Yefutidaolu

Chapter 400 Acquaintances and Time

Takami is talking to the Yaksha Oni.

The scene was quite bizarre, with Gao Jian sitting to the side like an old man at the village entrance, while the Yaksha demon held a steel fork and kept turning the sinner over on the iron bed in front of him.

All around, wails and cries of agony rose and fell, bitter pain surged and churning, and countless curses and wails echoed, clamoring and screaming.

Amidst this background noise, Takami and Yasha-ki chatted and laughed, creating a harmonious atmosphere, much like sitting at a street food stall with someone being roasted on an iron bed in front of them—it was even more like a street food stall or a self-service barbecue.

The two talked back and forth, and when Gao Jian was so hoarse from speaking that he had to stop temporarily, it was Yaksha Ghost's turn to speak.

At this point, he would talk about the operating rules of hell, such as how sinful souls are judged, how merits are calculated, and the design principles of various punishments. Sometimes he would also talk about rumors he had heard from somewhere about other worlds or strange techniques, which were bizarre and unbelievable. His knowledge was indeed far beyond that of a great expert.

During the conversation, Gao Jian once again steered the topic back to the issue of Hell's loss of contact: "Brother, you said that your Nearby Hell hasn't seen any other Hells for a long time, and no one has come to train here. What's going on? Have the powerful beings above forgotten about this place?"

Upon hearing this, the demon's狰狞 (zhengning, meaning ferocious or hideous) face showed confusion and a hint of dejection. He scratched his head: "We can't say for sure either. It's like... suddenly, the road was cut off? The signal disappeared? We're just lowly servants, how would we know about the affairs of those big shots up there? Perhaps..."

He lowered his voice, his huge bull-like eyes scanning the surroundings warily, though there was no one else around except for the screaming souls of the dead: "Perhaps only the Ghost King of this near-hell knows the real reason? After all, the Ghost King is a sixth-rank figure! He governs this part of hell!"

"Sixth Rank... Ghost King..." Gao Jian's heart stirred, and he secretly memorized this crucial information.

The Yaksha ghost quickly added, his tone filled with awe and admonition: "But young man, I advise you, whatever you do, don't be curious and pry into the Ghost King's affairs! He's a sixth-rank official! That's worlds apart from our eighth-rank! His temper... well... anyway, it's not something we can afford to mess with. Just stay put and wait for your master to come and rescue you!"

Gao Jian outwardly nodded in agreement, but inwardly he was in turmoil.

Waiting for an "expert" to help him is definitely out of the question. He doesn't even have any so-called "expert," let alone a fifth-rank expert... He wouldn't even dare to dream of it. The eleventh realm only has an eighth-rank expert, so what level is a sixth-rank expert?
But on second thought, it might not be a bad thing.

This Ghost King near the edge of Hell... a sixth-rank... a powerful being of this level, he might know the truth about Hell's loss of contact, and might even know how to leave this place, or how to re-establish contact with the outside world.

Although the demon warned of danger, sitting idly by and waiting for death was never Takami's style. Now that he knew there might be clues, he had to try to investigate no matter what.

However, facing someone who might be a "sixth-rank" being is far more dangerous than imagined, and one must be extremely careful.

He watched the Yaksha demon in front of him, who was once again idly "flipping" the sinful souls, and silently began to make plans in his mind.

How can one make contact with that mysterious ghost king without arousing his hostility?

Although Gao Jian was rapidly calculating how to contact the mysterious sixth-rank ghost king, he did not show it on his face. He continued to chat casually with the yaksha ghost, trying to learn more about the rules and power distribution of this place from the seemingly lazy jailer.

Through their conversation, he gradually pieced together some clues: this near-border hell was indeed, as the Yaksha had said, a "peripheral area" and "starter village" within the hell system. The sins of the souls exiled here were indeed "lighter" compared to those in the core hot hells. A typical crime that the Yaksha repeatedly mentioned was "indiscriminate killing of innocents."

However… Gao Jian listened to the several examples of “indiscriminate killing” that Yasha Oni casually mentioned, such as “slaughtering an entire city for personal gain”, “sacrificing thousands of people with blood for practicing cultivation techniques”, and “ordering the massacre of 900,000 surrendered soldiers during war”, etc., and his lips twitched slightly.

Isn't this level of "indiscriminate killing" a bit... too high?

In the Divine Dynasty, any one of these incidents would be enough to alarm the imperial court, constituting an unforgivable crime worthy of death by a thousand cuts or the implication of others! Yet here in this near-hell, it's merely a "minor offense"? What terrifying demons must be imprisoned in the core Eight Hot Hells?

