Nagasaki?
Everyone faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which they all turned to stare at the captain with stunned expressions.
If it weren’t for their discipline as soldiers, they would’ve most likely been screaming out loud!
They were marching for the Nipponese Underworld!
The Cathayan Underworld really was going to do it!
This was not a drill, it was a real war!
They weren’t the only ones astonished by this announcement, all of the Yin soldiers in the entire city had been stunned into silence. Immediately thereafter, a rush of adrenaline and excitement surged straight into their hearts, causing their souls to tremble with anticipation.
It was time!
“Go!” One large flag after another converged from all directions, gathering under the inky-black flag of the Cathayan Underworld. The sound of rumbling war drums and deafening long horns rang out incessantly, and by the time all of the troops arrived at the coastline, they discovered that the entire surface of the sea had already been illuminated golden and red by countless lights.
These were the lights of the countless ships that had been painstakingly built by Zhou Yu’s naval forces during the past few years. Under normal circumstances, no one knew just how powerful a force he had gathered, but now that it had been revealed in its full glory, the entire sea was packed!
All of the soldiers got onto the ships in silence, and only after they had had a chance to process the situation did some of them begin to return to their senses, as if they had just awoken from a dream. “I never thought that I would get to participate in a war against Nippon…”
“No one could’ve predicted this,” a middle-aged Yin soldier said with a wry smile. “We all thought they were just drills. No one had any idea just how many Yin soldiers were gathered in Hanyang, and it’s only now that we’re seeing the full extent of the city’s forces…”
He cast his gaze out from the cabin at the countless ships that stretched as far as the eyes could see, then sighed, “There must be at least hundreds of thousands of soldiers out there…”
All of the ships quickly fell silent as an atmosphere of tension and anticipation settled over everyone.
At the bow of each ship stood a commander who was looking out into the distance toward the east.
Nippon, here we come!
……………………………………………………
Nagasaki.
This was the southernmost island of the Nipponese Underworld, and to be precise, it was called Nagasaki County. In Nippon, the jurisdictive scope of counties and cities was the exact opposite to that of Cathay, so there were 12 cities under Nagasaki County.
The city of the Sasebo was situated near the northernmost part of Nagasaki, and it neighbored the Strait of Tsushima. The city of Sasebo was situated far away from the mainland of the Nipponese Underworld, and it had an important strategic location as it was directly across the sea from the other half of Nagaski County.
This city was known for abundant production in seafood, but that actually wasn’t the case.
The second nuclear weapon dropped onto Nippon in the mortal realm was at Nagasaki, and this resulted in pollution of large areas of the sea near the county. Due to the laws of Yin Yang co-action, the contaminated and mutated souls were also mutated once they entered the underworld. Birds and animals were directly reborn instead of entering the cycle of reincarnation, so there were still many mutated sea beasts in the sea around Nagasaki in the underworld.
This had a severe impact on the fishing industry of Nagasaki, but there was nothing anyone could do to combat nature. Thus, Nagasaki should’ve been a major producer of seafood, but its fishing industry was actually in a massive slump.
In a seaside izakaya restaurant in Sasebo, a man heaved a long sigh before setting down his cup.
He gave a strong scent of the sea, and the same was also true for the two men beside him. The man had a white towel wrapped around his head, and he was looking out through the window at the inky-black surface of the sea. Only after a long while did he heave a long sigh. “It’s getting harder and harder to earn a living in this industry.”
“Indeed.” The man beside him took a sip of sake, and his face was slightly flushed as he said, “Less than half of the things that we catch are actually fit for consumption. If nothing changes soon, I’m going back to Shikoku.”
The final Yin spirit in the group was a short and chubby man, and he also took a sip of sake before chiming, “We can only hope that the heavens decide to grace us with a miracle. Let’s not talk about these things. It’s not every day that we get to gather together like this, so let’s just drink and forget all of that other stuff.”
The other Yin spirits raised their cups with wry smiles. “Indeed, we can only hope for a miracle.”
The three touched their cups with one another, and right as they were about to drink, one of them cast an errant gaze out the window. However, the sight that he was greeted by almost made him spit out his sake, and he immediately sprang to his feet before looking out the window with a horrified expression.
“What’s wrong, Kameda San?” One of the other Yin spirits turned toward him with a perplexed expression, yet Kameda was too shocked by what he had seen to reply. All he could do was raise a hand before pointing a trembling finger outside, while the netherfire in his eyes flickered erratically, and he couldn’t utter even a single word.
The two Yin spirits turned around with puzzled expressions, and the sight that greeted them made them immediately jump to their feet as well to look out through the window with the same expression that was etched on Kameda’s face.
They weren’t the only ones. At this point, many of the Yin spirits in the izakaya restaurant had spotted the peculiar scene taking place outside, and they had all risen to their feet with alarmed expressions.
A sea of gold had appeared on the horizon!
“That’s not the sea…” Kameda quickly rushed over to the window, then gulped nervously as he said, “Those are ships!”
All of the Yin spirits in the restaurant became quite curious upon hearing this.
Indeed, they weren’t nervous, nor were they scared.
Peace had reigned over the world for so long that no one could’ve anticipated that a war was suddenly coming. As such, they were more curious than fearful about where these ships had come from.
“Are the ships from Tsushima Island?” A drunk Yin spirit rushed out of the door with a slightly red hue to the netherfire in his eyes. Many Yin spirits had already gathered at the railing outside.
“Who knows?”
“Surely Tsushima Island doesn’t have that many ships!”
“The number doesn’t seem quite right… There has to be over 1,000 ships there! Otherwise, how could they have taken up such a large area of the sea?”
