………………………………………………….

One pair of eyes after another were staring intently at Qin Ye, and he swept his gaze across all of them with an internal derisive sneer.

At the end of the day, all of them wanted to join the Zhu Rong plan.

Was that possible? Of course not! Several days ago, they had avoided him like the plague, and he was certainly not the type to forgive and forget so quickly.

He pretended to ponder the situation momentarily before declaring, "It's not entirely impossible for you to join the Zhu Rong plan."

All of the death gods' eyes were glowing upon hearing this!

No one dared to say anything, and they were all staring directly at him as if they were transfixed. Hela and Jörmungandr wisely decided to also remain silent. During these past few days, they had gotten an understanding of how Qin Ye liked to do things.

He wasn't necessarily going to repay all of his benefactors, but he most certainly wasn't going to skip out on revenge on all those who had wronged him in the past.

Qin Ye picked up his cup and took a sip of sake, further building the unbearable suspense, then continued in a slow voice, "During the coming month, we'll be sending people to the headquarters of the Coalition of Underworlds and the center of the four pillars located in the Maldives, where we'll be signing agreements to establish ties with all underworlds and expanding the Zhu Rong plan."

Everyone heaved a collective internal sigh of relief upon hearing this. If it weren't for their status and the current situation they were in, these death gods would've already sprung to their feet to scream and cheer!

Qin Ye was slightly disappointed as he watched the reactions of all of the death gods. Unfortunately, during their long existences, they had already learned restraint and were experts at masking their own emotions, so none of them erupted into celebration as he had hoped. However, he suddenly discovered that his opposition wasn't stunned, nor were they surprised or angry, but a faintest of cracks had appeared in the unfailing facades, and that was a piece of beautiful scenery to him.

Amid the intense scrutiny, he continued in an extremely calm voice, "After ties are established, we will immediately send Emissaries of Hell to travel to all nations for conducting inspection. The inspection criteria will include each nation's environmental friendliness, geographic location, corresponding projects, and whether they'll be able to satisfy the 42 prerequisites required for base stations to be built. After a lengthy period of inspection, construction on the base stations will begin, so there's no need to be in a rush."

A faint smile appeared on Hela's face, and she hid it by raising her cup to her mouth.

The surface of the sake in her cup reflected a series of faces that transitioned from elation to disappointment, then finally to despair.

"Yanluo Qin." Kuwal's voice was a little strained as he asked, "Roughly how long will the total inspection period take?"

They felt as if their hearts were being roasted over open flames, but Qin Ye wasn't in a hurry at all as he swirled his sake nonchalantly in his cup, looking as if he had all the time in the world. "There are so many underworlds out there, yet our Cathayan Underworld only has a single team qualified to conduct inspections on other nations. Even our most important allies, including the five nations of Northern Europa, the new continent, and the Alkebulan Underworlds, have to undergo inspection periods of over 10 years. There are around 30 underworlds present, and if each one takes 10 years to inspect, then it'll probably be about 300 years in total."

As soon as his voice trailed off, several death gods finally couldn't help but spring to their feet.

"Is that supposed to be a joke, Yanluo Qin?!" The question had been raised by a death god who appeared to be the captain of a ship. He was like a skeleton wrapped in deathly pale membrane-like skin, beneath which were bright red chunks of flesh. He was wearing the attire of a pirate captain from the republic era, and his tattered robes were edged with gold and fastened together by wooden buttons. 

A skeletal owl was perched on his shoulder, and he stared directly at Qin Ye with his rotten eyes as he continued, "What kind of inspection could possibly take 300 years?!"

There was another death god standing beside him, who also appeared to be a ship's captain, but he was wearing a rotten robe and his inky-black skull was completely bare save for a white curled wig. Two specks of netherfire lit up in his eyes, and he slammed a gnarly hand onto the table as he said, "Yanluo Qin, we respect you as one of the four pillars and we chose you in the end, but is this any way to be treating your allies?"

The final death god was also a skeleton with a head of blonde hair, wearing robes worn by royalty during the 14th and 15h centuries. A belt was tightly fastened around her waist, and she stared intently at Qin Ye as she chimed in, "There are so many underworlds waiting for you, yet not only did you delay the banquet by an hour, you're toying around with all of the underworlds here! Don't you think you're going too far, Yanluo Qin?"

The entire hall instantly fell completely silent.

