Hell Emperor.

Chapter 625 Ye Jie - Ruins Settlement
Feeling the terrifying pressure emanating from Ye Jie's body, the Peacock King dared not refuse. He immediately dismissed his subordinates as requested, announced to the city's residents that he had no intention of continuing to fight for the throne, and told them to respect Kanishka as their master.

After doing all this, looking at the disappointed or extremely angry expressions on his subordinates' faces, the Peacock King couldn't help but feel a little regretful. He was afraid that after today, the situation would really be hopeless, but at least he had saved his life.

"Now take me to the ruins."

The whispers from behind sent a shiver down the Peacock King's spine. He knew this was no ordinary person; even the King of Hell had died at his hands. If he disobeyed, his head would likely roll on the chopping block. He had no choice but to reply:
"Please calm down, Your Excellency. Over the years, I have occasionally gone to check outside the ruins, but each time I have been blocked by a powerful force and returned empty-handed. If I go now, I'm afraid I won't be able to enter at all."

Ye Jie asked, "When can we enter?"

The Peacock King answered truthfully: "The rituals outside the ruins only lessen around the time of the annual Obon festival. If you want to enter, you have to seize this opportunity, and you must leave before the ruins close. Otherwise, you won't be able to leave even if you want to!"

Ye Jie understood. The rules of the ruins sounded somewhat similar to those of the Vajra City ruins he had visited before. Both required entering and exploring within a limited time and leaving before closing.

The Peacock King hesitated and said, "There is still a month until this year's Ullambana Festival. If we go now, we will probably just be waiting outside the ruins and won't be able to do anything."

Ye Jie remained unmoved and simply said, "Take me outside the ruins first so I can see it with my own eyes. We can talk about the rest later."

The Peacock King dared not refute. His life was in Ye Jie's hands, so what could he say? Without hesitation, he flew away with Ye Jie into the distance.

The two traveled through countless mountains and lakes. Just as Ye Jie was starting to get impatient, he suddenly heard the Peacock King exclaim, "We've arrived... the ruins are just ahead!"

Looking around, besides the scattered houses in the distance, there was only a set of inconspicuous ruins, quite different from the magnificent ancient city ruins Ye Jie remembered. This scene made him feel somewhat puzzled.
"This is the ruins you were talking about? Are you sure we haven't gone the wrong way?"

The Peacock King nodded with absolute certainty: "That's right, this is the place. Even if I turn to ashes, I will never forget the ruins here."

Seeing his certainty, Ye Jie observed for a while and indeed noticed the difference.

Outside the ruins, powerful immortals frequently appear in the houses, including some at the fifth level.

Being able to cultivate to the fifth level is a remarkable achievement, even among immortals. Tianlang, for example, won the qualification to become a Holy Envoy of the Faith with his fifth level cultivation.

Now, with such a large number of immortals gathered here, including many at the fifth level and even occasionally at the sixth or seventh level, it truly conveyed an unusual meaning to Ye Jie: this place is indeed full of mystery, and he really did not make a mistake in coming here.

Ye Jie did not forget that he was not a person of this era. In order to avoid causing too much impact, he instructed the Peacock King in advance to conceal his cultivation and not reveal any of it before proceeding forward.

Before they even got close, they saw groups of beggars outside the city, their thin bodies hunched over on the ground, begging along the streets. Some had lost arms, revealing their ribs, while others were missing a leg and could only lie on their carts, struggling to move even a little.

The Peacock King looked at him with disdain: "Legend has it that the Peacock Dynasty reveres Buddhism and Taoism and values ​​compassion. The practitioners who come here to explore the ruins all yearn for this to some extent, which explains why so many beggars have sprung up. If I were to rule this place, I would definitely drive out all those who are an eyesore."

Ye Jie looked around without saying a word.

After experiencing various things, he also began to ponder the true meaning of the cycle of reincarnation.

Being born as a beggar, rather than a rich person, is not the beggar's fault. If reincarnation is disordered, these beggars may have performed many good deeds and made great contributions in their previous lives, but they have fallen to this state in this life. No one knows whose fault it is.

If good and evil are meaningless, then reincarnation is nothing but a prison. Rather than being trapped in the body of a beggar and suffering endless torment in this life, it's better to start over sooner. Perhaps in the next life, one can strike it rich and be reborn into a wealthy family. This is completely contrary to the ethics of all living beings. Thinking of this, Ye Jie understood why the people in the Ksitigarbha Hall were so eager to be freed from the cycle of reincarnation.

"Are you new here? Have you also heard the legends and are planning to explore the ruins?"

