This Liao Zhai is not right

The eyebrow pencil continued to outline, and the previously charming face turned into one with pointed eyes, furrowed brows, and a look of resentment.

"It still doesn't work. Even if I cover myself up like this, I can't escape the appearance of a gorgeous female ghost. I have to be ruthless."

Chang'e used light black watercolor to paint from the center of the eyebrows all the way down, depicting a shocking black birthmark that occupied most of the face. With this contrast, Su Su, who had become a yin-yang face, finally looked like an ordinary female ghost.

It is the kind of thing that looks pleasing to the eye upon closer inspection, but becomes indistinguishable among a pile of ghosts.

"This is perfect. Even if the underworld is in chaos, it will be difficult to be discovered."

After taking a few glances at herself, Chang'e continued to explain, "Only one of the Ten Yama Kings in the underworld is left. When he was alive, King Yama, Bao Zheng, was an upright and courageous person. After his death, he was named Yama King and he was even more intolerant of the slightest grain of sand in his eyes. However, he can't take care of everything alone. Many ghost messengers and judges deceive their superiors and subordinates. People who serve as Yama Kings in the world are partial to their superiors and bend the law. You have to be careful in the underworld. If you can succeed, it will be great. If not, you must quickly show your divine body. The louder the noise, the better. As long as it can reach the ears of King Yama, you can escape calmly."

After saying this, he took out a blood-yellow stone that was round and looked like a pill.

"This is jade washed by the blazing Yang energy from the bottom of the Wangchuan River. Ordinary people can ward off evil spirits by wearing it, but once it touches the half of the Five Thunder Commandment in your hand, it can communicate with the heavens with its mighty Yang energy and summon heavenly thunder. Even ghosts and immortals can only avoid its edge. Although there is only one chance, it is enough for you to run rampant in the underworld."

Seeing the preparations Chang'e had made in advance, Su Su couldn't help but feel grateful that he didn't let her take advantage of him for nothing last night.

Although Su Su is 80% to 90% sure that he can get the ownerless throne of Yama in the underworld with the cloth that can deprive the superior of his power, it is always good to have some trump cards to protect himself.

"Don't worry, I never do anything I'm not sure of."

After putting away the blood-yellow jade stone handed to him by Chang'e and picking up the petition entrusted by the civil and military judge of Lijin, Su Su walked out of the Geigu Garden.

The wind in the underworld was cold and the surroundings were dim and gloomy. The daytime in the world of the living was equivalent to the night in the underworld, so the ghosts in the lonely garden had long disappeared at this time, and the filth everywhere in the garden had also been washed away.

Su Su walked out of the Geigu Garden and headed west along the bank of the Wangchuan River.

Less than a hundred steps away, a stone bridge spanning the two banks of the Wangchuan River suddenly appeared on the bank.

At the same time, many ghost shadows suddenly appeared around where there should have been nothing, and gathered on one side of the river bank. Some were crying, and some were in a daze.

Occasionally, a few people were pushed off the river bank and fell into the Forgotten River. As soon as they fell into the river, the snakes and insects under the water swarmed over them, and the fishy smell filled their noses. They only let out a few screams before being devoured by the snakes and insects in the river, leaving their limbs mutilated and completely losing the qualification to reincarnate.

Chapter 79 The imp is difficult to deal with

Focusing our attention on the Naihe Bridge that spans the two banks of the Wangchuan River, the bridge is divided into three levels: upper, middle and lower. The souls of those who are known for their good deeds after death reach the underworld through the bridge on the top level, safe and sound; those who are half good and half evil cross the middle bridge, where the torrent of the Wangchuan River hits the bridge, occasionally sprinkling a few drops of boiling blood from the Yellow River, which scares them and makes them scream; the ghosts of the wicked cross the bridge on the lower level, and although there are no snakes or insects to eat them, their skin is burned after passing through the Naihe Bridge.

The very old Meng Po lives on the top of the Naihe Bridge, with a big jar in front of her. Ghost messengers keep passing by with ghosts in tow. Meng Po scoops out boiling but clear soup from the jar and feeds it to the ghosts in tow, erasing their memories and minds before sending them to reincarnation.

Ghost messengers kept escorting ghosts past Meng Po, but the boiling hot soup in the big jar in front of Meng Po never increased or decreased.

People who have done good deeds can enter the reincarnation directly, but those who pass through the middle and lower levels of the Naihe Bridge will not have such treatment.

They will first pass through the Naihe Bridge and be beaten with a stick, and then be sent to the underworld. After their merits and sins in life are sorted out, they will be dealt with accordingly.

