"What do you mean?" Qin Ye asked as he reclined on the seat of the carriage and peeled back the curtain to look outside.

He was greeted by the sight of the night scene of Osaka. Under the bright lights were countless tourists and vendors, but no one was able to see this carriage, which was traversing directly through the living humans on its way to the national highway.

He gently set down the curtain again, and Zhao Yun's voice continued, "I'm certain that we are not the only ones who have arrived at this point. Those small and medium-size underworlds are all hoping to secure benefits and protection from other more powerful underworlds during this conference, so they'll have definitely arrived even earlier than us. We are the representatives of the Cathayan Underworld, even if the rulers of those underworld don't come to greet us, they would've sent at least a few death gods. This is a reflection of their attitude and their stance, but not even a single one has shown up thus far."

A cold smile appeared on Qin Ye's face upon hearing this. "Isn't their absence also a reflection of their stance?"

Zhao Yun offered no reply to this, and Qin Ye was silent for a long while before giving a slight nod. "I understand now."

Indeed, it was very easy to understand.

Back when the Cathayan Underworld was around, it was able to offer significant benefits and protection to other underworlds, so they would all clamber to be in the Cathayan Underworld's good graces. However, the Cathayan Underworld had already been absent for over a century, were these smaller underworlds expected to still cling onto its residual shadow?

Alliances were like water, they were constantly flowing and changing depending on the situation. On the international stage, there were no permanent friends.

In Qin Ye's mind, he was constantly thinking about what he was potentially going to face during this conference, as well as the list of names of his adversaries and allies. Time quickly passed by, and all of a sudden, his carriage seemed to stutter slightly.

He pulled back the curtain with a perplexed expression, and his pupils immediately contracted slightly at the sight that he was greeted by. He discovered that his carriage was traveling far faster than the other ones, and at this point, it was already 200 to 300 meters ahead of the carriages behind him!

Furthermore, this was the national highway, and Osaka was one of the three major economic centers of Nippon. Even at night, the national highway should've been extremely busy, particularly when one considered the fact that things like construction materials could only make their way into the city at night. However, there wasn't a single car to be seen.

Even the carriages behind him seemed to have become blurry and indistinct, and it was as if he were the only person on this entire highway. The only company he had was the oppressive breeze in the dark night, and a sense of tension that made him feel as if his heart were being squeezed in a vice.

Something's wrong here!

Right as this thought crossed his mind, he immediately began to move, only to instantly stop again.

This is an assassination attempt!

Cold sweat was beginning to pour down his back, and he could sense a pair of invisible eyes that were filled with killing intent looking at him from all directions. He couldn't see or sense where the scrutiny was coming from, but his instincts would never lie to him, and they were currently telling him that he was in grave danger.

The perpetrator had to be a Yama-King! Only a cultivator of that caliber would be capable of striking him with such a grave sense of peril.

The life of the King Yanluo was truly a perilous one. In a world where cultivation existed, not only did he have to deal with other nations, he also had to deal with assassination attempts from extremely powerful individuals!

He didn't immediately move as he could sense that the assassin wasn't moving, either. They had merely locked onto him with their killing intent and were waiting for the ideal opportunity to strike.

Should I continue to wait or seize the initiative?

The passage of time seemed to have slowed down, and for the next 20 seconds, Qin Ye didn't say anything, nor did he call out for help, all he did was remain calmly in his seat.

He gently pulled back the curtain to look outside as he murmured to himself, "If a Yama-King really is going to attack me, there's no way they would be revealing so much killing intent. Even if they really are intent on assassinating me, I'm also a Yama-King, and a clash between Yama-Kings will cause a massive commotion. My trump card is sitting in another carriage not far behind me. If you dare to attack me, he'll have you killed in an instant."

He cast his gaze into the dark night sky as he concluded, "Hence, all you're doing is testing me. The power of a nation can be reflected through many things. If you attack me, you'll be able to determine the Cathayan Underworld's reactive ability, defensive ability, and high-end power. It truly would be killing multiple birds with one stone, so there's no reason not to do that. If I panic, then it'll be clear that I'm not sufficiently prepared. If I'm exposed to be so incapable and foolish, then you'll be able to go ahead with your plan without any qualms, but the problem for you is, why should I panic?"

I'm also a Yama-King! Come at me!

In this instant, he was extremely thankful that he had progressed to the Yama-King level. If he were still an Abyssal Prefect, just the pressure being exerted upon him by the hidden assassin alone would've most likely been enough to crush him.

Do you dare to strike?

Having made up his mind, Qin Ye sat calmly in the carriage, but in reality, his Yin energy had already been raised to its maximum level, and he was constantly ready for battle.

Time slowly passed by, and not long thereafter, the national highway disappeared, while the lights of Nara appeared up ahead.

However, right in this instant, the surrounding air suddenly seemed to have been abruptly compressed, and an extremely faint whistling sound rang out. Immediately thereafter, killing intent surged toward Qin Ye from all directions like a turbulent sea!

Are you finally making a move? Ironically, Qin Ye was actually quite relieved by this. It had to be said that the assassin had made their move at just the right time. Qin Ye had been very tense for the entire trip, and at the sight of the conclusion looming up ahead, one would inevitably relax, and that was the exact moment that the assassin was waiting for.