Qin Ye turned to the side and asked, "Who are these three?"

He didn't have any information surrounding these three death gods on file.

Hela replied in an indifferent voice, "They are the three death gods of the Caribbean, the captains of three death god fleets, and they just liberated themselves from the rule of the new continent during this past century."

Qin Ye nodded in response with an amused expression. "I see. It's only natural that such a new underworld would be so bold and brash, but unfortunately, that won't get you anywhere here."

The blond death goddess cast a surprised gaze around the table, and she discovered that not even a single death god had stood up to support them and echo their outrage.

No... It shouldn't be like this... 

A sense of foreboding suddenly welled up in her heart. In her eyes, the Cathayan Underworld hadn't even made any attempt to hide the fact that he was toying around with all of the underworlds present. All of the death gods in this hall were extremely renowned figures where they came from, and she had thought that no one would be able to suffer such outrage in silence. Even she felt like a volcano that was on the verge of erupting in the face of Qin Ye's thinly veiled insults.

No one would dare to speak to her like this on the Caribbean Sea!

She had thought that as long as they dared to stand up and lead the way, there would definitely be other disgruntled underworld rising up to support them. These were all legendary death gods who were integral parts of the histories of their respective civilizations! Why hadn't even a single one of them stood up? And why was it that all of the death gods were watching them with undisguised ridicule in their eyes?

Before she even had a chance to figure out the situation that she was in, Qin Ye slowly rose to his feet.

In the next instant, a burst of Yama-King level Yin energy abruptly erupted forth, and all of the death gods present who were below the Yama-King level shuddered involuntarily in response. An inky-black vortex of Yin energy instantly inundated the entire hall, and Qin Ye stood up like a beacon of death within the darkness as he looked straight at the three death gods with a cold smile. "You think I'm going too far, do you? You feel slighted? Disrespected? Well, imagine how I felt when I first came here and extended an olive branch to all of you, only to be turned down! Why should I give you this opportunity? Do you think I owe you something or do you think the research and development projects of the Cathayan Underworld grow on trees?"

The three death gods were completely unable to speak, and they were trembling uncontrollably amid Qin Ye's vast Yin energy as his voice grew louder and louder. "Even if our projects do grow on trees, it's still my right to decide whether to hand them out or not! A ragtag bunch of death gods from the Caribbean like yourselves should know your place! Are you not aware that you only gained independence due to the unrest on the new continent? As newcomers, you should be watching and learning, not openly disrespecting a member of the four pillars!"

The three death gods were frantically warding off Qin Ye's Yin energy, and they were gnashing their teeth together so tightly that it was making an audible grinding sound. The blond death god spat through gritted teeth with great difficulty, "Are you not afraid that your actions will draw the ire of the entire world? You are challenging the boundaries of the rules!"

"I struggle to fathom how idiots like you were even given the chance to participate in such an important conference," Hela chuckled with amusement, making no attempt to disguise her derision toward these political newcomers. "There are only two types of rules in international politics, the rules of the four pillars and the rules for those outside of the four pillars. You should've at least done some homework and learned about the state of the world you're living in before you came here! Do you really think you're a legitimate underworld now just because the new continent is too busy to deal with you?"

These idiots were not more intelligent than swine, and there was no way they would survive once the new continent was united again.

They would only be around for a few more centuries until the unrest in the new continent subsided. 

Did you not see what happened to the three pillars? Even they were beaten black and blue and can only lick their wounds in silence, who the hell do you think you are?

Qin Ye leaned down slightly to look the three death gods in the eye as he said with a smile, "These are the rules of the third King Yanluo, understood?"

Humiliation!

This was humiliation of the highest order!

Immediately thereafter, Qin Ye withdrew his Yin energy, and three death gods were finally able to rise unsteadily to their feet. One of them gritted their teeth tightly as he said, "You've completely gone against the spirit of respect cooperation that should exist between all nations, there's no way you'll receive support from the rest of the world, regardless of whether it's in research and development, special minerals and ore, Yin rune theory..."

"Shut your mouth!" Anko cut him off with a cold expression. "The Cathayan Underworld can sign its agreements with whoever it wants. Even the three pillars can't deny them that right, what gives you the right to challenge that?"