Those whose crimes are less serious will be judged by Yama Luo, and after suffering corresponding punishment, they will be escorted to be reincarnated. Officials will be demoted and reincarnated as commoners. If commoners are further demoted, they will not even be considered human beings anymore, and will be directly reincarnated as livestock or the like.

Those who have committed serious sins will be thrown into the eighteen levels of hell according to their different crimes. They will suffer great torture and have extremely long sentences. Moreover, different crimes can be accumulated. Often, just after they are released from one hell, they will be imprisoned in other hells to continue serving their sentences. That's why there is a rumor among the people that "once you are thrown into the eighteen levels of hell, you will never be able to turn over."

It is recorded in the chapter "Three Lives" in Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio that Liu Xiaolian could remember his past lives and had talked about his past lives clearly and confidently many times. He said that he was a gentry in his first life and committed many sins. He died at the age of 62 and was arrested by the ghosts and sent to Yama. Yama treated him politely, gave him a seat and served him tea. Liu Xiaolian suspected that the tea was Meng Po soup and secretly poured it out. When Yama found out the sins he had committed, he immediately flew into a rage, withdrew all the courtesy, and ordered his ghosts to drag him away. He was not even considered a human being and was punished to be reincarnated as a horse in the next life.

Liu Xiaolian's life as a horse passed very quickly. After only four or five years, when he grew into an adult horse, he felt heartbroken when being ridden by others. He was so angry that he refused to eat for three days and then starved to death.

The second time he went to the underworld, Yama found that he had not completed his sentence, so he accused him of intentionally evading punishment and sentenced him to be a dog. Liu Xiaolian only worked as a dog for one year. He could not bear the urge to swallow filthy things, so he deliberately bit off a piece of meat from his master's leg and was beaten to death.

The third time he went to the underworld, Yan Luo interrogated him again. He was whipped hundreds of times for the crime of biting a mad dog, and was punished to be reincarnated as a snake. This time, Liu Xiaolian was not in trouble. He was broken into two pieces by a speeding car wheel on the road. Yan Luo was speechless because he died innocently and was finally able to be reincarnated as a human again.

In the underworld, even the most trivial matters have to be personally investigated by Yama Luo before a decision can be made. No one knows which person in the world of the living who also serves as Yama Luo handled such a ridiculous case.

Seeing that no ghost officials around were paying attention to him, Su Su mixed in with the ghosts and walked onto the Naihe Bridge in the middle. A gust of cold wind blew behind him, and the bustling group of ghosts gradually became sparse.

After walking a few steps, an official residence that looked no different from the government offices in the mortal world appeared out of nowhere in front of him.

There are ghost soldiers armed with swords and sharp weapons stationed on all sides, and in front are ghosts waiting for interrogation. If you have been wronged, you can wait in line and submit a complaint to the underworld yamen, and then present it before Yama. The ghost messenger from the underworld will go to the world of the living to arrest the defendant's ghost to confront you in court, clarify the cause and effect, and then make a judgment.

Outside the yamen there is a road drum for those who are still resentful to beat to appeal. Once the drum is beaten, the complaint can be directly submitted to the King of Hell. If the case is won, there is naturally no price to pay, but if the case is lost, there is the risk of being charged with false accusation and being thrown into the eighteen levels of hell.

If the judge of the case is upright and impartial, it will indeed be an effective system to punish evil and promote good.

It’s a pity that there is only one Yama King left among the Ten Kings of Hell in the underworld, and he certainly cannot take care of all the affairs of the world of the living. Therefore, many people from the world of the living appear to serve as Yama King during the trials.

Standing outside the official residence and looking at the scene inside, Su Su could vaguely see a figure in a black crown and robes sitting in the hall, and kneeling below the hall was a scholar who was about thirty years old, wearing a Confucian scarf and a long gown with washed white hair, with his arms crossed and his fingers trapped in the pincers. On both sides of the man, there were hideous-looking ghost officials trying their best to torture him, causing the scholar to scream in agony.

Although he couldn't hear what was being said in the hall, Su Su roughly guessed that they were using torture to extract a confession. He had originally planned to find someone who behaved improperly, was partial and bent the law, and now he had landed right on his doorstep.

After taking a few glances at the long queue of ghosts waiting to file complaints and appeal for justice, Su Su went in to queue up, not knowing when it would be her turn. She walked straight past the many ghosts waiting in line and went straight to the front of the yamen, where she picked up the drumstick and beat the road drum loudly.

