Chapter 467: Attack on the Underworld
Jue Yangzi had never experienced it either, and he laughed, “My master told me that romantic love between men and women is a far lower pleasure than attaining the Dao. I trust him. Daoist Willow, do you think romance is enjoyable, or is achieving the Dao more enjoyable?”
Scholar Zhu and Black Pot both turned their gazes to Daoist Willow.
Daoist Willow’s attainment of Daoist methods was extremely high, his cultivation profoundly solid, and his insights extraordinary. These past days they had all been guarding the Empress Temple together with him, consulting him on the Dao in daily life and benefiting greatly, and they admired him tremendously.
Daoist Willow smiled and said, “Romantic love has not an ounce of pleasure. Take us willow trees: in spring we bloom yellow flowers everywhere, the wind blows to pollinate, or bees and insects flutter and transfer pollen, producing offspring. Then we turn into catkins, the wind blows, and the ground is covered. What pleasure is there in that kind of romance? It is far inferior to cultivating the Dao.”
Scholar Zhu applauded and praised, laughing, “Brother Dao, you speak exactly to my heart. I have no other loves except cultivation. Every time I comprehend a principle, achieve something, or solve a problem, my heart fills with joy. As for romantic love, it is merely a vulgar pleasure; better not to have it.”
“Exactly, exactly.” Jue Yangzi agreed deeply.
Black Pot barked excitedly.
They all felt a sense of having attained the Dao, and their looks toward Chen Shi and Little Duan were full of pity.
Daoist Willow said, “Romance is foul and rotten; only the true scent of the Dao is fragrant! King Chen has been lost in love, unable to grasp the true essence of the Great Way; from now on his Dao cultivation will be far inferior to ours.”
Jue Yangzi, Scholar Zhu, and Black Pot all nodded.
Scholar Zhu said, “Strangely though, Little Duan hasn’t appeared for a long time. This time is the first appearance in the past six months.”
When he said this, Jue Yangzi and Black Pot also found it odd.
Little Duan was a segment of the fairy’s memory. Little Duan and the fairy often alternated—one in meditation, the other awake. But in the last more than half year, Little Duan had been nowhere to be seen; it was always the fairy who appeared.
They suspected the fairy’s wound had healed and Little Duan had become a part of her memory and would no longer appear. But this time, Little Duan appeared after the fairy had fallen asleep, breaking their ingrained assumptions!
Jue Yangzi suddenly said, “Do you think it’s possible that Little Duan is actually the fairy herself?”
Scholar Zhu and Black Pot were stunned.
Jue Yangzi blinked and said, “I mean, if the fairy’s wounds healed and Little Duan became a memory of the fairy, could it be that the current Little Duan is the fairy herself? She’s deliberately posing as Little Duan to get close to the True King?”
Scholar Zhu hesitated, “That is possible… Black Pot, you know the hearts of people, take a look and see whether she is the fairy or Little Duan!”
Black Pot immediately rose and stared at Little Duan.
Little Duan and Chen Shi were indulging in intimate closeness, seemingly sensing something, and suddenly Little Duan opened her eyes. Her gaze was razor-sharp and swept toward him.
Black Pot’s breath shook violently, and it let out a muffled grunt.
Daoist Willow hurriedly moved to stand in front of it to prevent it from being harmed.
Black Pot drew back its gaze. The man, the ghost, the demon, and the dog gathered together and whispered.
“Woof, woof woof!”
At those words, the three were startled.
Jue Yangzi murmured, “The fairy disguises herself as Little Duan to seduce the True King, causing him to fall; this is a harem demon. I must report it to the True King, to prevent his downfall!”
He leapt up, only to be suppressed by Daoist Willow. Jue Yangzi struggled and said, “Brother Dao, let me go! The True King is born wise, and now he is beguiled by a woman—he must not be allowed to become muddled!”
Black Pot barked.
Jue Yangzi froze, then hesitated and said, “You mean the True King knows Little Duan is the fairy, yet pretends not to know.”
Black Pot nodded.