All of a sudden, the entire carriage began to sway like a raft in the sea, yet Qin Ye still didn't do anything aside from inspect his surroundings with a cautious expression.

If he had to deal with an assassin in person, then his entourage would be exposed as useless, and the Cathayan Underworld's reputation would suffer a massive hit as a result.

Thus, he continued to wait.

He couldn't see what was happening outside the carriage, but the wails of countless ghosts had already rung out in all directions, and that burst of killing intent was aimed directly at his heart. However, right at this moment, a calm voice rang out. "Who dares to provoke the Cathayan Underworld?"

Boom!! A violent boom rang out outside the carriage, and a muffled groan sounded, following which the burst of killing intent melted away like snow under the scorching sun.

Zhao Yun had finally stepped in.

Only then did Qin Ye heave a faint sigh of relief and pull back the curtain to take a look outside.

As a result, he discovered that a deep trench had appeared on the ground no more than 20 meters away from the carriage. Boundless Yin energy was seeping out from the bottom of the trench, but there was nothing to be seen aside from that.

There were no assassins, and the carriage didn't stop even for a moment. It was as if nothing had ever happened.

"Are you alright, my Lord?" Zhao Yun's voice rang out outside the carriage, and Qin Ye was certain that there had to be many sets of eyes focused on this unfolding situation.

With that in mind, he pretended to be oblivious and asked, "What happened?"

Zhao Yun immediately caught on to what he was thinking, and he replied, "Nothing. Some insolent fools were trying to get in our way, but they've already been chased away. As the host, the Nipponese Underworld must be held reprehensible for this incident."

Qin Ye gave a casual response before setting the curtain down again.

Throughout this entire process, he didn't take a single step out of the carriage, and he certainly didn't panic. It was as if he had just encountered something that couldn't be any more unremarkable. After all, which King Yanluo hadn't suffered their fair share of assassination attempts?

Thus, the carriages continued rapidly toward Nara, and the incident seemed to have been completely swept under the rug. Half an hour after the departure of the procession of carriages, a shadow suddenly swayed slightly under a certain tree in the distance, and several figures emerged.

"I must say, his ability to remain calm and composed under pressure is quite remarkable," the leading figure said in Nipponese.

"To think that the most powerful death god under Master Anubis didn't even get a reaction out of him..." another figure mused. "Can we confirm that that man is above the Yama-King level?"

"Yes," the leading figure replied. "However, he's still far away from reaching the second King Yanluo's level, and there's a good chance that the leader of one the three pillars wielding a divine artifact will be able to keep him occupied."

"That should be enough," another figure said in a calm voice. "However, you're most likely going to be placed under immense pressure in the aftermath of this incident. After all, this happened on your home territory."

The leading figure smiled before vanishing as a gust of Yin wind. "That's true, but only if they're still in the mood to hold us accountable after all is said and done. No one can stop a worldwide trend, not even the Cathayan Underworld. The Nipponese Underworld isn't the only one who wants to see them disappear."

………………………………………

Tōdai-ji, Nara.

The temple was situated in the eastern part of Nara, and it was one of the seven major temples of Nara. At this point, it was already over 1,200 years old, and was the largest wooden building in the world. In 1998, it was listed as a world cultural heritage site.

During the day, the temple was teeming with tourists, but in reality, there wasn't much worth seeing. In contrast with the temples and palaces of Cathay, Tōdai-ji was far too tiny. The main building was only a single temple, which was surrounded by walls from all four sides and various types of trees.

In the night, this place was closed off to the public. However, there wasn't a single security guard on duty this night. Rows of pristine white lanterns were hanging all along the eaves of the temple, and in the world that was beyond the reach of living humans, all of the Prefect-level emissaries of the Nipponese Underworld were gathered at the entrance to Tōdai-ji.

In reality, that amounted to only a single person.

It was a woman dressed in a lavish kimono with a red spider lily that was in full bloom tucked behind one ear. She was immaculately dressed and groomed, yet there was only a mouth on her deathly pale face.

This was Izanami, the death goddess who had stood at the top of the Nipponese Underworld for over 1,000 years.

Behind her was a line of boys and girls wearing silver masks and holding palatial lanterns, standing respectfully on the spot. There were countless specks of netherfire hovering around the Tōdai-ji of this world, and the wide-open gates of the temple resembled a rift to the abyss with boundless Yin energy surging within it.

Right at this moment, a man with white powder all over his face made his way over to Izanami before whispering something into her ear.

"Alright, I understand," she replied with a nod before heaving a forlorn sigh as she cast her gaze out toward the street, which was lined with lanterns. "So we're finally going to meet..."

The long procession of carriages had already appeared in her field of view.

Before the carriages had even drawn to a halt, Izanami had already rushed outside with a genuine smile on her face as she extended a slight bow. "Nipponese Death God Izanami welcomes the representative team of the Cathayan Underworld!"

The carriage was set down gently, and Qin Ye stepped out in his golden dragon robes as he cast a meaningful gaze toward Izanami. "Greetings, Madam Izanami."

"Welcome, Yanluo Qin," Izanami replied in kind.

Neither of them said anything after that, but both of them could see what each other was thinking.

They had already clashed indirectly many times even though they were physically separated by a vast distance. Finally, it was time for them to meet, and they were doing so in the territory of the Nipponese Underworld.