"Boom boom boom!"

As soon as the drum sounded, a ghost came over and shouted, "Who are you? What's your grievance? Tell me now!"

"I have been victimized by a villain, and I have no place to appeal in the world of the living. I have come to the underworld to ask Yama to judge my case. This is my complaint."

Putting down the drumstick in his hand, Su Fu handed the complaint from the Lijin Civil and Military Judge to the ghost messenger in front of him, pretending to be terrified and said, "This is a matter of urgency. I hope the messenger will help me."

"It's easy to say, but this light piece of paper has a heavy weight when it falls. If you don't have money to pave the way, I'm afraid it will be difficult to get to the King of Hell."

After receiving the petition, the ghost dared not open it to take a closer look, but dared to ask for a bribe openly and without hesitation. He looked at Su Su, who was dressed in mourning clothes and disguised as a yin-yang face, with a proud look, without any worldly desires, and said bluntly: "You are a plain-looking female ghost. If you want to present this petition to Yama as soon as possible, ask your family members to burn thirty kilograms of paper money for me in their dreams. Remember to be sincere and burn enough incense."

The king of hell is easy to meet, but the devil is difficult to deal with.

Fortunately, Chang'e disguised her well, otherwise, if she had revealed a little bit of her beauty, the ghost messenger would probably ask for more than just thirty kilograms of paper money. The ghost messenger who led the way was so greedy, so how could the King of Hell who tortured people in the hall be a good person?

Su Su immediately decided to take action against the guy in front of him.

Taking back the complaint that was taken away by the ghost, Su Fu said in a shocked voice: "If I don't want to burn paper money for you, what else can I do?"

Chapter 80 Getting burned

Perhaps it was because no ghost had ever dared to refuse a bribe so ruthlessly, the ghost's eyes were wide open, full of disbelief.

"What, didn't you hear clearly? Let me say it again, if I refuse to burn paper money for you, what else can I do?"

Su Su looked at the ghost messenger in front of him who had been silent for a long time and repeated.

"presumptuous!"

The look of disbelief in her eyes was quickly replaced by anger. She raised her right hand and a cold, blood-stained iron chain appeared in her hand. "How dare you, you ugly ghost girl, humiliate me like this? I will take you to the alley and make you neither live nor die."

"When he failed to extort bribes, he became angry and wanted to take revenge."

Su Su's face was cold, and he said, "Is this how the Yama in the hall teaches you to do things? Explain clearly, explain clearly, can you deliver the complaint to Yama? If not, replace it with a capable ghost messenger and burn thirty kilograms of paper money for you? You don't even look in the mirror, you look like a bunch of people, you can't even do such a small thing, if I were you, I would have jumped into the Wangchuan River and committed suicide out of shame."

"I hate it too."

The bribe-demanding ghost had been provoked into anger by Su Su's few words, and swung the iron chain in his hand regardless of the consequences, intending to arrest Su Su's ghost on the spot. However, he suddenly discovered that the sinister iron chain had melted at a speed visible to the naked eye before it even landed on Su Su.

His face suddenly changed as he looked up and down at Su Su, who seemed ordinary, even a little ugly.

"You...who are you?"

Seeing that their tactics failed, the bribe-demanding ghost officials had to suspect that Su Su was not an unjustly dead female ghost who came to the underworld to submit a complaint and ask Yama to judge the case, but a successful Qigong practitioner who was bored and left his body to come to the underworld to tease these ghost officials who were partial and unjust.

The melting of the iron chain in the hands of the bribe-demanding ghost was not caused by Su Su, but by the Wangchuan jade stone containing blazing yang energy given to her by Chang'e. All evil spirits were frightened away, and even the iron chain in the ghost's hand used to bind souls was melted.

"Of course I'm here to beat the drum to appeal for justice and submit a complaint for the unjust death of a person. Don't you have eyes?" Su Su said seriously.

Seeing her so confident and righteous, the bribe-demanding ghost's guess was confirmed.

He quickly suppressed the nameless anger in his heart and smiled carefully, "Fairy, please don't make fun of me. Since you have come to the underworld to file a complaint, I will immediately present the fairy's complaint to Yama."

He is rude at first but respectful later, which makes people laugh.

"Ah."

Su Fu couldn't help but sneer and said sarcastically, "Why, now I don't need to burn paper money to clear the way for you?"

"How dare I, I am blind and have offended the fairy. I deserve to be punished."

As the bribe-demanding ghost spoke, he slapped himself in the face, making loud slapping sounds. His attitude was so humble that it was outrageous.