Jue Yangzi looked bewildered. After a moment he shook his head and said, “They truly play elaborate games. Romance really is less interesting than cultivating the Dao.”
“Indeed.”
Scholar Zhu and Daoist Willow heartily agreed, “Why not cultivate the Dao?”
They glanced at Chen Shi and Little Duan. At some point the two had switched positions; earlier Little Duan had been lying across Chen Shi’s lap, now Chen Shi was lying across Little Duan’s lap. Little Duan was cleaning Chen Shi’s ear, both of them grinning, whispering something.
“Nothing but corrupt talk.” Scholar Zhu said.
Jue Yangzi lamented with heartache, “His Majesty the True King has fallen!”
"Little Ten!"
Chen Shi sprinted down the hill and laughed, “Aunt Qiu Tong, what’s the matter?”
It had been six years since Chen Shi rescued Xiang Tianyu, yet he remained the same small boy as before, not an ounce older.
Sha Qiutong smiled and said, “When do you plan to go to Immortal Capital?”
Chen Shi looked intently at her and Xiang Tianyu and asked, “Auntie wants revenge?”
Sha Qiutong’s smile did not change, “They took my son’s life. This grudge cannot go unavenged.”
Xiang Tianyu nervously gripped her hand and shook it. Sha Qiutong said, “Tianyu, rest assured; your mother will not do something foolish. But the Young Master of the Yan Family lured you to the Buddhist hells to steal the Three Lives Stone and cost you your life. This debt I will repay for you! Little Ten, I treat you as my own son. Can you watch your brother’s grudge go unpunished?”
Chen Shi nodded, “Auntie, rest assured. I will make sure you personally slay your enemy.”
Sha Qiutong asked, “When shall we depart?”
Chen Shi smiled, “Aunt Qiu Tong, hold your temper. Wait for a few more people.”
At that moment Nannan’s voice came, “My mansion is ready, Chen Demon Emperor, when shall we depart?”
Sha Qiutong looked and saw Nannan striding over holding that giant toad, short arms and legs but marching mightily.
Chen Shi’s spirits lifted and he laughed, “Everyone’s here! Let’s leave at once!”
He blew a loud whistle and the Wooden Cart sped from the forest, screeched to a stop beside them.
Sha Qiutong eyed the cart suspiciously and then looked around, “Your grandfather didn’t come? Where is Creation Little Five? What about Blue Goat, Old Hu, and Old Du? They didn’t come either? Little Ten, why not bring your wife? If not, at least your father could come along!”
Chen Shi hopped onto the cart and smiled, “They must stay in Huangpo Village to guard against Despair Slope finding this place and threatening Earth Mother Ladyship. This trip to the underworld will be just us.”
Sha Qiutong gave a terrified shout, “Just us few?”
Chen Shi beamed, “Also Boatman Father and Daughter, along with Zhong Kui and Tie Chi, plus three little ghosts and Black and White Impermanence. They’ve already infiltrated the Underworld, awaiting to assist us.”
Sha Qiutong huffed, “Back when King Yama and the great underworld marshals and judges were defeated, with just a handful of cats and dogs like us, what hope do we have? We’d be delivering ourselves to death!”
Despite her words, she climbed onto the cart with Xiang Tianyu and sat down glaringly.
Her eyes flicked and she smiled, “Your four disciples must be present, right?”
Chen Shi shook his head, “They stayed at the Empress Temple to guard this place.”
Sha Qiutong was speechless.
Chen Shi grinned, “We’re only going to wipe out the Yan Family’s underworld force, nothing to mobilize an army for. The few of us will suffice.”
With a thought, the Wooden Cart dropped into the underworld.
“Take Black Pot!” Granny Sha called back.
At that moment she saw Black Pot’s mother, that enormous Huo Dog, crouched on a high mound, her gaze mournful as she watched the cart disappear.
Chen Shi shook his head, “Black Pot and Huo Dog must remain to guard the Empress Temple.”
Granny Sha’s face turned ashen.
The cart sped on toward Immortal Capital.