As soon as they arrived at the settlement outside the ruins, a boy enthusiastically approached Ye Jie and introduced himself. The boy was short, had no cultivation, and looked to be only about ten years old. He only had one arm, and was missing an eye. His clothes were tattered and covered in dust and mud, making him look no better than the other beggars. However, he appeared quite clever.

“In the past, many cultivators and enthusiasts came to this place after hearing the legend of the ruins. Over time, they formed the settlement that exists today outside the ruins. However, due to its limited size, it doesn’t even have a name yet. If you need, I can tell you about this place. It will only cost three… no, five spirit coins.”

"Leave far away!"

The Peacock King frowned, finding the boy's appearance too ugly to behold, and was about to drive him away when Ye Jie stopped him. Instead, Ye Jie took out a high-grade spirit stone and handed it to the boy. "Tell me about this place," Ye Jie said.

The boy didn't answer immediately. Instead, he picked up the high-grade spirit stone Ye Jie had given him and examined it from all angles, looking somewhat troubled: "What... what is this?"

Ye Jie's lips twitched. Could it be that he had never even seen a spirit stone before? He then said, "This is a spirit stone. The spirit coins you want are carved from spirit stones. Besides, such a large spirit stone is worth dozens of spirit coins, which should be enough to meet your requirements, right?"

The Peacock King reminded him, "Your Excellency is unaware that the spirit stones used to mint spirit coins are low-grade spirit stones, while what you gave him was a high-grade spirit stone, and a rather complete one at that. The price difference is enormous. In my opinion, you have definitely lost out. It was just to introduce the situation; it's not worth that price at all."

Ye Jie waved his hand, indicating that it was alright, but then the boy said with some concern, "Are you serious? But I still want the spirit coins. What if I can't get them back..."

In the end, Ye Jie also saw a hint of barely perceptible fear deep in the boy's eyes.

Ye Jie narrowed his eyes, said nothing more, and then asked the Peacock King, "Do you have any spirit coins on you?"

The Peacock King nodded repeatedly. How could he not have spirit coins on him? He then took out several brand-new spirit coins and threw them to the boy: "You're lucky. These are all newly minted spirit coins."

The boy excitedly accepted the spirit coin, but upon closer inspection of the design, his expression froze completely: "Wait a minute... who is depicted on this spirit coin? Why isn't it the Yama Emperor?"

The Peacock King said irritably, "The spirit coins I gave you naturally have my image on them! How could they possibly have someone else's?"

As the two were talking, Ye Jie also peeked over and saw that the image branded on the spirit coin was indeed that of the Peacock King himself. He couldn't help but twitch his lips. It seemed that the kings of this continent all liked to have their portraits printed on their coins.

The boy grew anxious: "These spirit coins are useless. If I use them, I might even be charged with unauthorized minting. Only the spirit coins with the image of the Yama Emperor are the real spirit coins. I can't take these!"

The Peacock King chuckled, as if mocking the boy's lack of knowledge:
"What do you know? The King of Hell is already dead; coins with his image on them are useless. Do you see him? Standing before you now is..."

Peacock King pointed at Ye Jie, intending to take this opportunity to reveal Ye Jie's identity and scare the boy in front of him, letting him know who killed the Yama Emperor. However, after noticing Ye Jie's cold and fierce eyes, he remembered that Ye Jie had previously told him to keep a low profile, and finally shut his mouth in embarrassment.

The boy shook his head repeatedly, his only remaining right hand trembling uncontrollably: "I can't take these spirit coins... If Ah Da finds out I took these counterfeit coins, I'll definitely be punished, maybe even this hand..."

"What are you doing?"

Just as Ye Jie was about to speak, several strong men suddenly surrounded him from afar. The one in the lead had a face full of scars and was at least at the fifth level of cultivation. He seemed to be up to no good.

The burly man blocked the boy behind him and said sternly, "You two outsiders, how dare you bully a child? Do you think we're easy to bully?"

Peacock King sneered and was about to speak when Ye Jie stopped him. He wanted to see what these people were up to.

The man snatched the spirit coins from the boy's arms, examined them, and immediately flew into a rage: "So, you dare to use counterfeit coins! Don't you know the consequences of using counterfeit coins?"

Ye Jie's gaze darkened: "Who are you?"

The man held his sword across his shoulder, brimming with confidence in his strength: "You can call me A-Da. I am the protector of these beggars, to prevent them from being deceived by people like you!"

"Yeah……"

Ye Jie didn't answer, but carefully examined the man. His years of experience as a ghost messenger allowed him to immediately see the abnormality in the man. He then looked past the man and at the boy behind him whose spirit coins had been stolen, and asked slowly:

"Did he do your blindness and the injury to your left hand?"

(End of this chapter)