“Could it be the navy? Since when was the navy of our Nipponese Underworld this powerful?”
Kameda took a closer look as he leaned against the railing, and his brows furrowed even tighter.
There was something wrong…
The ships were traveling very quickly, and at this point, they could already just barely make out the outlines of the ships. As a seasoned sailor, Kameda recognized a problem: since when did the navy have such large ships?
Even though he still couldn’t see them very clearly, he had spent over 100 years as a sailor, and he was willing to bet on all of his experience that every single one of these ships was far larger than the navy’s warships!
These weren’t ships from the Nipponese Underworld, so where had they come from?!
Upon making that realization, he was instantly jerked out of his drunken state before turning around and running away without any hesitation.
There was an ancient lighthouse on the coast of Nagasaki, and despite its age, it was still in use.
If his memory served him correctly, that lighthouse was home to the largest telescope in Sasebo.
He rushed all the way to the top of the lighthouse, and sure enough, there was the telescope. He gulped nervously before taking a look through the telescope.
Initially, the lens was rather blurry, but it quickly focused, and the image clarified to reveal a boundless fleet!
Attached to all of the ships were flags of the Cathayan Underworld, and at the top of each ship was a black flag with a large “Qin” character emblazoned upon it.
Thud… He sat heavily down onto the ground as his lips began to tremble. This was the Cathayan Underworld’s navy!
The Cathayan Underworld’s navy had appeared in Nipponese waters, and they were no more than several kilometers away from Nagasaki!
An astonishing realization surfaced in his mind: this was war! The Cathayan Underworld had declared war upon the Nipponese Underworld! But how was that possible?!
“Everyone!” He leaned over the railing of the lighthouse as he yelled with all his might, “Run! Get away as fast as you can! This is war! This is not a drill! That fleet is from the Cathayan Underworld! Run to the city center and sound the alarm! The Cathayan Underworld is attacking our Nipponese Underworld! We must notify…”
Before he had a chance to finish, a string of loud whooshing sounds abruptly rang out.
These weren’t arrows. Instead, they were countless massive black shadows that were hurtling through the air, crossing a distance of several kilometers before crashing violently into the coast of Sasebo.
Cries of alarm and horror instantly rang out as shrapnel and rubble flew in all directions, and all of the netherworldly citizens could see that they were being assaulted by a barrage of giant spears!
The spear tips were over 10 meters in length, and they were attached to black chains, the other side of which were attached to the dozens of ships at the forefront of the fleet. Right at this moment, all of the chains lit up in unison.
They were Yin runes!
In the next instant, the chains began to shorten rapidly like arms that were frantically pulling the ships toward the coast of Sasebo, and in the blink of an eye, the entire fleet’s speed doubled as all of the ships lunged forward at an alarming pace!
Deathly silence.
In the next instant, a wave of screams erupted from the netherworldly citizens gathered on the coastline, and they all rushed back toward the city like the receding tide!
“Run! This isn’t a drill, it’s war!”
“The Cathayan Underworld has invaded our Nipponese Underworld! Please tell me this is a dream!”
“Run!”
“We have to sound the alarm! We can’t allow Nagasaki to fall!”
No one noticed that the lighthouse had already been destroyed by the flying spears, and everyone also failed to notice that the ships that were approaching the coastline weren’t just normal ships. Instead, they were constructed in the form of ironclad beasts with battering rams for horns!
At the bow of the ship at the forefront of the fleet stood Zhou Yu holding a large flag, and he yelled with all his might, “Fire!”
Beside his ship was a row of ironclad ships, and atop each of the ships was a statue of a Vermilion Bird that was over 30 meters tall with wingspans in excess of 70 meters.
These A-grade weapons of war, Vermillion Bird Feathers.
With that order issued by Zhou Yu, all of the Vermillion Bird statues slowly spread open their wings like phoenixes preparing to soar up into the heavens, and countless specks of fiery red light began to glow. Two seconds later, countless crimson netherfire arrows shot forth through the air like a swarm of locusts, covering a distance of several kilometers to reach the coastline in the blink of an eye.
The entire surface of the sea was illuminated bright red as the netherfire incinerated everything in its wake, and in the blink of an eye, the entire coastline of Sasebo had already been transformed into a sea of fire.
Thud… At the peak of the tallest mountain in Sasebo was a Shinto shrine, and inside the shrine was a divine official in a tall black hat. His legs suddenly gave out from under him as he collapsed to the ground.
From his vantage point at the summit of the mountain, he could clearly see just how many warships there were. There were far too many of them to count, and they were all enormous!
They concealed the sea and devoured the heavens, speeding along from the Strait of Tsushima, and the Cathayan Underworld flags that they bore were extremely eye-catching.
This was far too formidable an army for Sasebo to be able to combat!
He tried to stand back up, but his legs were too weak to hold his weight, thereby preventing him from rising to his feet. Even though he was unable to stand up, he was still frantically inspecting the entire city, which had been plunged into chaos. He looked on as all of the netherworldly citizens of the city frantically rushed up the mountain, because the Shinto shrine at the summit of the mountain was the only place where they could possibly seek refuge and protection.
All of a sudden, he turned around before rushing toward the back of the shrine like a madman. At the very rear of the shrine was a statue of Yamata no Orochi.
The Cathayan Underworld is attacking! The Cathayan Underworld is invading the Nipponese Underworld! How is this possible?! Why is this happening?!
Countless questions were flashing through his mind, but this wasn’t the time to be pondering them. He frantically scrambled over to the statue, then lit a stick of incense as he screamed with all his might, “Master of Kyushu, Yamata no Orochi Sama, please perform a divine descent!”