Food and water had been prepared inside. When they grew hungry, Chen Shi would stop to light a fire and cook. The cart would go out by itself to forage. Nannan and Xiang Tianyu played with the toad nearby.
Sha Qiutong watched and fretted, thinking, “Everyone says I’m unreliable, but Little Ten is no more reliable!”
After ten or so days of travel, the food stored in the cart ran low. Chen Shi crouched and discussed roasting the toad with Nannan, but the Little Yama sternly refused.
The toad spirit was moved to tears.
Sha Qiutong shook her head repeatedly, “Has Little Ten really gone to attack the Underworld?”
With no food, Chen Shi went out. After a short while he returned carrying a huge Shen Beast slung over his shoulder, striding like a meteor, followed by a group of little yakshas who chattered and tossed forks, presumably the prey Chen Shi had taken from them!
When a rain of steel forks came flying, Nannan snorted and emitted a wisp of King Yama’s aura, startling the little yakshas into kneeling and ceasing their attack.
Chen Shi butchered the Shen Beast into pieces, retrieved salt, soy sauce, star anise, bay leaves, and other ingredients from the cart, and roasted with the Li Fire technique from the Bagua. A mouthwatering aroma rose quickly. He then set up a pot and stir-fried a dozen dishes and made a pot of meat soup, waking the little yakshas to eat with them.
The little yakshas grew merry, brought out their treasured alcohol, and humans and ghosts alike gorged and drank until the world spun. Even Xiang Tianyu was drunk, and Nannan’s toad staggered when it walked.
Sha Qiutong sighed inwardly, her face clouded.
After sobering up, Chen Shi bade farewell to the little yakshas and resumed the journey.
Finally they reached the Immortal Capital in the northern borderlands.
It was night. Countless Three Corpses Gods rose into the air and flew toward the Underworld. Chen Shi drove the Wooden Cart and followed this accusing convoy.
Within the Three Corpses Gods’ ranks, suddenly a gigantic demon god flew forward, flanked by two smaller demon gods—the Three Corpses Gods bound to Chen Shi. The Lower Corpses God Peng Qiao, which he had refined, was overwhelmingly powerful, exuding towering demonic energy.
Granny Sha watched and thought, “Little Ten’s Peng Qiao is terrifyingly strong. But what use is Peng Qiao’s strength? The Yan Family has operated in the Underworld for thousands of years; there are Return to Emptiness and Great Ascension cultivators—far more than the Upper Realm!”
Chen Shi’s Three Corpses Gods guarded around the Wooden Cart. With the great body of Three Corpses Gods, they flew toward a dark, gloomy area beneath the Immortal Capital, penetrating dense miasma and deadly qi as if entering the depths of the earth.
Suddenly, the surroundings opened wide and innumerable Three Corpses Gods dispersed like swarms of locusts, flying off in different directions.
Chen Shi explained to Granny Sha, “They’re going to different judges’ offices to file accusations. There are ten courts in the Underworld, each overseeing a major hell. Each major hell governs eighteen smaller hells. The Yama Hall is the fifth court and holds the greatest power; besides governing a major hell, it also manages Immortal Capital.”
He went on, “If the Three Corpses Gods deem the master guilty of lust, they go to the Boiling Oil Hell to accuse the judge. If they deem the master guilty of slander, they go to Tongue-Pulling Hell to file the accusation. If they deem the master guilty of sowing discord, they go to Iron Tree Hell. Different hells record different crimes.”
“Any living person who commits faults will be recorded by the Three Corpses Gods and accused to the judges of the eighteen layers. The judges will register the events in the Book of Life and Death and decide each person’s remaining lifespan and afterlife destination.”
Granny Sha was astonished, “Little Ten, you speak as if you’ve seen all this with your own eyes—how do you know?”
Chen Shi smiled, “My Three Corpses Gods have been refined into avatars under my command. While cultivating, I have explored the eighteen layers under Yama Hall for years. I already know them inside out. This first-layer hell is Tongue-Pulling Hell. The judge’s name is Yan Guang, the Tai Ao is Yan Xue’e; there are ten underworld marshals, two registrars, fourteen hundred underworld officers, eight thousand ghost officials, and three hundred thousand ghost soldiers.”