Just as he was inwardly criticizing the sentencing standards of this hell, his gaze inadvertently swept over the sinful soul beneath him, who was being repeatedly tortured and whose face was unrecognizable on the scorching iron bed. He casually asked, "Brother, what did this guy down there do this time?"

The demon didn't even look up. While using a huge pair of iron tongs to flip the sinful soul over to make the heat more "even," he said in a calm tone, as if discussing the weather, "This one is called Left Bank. His crimes are: disrespecting parents, disrespecting teachers, disobeying good teachings, and killing living beings. Tsk tsk, he's guilty of every single one. He's sentenced to be roasted on this iron bed hell for a lifetime, and this has only just begun."

"The Left Bank?!"

Upon hearing this, Gao Jian was stunned for a moment, and then exclaimed in astonishment!

This name... sounds so familiar!

Moreover, the people below are too familiar with each other... they are familiar with each other in every way.

The actual leader of the Zuo family in Cangzhou was a shrewd and calculating man who had built up a deep and complex power base for the Zuo family. He was also the key figure who was ultimately driven to the brink of despair by the combined forces of Gao Jian and Li Zoufang!
Shouldn't he have died long ago? His soul should have been scattered to the winds! How could this be...?

Previously, because those sinful souls had been tortured to the point of being mangled and unrecognizable, and due to the interference of the hellish aura, Gao Jian hadn't been able to identify them carefully. But upon suddenly hearing this name, he was greatly shocked and immediately focused his gaze!

The soul, sizzling and crackling on the red-hot iron bed, its skin charred and oozing oil, was contorted in extreme pain, its face distorted by the continuous torture. Yet, upon closer inspection, one could still discern the contours between its brows, the faint, discernible features that once belonged to a pampered old man…

If it's not the Left Bank, then who is it?!
But at this moment, where was even a trace of the former dignity and bearing of the leader of the Zuo family? He was practically a "golden-brown" fried dough, screaming and convulsing incessantly! The eternal torture had long since obliterated all his dignity, scheming, and ambition, leaving only the most primal and endless pain.

So much so that even though Gao Jian had been here for so long, he didn't recognize Gao Jian. Perhaps Gao Jian had already lost his mind, or even lost the ability to think, with only pain filling his mind.

Gao Jian stared blankly, speechless for a moment.

He never expected that he would "meet" his old rival again in this way, in the depths of hell, far from Cangzhou, far from the Divine Dynasty, and perhaps even far from his original world.

Is karma a cycle, and retribution inevitable?
It turns out that there is a judgment in the unseen realm. The sins of Zuo An in his lifetime, which could not be thoroughly settled in the mortal world, are recorded clearly, one by one, in this hell.

The demon seemed to sense Takashi's unusual behavior, raising its huge bull-like eyes to glance at him: "What? Do you know this person, young man?" Takashi slowly took a breath, suppressing the turmoil in his heart, shook his head, and said in a somewhat complicated tone: "I wouldn't say I know him, but... I've heard his name. I never expected him to end up like this."

"Hey, that's normal!" the Yaksha demon said dismissively. "Those who can come here are mostly big shots and powerful figures in your little world up there. It's a pity that here, all beings are equal. In the face of sin, past status is useless. You have to be fried or boiled as you please!"

Gao Jian nodded silently, his gaze sweeping once more over the gruesome soul on the left bank. The sense of alienation he felt from the vastness and absurdity of hell seemed to have been somewhat diluted by this unexpected discovery, replaced by a more concrete and profound sense of awe.

This hell may have cold and cruel rules, but the "order" it represents is real and authentic.

He became even more determined to find the Ghost King, not only to figure out the situation here, but perhaps... to gain a deeper understanding of these rules.

After chatting for about half an hour, Gao Jian felt he had learned enough and got up to take his leave.

He needed time to process this astonishing information and to think about how to make contact with the sixth-rank ghost king.

As the Yaksha Oni saw Gao Jian about to leave, a clear sense of reluctance appeared in its enormous bull-like eyes. It had spent countless years in this extremely desolate place of punishment, facing only screams and despair day after day. Today, it was rare to have a "living creature" that could speak normally to keep it company. Now that it was leaving, it didn't know how long it would have to face the deathly silence again.

