Over the skies of northwestern Qin, an elusive realm hid in the dense clouds that perpetually covered the lands.

This realm was the domain of the de facto ruler of the immortal and mortal world, the Jade Emperor.

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The Jade Emperor was a handsome middle-aged man with a long, well-trimmed beard, and black hair that was thicker than a lion's mane.

He was a very muscular and vigorous man, since he was one of the only Jade Immortals in Qin, though his loose and regal yellow robes concealed that musculature in a layer of scholarly demeanor.

The ruler was currently sitting in a mundane Chinese living room on a luxurious futon.

He was elegantly drinking tea from a green, jade mug.

"The floral aftertaste of the northern jade seeps into the tea, how wonderful," The Jade Emperor nodded as he sipped on his tea.

On his opposite side, a beautiful middle-aged woman also sat on a futon.

She had long, black hair, and her monolid eyes exhibited a regional charm.

Her black pupils shined with wisdom, and her presence was comforting.

This woman was The Queen Mother of The West, Xiwangmo.

She was the wife of the emperor and also a divine Jade Immortal.

The two of them shared a calm demeanor and enjoyed their tea time.

Suddenly, an attendant burst into the room.

"Yudi, I apologize deeply for this disturbance, but we have an emergency..!"

The Jade Emperor calmly put down his teacup, producing a soft thud, and looked at the attendant.

"One of our court members has been attacked and killed by foreign diplomat gods!"

"Hmmm, I believe it would be the 'Olympians', isn't it?"

"Yes, Yudi," The attendant kowtowed.

"Send the footage over to our best painters, and spread it around Qin."

"I will immediately get into it, Yudi!"

The attendant kowtowed once again and then ran out of the room.

Xiwangmo remarked with an indifferent expression, "That is quite careless of diplomats to attack our own people in our land."

"They must be quite the young and careless gods, this will teach them a lesson,"

However, the Jade Emperor suddenly said, "What complex layers of flavor, I have just received the grassy aftertaste of the tea."

For a man as elusive as the ruler of this land, matters like this slid out of his mind as soon as they entered, and he was back to his carefree tea time with his wife.

Meanwhile...

________

The scary king of the Underworld observed Hermes from his own screen.

"Another foreign-looking man, are you the boy's companion?" He asked.

Hermes nodded and immediately discussed their most pressing matter, "I believe external trouble might affect the prospects of the mission, would you help us?"

Yan Wang's red skin creased, and he replied with another question, "What kind of external trouble?"

"This ghost king was a heavenly court member."

Yan Wang frowned, and stated, "That's quite the trouble there, I believe you two are diplomats?"

"Yes."

"That's even worse."

"I know it's bad, do you have any advice? I was not expecting this turnabout."

Yan Wang put out two fingers, and answered, "I'll help you only if you guarantee that you can continue the mission."

Hermes pondered over this offer.

This mission was clearly dangerous, and if the ghost kings were this troublesome, he couldn't picture how fearsome the ghost emperor would be.

Hermes calculated all the possibilities, and his diplomatic abilities immediately allowed him to form a favorable argument for their group.

"We will continue only if we receive reinforcements for the final battle, help for our current troublesome situation, and the final reward."

Yan Wang's already bulging eyes almost escaped out of his skull.

However, he swiftly recovered his composure and cleared out his throat.

"How is that a favorable deal for me-

"It's not, but we have the leverage here, I don't believe you would have asked Alexei-boy to take on the mission and promised such a valuable reward if you could use your own forces," Hermes was more straight-forward than he usually was, but he couldn't let Alex get into such danger again.

Yan Wang's body jerked, and Hermes sneered in response since the latter realized that his hypothesis was right.

After a few minutes of silence, Yan Wang brought down his judicial mini-hammer, and replied, "I'll send over Zhou Kui, my best demon hunter, but be aware that he can only fight ghosts that are already half-dead."

"And for the matter with the heavenly court?"

"Truthfully, I'm not acquainted with Yudi, however, I'd recommend you to make your claim to Longwang, the Dragon King in the East Sea, as only his Ministry of Waters can stand up against the heavenly court."

Hermes thought it over and found out that it was a favorable deal.

At least, it was more favorable than returning to Olympus and facing the wrath of his Father, Zeus.

"That's a deal then."

Unexpectedly, Yan Wang suddenly pointed his finger behind Hermes and exclaimed, "W-Wha-at a-are you d-doing here????!!"

Hermes turned around and found Sun Wukong standing there with an embarrassed expression.

"Wukong, what did you do?" Suanzang sighed and asked the monkey king.

"I...hmmm...removed all of my monkey brethren...from the...-

"Book of Life and Death!" Yan Wang finished his sentence and brought out a strange-looking book.

"Because of you, I have an eternal empty page in my sacred book!"

Sun Wukong awkwardly laughed and rubbed his head.

Suddenly, his own iron staff came down on his head.

"What was that for, monk?!" Xuanzang was responsible for the attack.

The atmosphere was lighter than earlier, but Hermes still glanced to the side.

Alex's body was slowly mending itself, and he was going to completely heal in a dozen minutes or less.

However, Hermes couldn't forgive him for his actions.

'Why are you so careless, Alex? If I didn't find the delegate suspicious, you would have...' His thoughts went blank.

"Zhou Kui will come to the mortal realm in a short while, meanwhile, I, King of the Underworld, shall make my leave."