Granny Sha was shocked. With so many ghost officials and soldiers plus the Yan Family’s masters, they could not hope to get through!
And this was just the strength of a single small hell!
“Can we hide and sneak past?” she fretted. “I fear we’ll be discovered at the Ghost Gate.”
Discovery was almost certain!
She gritted her teeth. Among the passengers on the cart, apart from Little Yama Nannan, she had the highest power. If they were discovered, she would throw herself in front of them to cover Chen Shi, Nannan, and Xiang Tianyu’s escape.
Chen Shi smiled, “There will be a way before the Ghost Gate. Aunt Qiu Tong, rest assured.”
Sha Qiutong did not rest at all.
When they arrived at the Ghost Gate of Tongue-Pulling Hell, the gate was swarming with the Yan Family’s ghost gods guarding it, thoroughly inspecting passing ghosts.
These Yan Family ghost gods were the ghost soldiers—akin to minor clerks from the mortal realm.
They had been experts of the Yan Family in life, often cultivators who had reached the Primordial Spirit stage. After death they were assigned as ghost officials, managing dozens of ghost soldiers.
Ghost soldiers were lesser ghost kin who did the heavy lifting, like torturing ghosts or apprehending escaping spirits.
Granny Sha looked toward the gate and watched forms of Yan Family ghost gods growing increasingly enormous beyond the gate, from tens of zhang tall to a thousand zhang.
At the checkpoint connecting to another hell, a towering ghost god sat in place. His aura was the most profound; his divine power boundless. The entire Tongue-Pulling Hell was his Realm of Emptiness!
He was the prison lord of this hell, Judge Yan Guang!
As the cart reached the Ghost Gate, the Yan Family’s ghost officials recognized them as living and showed astonished faces, shouting, “Who goes there?”
Some ghosts recognized Nannan and cried out, “Little Yama! It’s Little Yama!”
The Yan Family’s ghost officials fell into chaos—some rushed over to attack, channeling divine power, while others hurried to report to the underworld district chief, marshals, Tai Ao, and Judge Yan Guang.
Granny Sha sighed, about to act, when a series of overwhelming auras surged from behind, rippling the void!
She turned and was startled: the ghost kin queued behind the cart all revealed their true forms, transforming into Knife-Armed Ghosts—various sizes, tall and short, each with blade-like arms. They burst out from both sides of the cart and charged toward the gate’s ghost officials!
In an instant, slaughter erupted!
The Knife-Armed Ghosts moved in disciplined order, each unleashing innate powers; toxic fumes spewed from their backs as they swung their arms, leaping like flying shadows and slaughtering the Yan Family ghost gods at the gate!
The cart rolled calmly through the Ghost Gate as more Knife-Armed Ghost elites surged out, battle cries shaking the sky. Wherever the cart passed, corpses and blood piled up.
Granny Sha stared blankly at the scene. Then she noticed at the rear of the cart a skeleton wearing a crown and draped in a cloak striding over. Behind its head a sea of blood surged forth, forming a hell.
Countless bones rose and merged into its bloody sea of hell.
Its aura grew ever more powerful, surpassing the strength of thousand-zhang ghost gods!
Chen Shi jumped down from the cart and walked across the corpse-strewn and blood-soaked Ghost Gate, his voice reaching Granny Sha’s ears, “Granny, my purpose in coming is not only to restore the Righteous Official to King Yama’s throne, nor merely to avenge Brother Tianyu.”
The Skeleton King approached, cloak billowing and crown flying off. It became a single jade-like white skeleton and walked into Chen Shi’s body.
Chen Shi’s flesh wrapped around it, fusing it with his own body.
The Heavenly Pool Ruler’s crown settled atop his head, the cloak draped over his shoulders.
“What I want is…”
He raised his hand and grasped—the Tianluo Blood-Transforming Divine Blade flew to him and landed in his palm.
“To utterly destroy the Yan Family!”