua", while 国 just means nation/country.]

[2] [The literal definition of 华 is magnificent/prosperous]

[3] [The character used here is 帅 (shuai), which literally translates to handsome.]

[4] [This will be a slightly long-winded explanation, so please bear with me. The term "shuai guo" (帅锅) refers to how the term "shuai ge" (帅哥, which translates to handsome lad) is pronounced in places in China such as Hunan, Hubei, and Sichuan, where the characters 哥 (ge) and 锅(guo) are pronounced the same due to their dialects. The terms 帅国 (shuai nation) and 帅锅 (alternative pronunciation of handsome lad) are homonyms, so essentially, if he were to name his nation the Shuai Nation, the era name would be alluding to his handsomeness.]

[5] [Written as 泰国, which literally translates to Thailand.]

[6] [Written as 天国, which literally translates to Heaven.]

[7] [Written as 美国, which literally translates to America.]

[8] [Written as 嫣国, which is a homonym to 阉国, which, in turn, literally translates into "castrated nation".]

[9] [For those of you uninitiated in the sphere of esports, such as myself, the Kingdom of Lordaeron is a setting in the popular game "World of Warcraft''.]

[10] [Yet again, another city from World of Warcraft.]

[11] [Once again, another city from World of Warcraft.]

[12] [These are also all WoW references.]

[13] [More WoW place names.]

[14] [The Qin Dynasty was the first empire in the history of China, lasting only 15 years from 221 to 206 BC, but its cultural importance is felt even to this day.]

[15] [This is significant because the Qin Dynasty was also the first dynasty to have unified the entire nation of China.]