It sighed, a sigh like muffled thunder, filled with endless loneliness: "So you're leaving already... Ah, well, it's not good for your living body to stay in this deathly place. I just don't know when the next time someone will come to talk to us... Come to think of it, it's been over 20,000 years since we last communicated with other hells, nor have we seen any living outsiders..."

Its words carried a casual sentimentality, as if it were talking about something long ago but not very important.

However, to Gao Jian's ears, it was nothing short of a thunderclap from a clear sky!
"Twenty thousand years?!" Gao Jian's eyes widened in surprise.

He had previously heard the other person say "many years" and assumed it meant hundreds or even thousands of years. He never imagined that "many years" was actually measured in "ten thousand years," and more than twenty thousand years at that!

How long has the recorded history of the Divine Dynasty lasted? How long has it been since people have lived and thrived in the Cangzhou region? More than 20,000 years! This is an unimaginably long span!

Seeing Gao Jian's intense reaction, Yasha Oni was taken aback for a moment: "It's only 20,000 years! Look, I'm about to reach the seventh rank. Once I reach the seventh rank, I'll be immortal!"

Its tone even carried a hint of pride, as if it was about to "get ahead soon".

"Twenty thousand years... and that's not considered immortality?" Gao Jian felt his understanding was collapsing. Being able to live for a thousand years was already an incredible old monster, and living for ten thousand years was like a myth!
"Twenty thousand years to achieve immortality? That's absurd!" Upon hearing this, the Yaksha demon's bull-like eyes widened as if he had heard something ridiculous. "Cultivation itself will continuously increase one's lifespan; that's basic common sense! A mere tens of thousands of years is nothing but a snap of the fingers in the eyes of truly powerful beings, not even enough for them to take a nap. Do you know how long our Hell has existed since its creation?"

Gao Jian shook his head blankly. How could he possibly know?
The Yaksha seemed to have regained its talkativeness. It straightened its massive body and its tone became somewhat distant, as if it were recounting an ancient legend: "Then do you know... the Rock Calamity? The Mustard Seed Calamity?"

"What is that?" Gao Jian had never heard of these terms before.

"The so-called Rock Calamity," it stretched out its huge finger, as if gesturing in the void, "is that in the Heavenly Realm, there is a huge stone mountain with a circumference of forty miles, which is extremely hard. There is a celestial being with an extremely long lifespan who comes to this stone mountain once every hundred years and gently wipes the great stone with the softest celestial robe on his body."

It paused, allowing Gao Jian to process the image, before continuing, "In this way, it is wiped clean once every hundred years, in an endless cycle, until this enormous stone mountain, spanning forty miles in circumference, is completely wiped clean into powder and worn away. Thus, the stone is gone, but the calamity is not over."

Gao Jian held his breath as he listened.

The Yaksha demon extended another finger: "And then there's the Mustard Seed Calamity! It's said that there's a huge city, forty miles in circumference, filled with mustard seeds. There's also a long-lived celestial being who comes to this city only once every hundred years, and each time he only takes away... one mustard seed."

"Thus, one grain every hundred years, until all the mustard seeds in this forty-mile-long city are taken, this calamity... is not yet over!"

Looking at Gao Jian's expression, it concluded, "Among those we speak of who are immortal, there are many who can live for thousands, tens of thousands, or even longer! While they may seem to live for a long time, in the Eight Hot Hells, such beings are as numerous as hairs on a cow. Thousands and tens of thousands of eons are nothing in hell, which is countless eons long! You choose first, compared to this kind of time..."

The Yaksha demon spread its enormous palms, its tone returning to its previous calm: "What are a mere tens of thousands of years?"

Gao Jian stood there, speechless for a long time.

Every hundred years, it is wiped clean once, until the forty-mile-long stone mountain turns to ash, and the calamity is not yet over.

At the age of one hundred, one takes a mustard seed, until the city within forty miles is completely empty, and the calamity is not yet over.

Those who achieve immortality endure countless eons...

Hell itself has existed for countless eons.

What was originally an incredibly heavy period of more than 20,000 years suddenly became light and airy, even... somewhat insignificant, in the face of such a vast and despairing timescale.

He took a deep breath of the hellish air, filled with deathly silence and pain, and glanced at the left bank.

The demon just said that Zuo An is going to be tortured... a calamity?
Wrong day!

"Thank you... for informing me, brother." Gao Jian cupped his hands in thanks.

The demon waved his hand dismissively: "It's nothing, just chatting."

Gao Jian nodded, took one last look at the Left Bank that was still being eternally tormented, turned and left this land of punishment, heading deeper into the Iron City.

(End of this chapter)