Kuwal also chimed in with a cold smile, "Setting aside the fact that the Cathayan Underworld has been one of the four pillars for thousands of years, who do you think you are? Pirate Death God of the Caribbean? That's a good movie title, but it's not good for much else. As new death gods, you need to learn that saying the wrong things could result in dire consequences."

"The Cathayan Underworld doesn't need the likes of you to teach it what to do!"

"Do you think the Cathayan Underworld is incapable of developing the new energy resource on its own? What makes you think they absolutely need help from the rest of the world?"

"If you want to be able to collaborate with them, then you have to know your place and act accordingly! You've got a lot to learn!"

The three death gods were trembling from rage.

They were the first ones to choose the utopia alliance, and at the time, all of the death gods had treated them amicably. Never did they think that this would be what all of the other death gods thought of them! 

They thought they would be accepted and supported, but instead, they were being treated as stairs for everyone to step on, and it was all so that they could appease that accursed King Yanluo!

How was this fair?

"Let's go," the leader of the three death gods spat through gritted teeth before turning to cast a resentful glance at Qin Ye. "No one can go against the rules of the world. Those who do so will inevitably be crushed under the weight of the very rules they've disregarded. I look forward to the day when your research and development encounters a bottleneck and the entire world abandons you!"

"That's not something you need to be worried about." As soon as Qin Ye's voice trailed off, the gates of the banquet hall were silently opened, and a group of Yin spirits appeared at the entrance, looking into the hall from outside.

This was a gathering between the top death gods of the world, yet no one stepped in to stop these Yin spirits. Instead, as soon as all of the death gods caught sight of them, they immediately rose to their feet with stunned expressions.

The one walking at the forefront of the group was a Hindustani Yin spirit wearing a white lab coat, and behind him were three Caucasians, also wearing white lab coats.

These Yin spirits perhaps wouldn't be noticed under normal circumstances, but on this occasion, all of the death gods had risen to their feet to greet them, and it was clear that they were extremely important figures.

There were three different insignias, one on each of their lab coats, namely a wolf's head formed by stars, a piece of dark obsidian surrounded by electron shells, and a metal hammer.

"Those are the world's top three research centers!" Death God Antee drew a sharp breath upon seeing this, and he could feel his own skin crawling.

In this world, the Cathayan Underworld was at the very top when it came to Yin rune quality. That was a given considering the fact that it had King Yanluo's Seal.

In contrast, the Argosian Underworld was number one when it came to Yin rune research ability. The researchers on the round table certainly weren't slouches.

If there were any organizations that could rival the round table's research ability, then it could only be these three research centers.

They were the Sirian International Underworlds Research Center, the Euler's Gem No. 1 Energy Resource Research and Development Station, and the Thaurissan Yin Rune Research Center!

Why had they appeared here all at the same time?! Could it be...

Amid the stunned silence, all of the death gods slowly arrived at the same conclusion, and they looked on with slack-jawed expressions as they watched the three groups make their way toward Qin Ye.

What stage was the research and development into the new energy resource currently at? Would it be acknowledged by the top researchers in the world?

They were most likely going to receive answers to those questions very soon.

The Hindustani man made his way over to Qin Ye, but instead of speaking to Qin Ye, he turned to the three completely shell-shocked Caribbean death gods and chuckled, "You're very fortunate to have survived after provoking the Cathayan Underworld. As for whether the Cathayan Underworld will be lacking in research and development ability, that's not something for you to judge when your territory doesn't even have any research and development capabilities at all!"

He then paid no further heed to them and turned to look at Qin Ye, upon which a sense of scorching excitement appeared in his eyes. He extended a deep bow and said, "I am the project manager from Euler's Gem, Hrithik Chahat, and I'm honored to make your acquaintance. The top researchers of Euler's Gem, Sirian, and Thaurissan have all gathered here, and they're ready to heed your call to open the door to a brand new era at any time!"

All of the researchers extended respectful bows in unison, and Hrithik asked in an eager voice, "I presume the Cathayan Underworld is willing to accept our assistance, right?"

All of the surrounding death gods were still looking on in disbelief at this incredible scene.

The three sharpest swords in the research and development sector had combined as one. This was something that had never been seen before, and they had assembled with the sole purpose of completing the Zhu Rong project!

With their inclusion in this project, there was no way that the Cathayan Underworld would be lacking in research and development ability or resources!

Was the Zhu Rong plan about to enter an accelerated phase?!