But the resentment in his eyes became even stronger, and this action clearly showed that he said one thing and meant another.

Su Su took the bribe-demanding ghost's trick seriously, knowing that he would definitely not be willing to be humiliated by him. Once he let him go, he would most likely gossip in front of Yama in the hall while delivering the complaint, making the current situation even worse.

but......

This is exactly the effect Su Su wanted. The more aggressively the bribe-seeking ghost stirred up trouble, the better the effect would be.

They are birds of a feather, working together for the sake of evil, which gave her the opportunity to make a fuss.

He held the soul-beating ruler in his palm and hid it in his sleeve. With his other hand, he threw the petition he had just taken back in front of the bribe-demanding ghost. Su Su didn't even look at him and scolded him, "Why don't you go to the hall and submit the petition to Yama?"

"Young man, go right here."

He hurriedly picked up the petition dropped by Su Su, turned around and rushed to the main hall of the official residence. The resentment in his eyes was evident, but he had to put on an awkward and flattering smile on his face, which was so ugly.

Su Su watched from afar as the bribe-demanding ghost ran to the tortured Yan Luo, knelt down and kowtowed, then handed the complaint in his hand to the case, talking nonstop and occasionally glancing back at the place where Su Su was standing outside the official residence.

Just like that, I stood outside the official residence for a while.

As Yama in the hall looked at him, the bribe-demanding ghost stood up, ran to Su Su again with a shaky figure, and said with a wry smile: "Fairy, please come in. Yama is willing to inquire about this case."

Seeing that the resentment in the eyes of the bribe-demanding ghost had faded a lot, Su Su knew that the actions he had been doing in secret had already reached a consensus with the Yama King in the hall, and he was just waiting for him to walk into the official residence and fall into the trap.

Pretending to be clueless, he followed the bribe-demanding ghost into the official residence.

When they reached the hall where Yama was trying cases, the bribe-collecting ghost who was leading the way suddenly lost his smile and shouted at Su Su, "Stop!"

As soon as he finished speaking, soldiers holding swords and sharp weapons on both sides of the court stepped forward and surrounded Su Su.

"Snapped!"

"Who is in the hall?"

Sitting in the hall, Yan Luo, wearing a black crown and with a blurred face, struck the gavel.

Without waiting for Su Su to reply, Yan Luo looked at him fiercely and said, "Do you know that suing the City God in the Yang world is like a son suing his father. It is considered as a great act of unfilial piety and requires 50 strokes of the cane first. Even if you win, you will be sentenced to become an animal in your next life?"

"Ah? I've never heard of this before. You didn't make it up, did you?"

Su Su looked at Yama Luo who was sitting in the hall with suspicion. As far as she knew, it was not uncommon for people who died unjustly in Liao Zhai to sue the City God and Yama Luo, but there was never any mention of such a situation in the book.

"presumptuous!"

The ghost soldiers and the bribe-demanding ghosts in the court shouted in unison: "How dare you despise Yama and roar in the court? This is a crime of great disrespect."

Good guy.

The trial hasn't started yet.

Su Su was accused of being extremely unfilial and disrespectful, and was almost sent directly to the eighteenth level of hell, where he would be tortured forever.

And Yan Luo, who was in charge of the trial, did not give her a chance to explain.

"Snapped!"

He slammed the gavel again.

"He is trying to sow discord, falsely accuse the gods, speaks with a slick tongue, and lies to deceive people. His crime is unforgivable. Where are you? Capture this man and send him to the hell of tongue-pulling!"

Seeing the ghost soldiers holding sharp blades slowly surrounding him, Su Su was not panicked at all. Instead, he questioned Yama sitting in the hall with great interest: "You haven't even tried the case yet, why are you sentencing me? Aren't you afraid of getting yourself into trouble?"

"You are just a ghost, and yet you dare to speak so arrogantly when you are about to die." The bribe-demanding ghost shouted.

Yan Luo in the hall also spoke again: "Quickly capture this man."

Before he finished speaking, the words on the cloth were already quietly floating in Su Su's sight.

'Yam Luo is in charge of punishment, and is responsible for life and death in the world of the living, and controls good and bad fortune. He should be fair and impartial. Acting Yama Luo Zhang Zhongsheng has been partial to his own interests and has committed an unforgivable crime. He should be burned in the fire of karma as a warning to others.'

As soon as the handwriting appeared, fire broke out in the courtroom and burned the beams. Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the raging flames were actually starting from the heart of the acting Yama, and in the blink of an eye, his figure in black crown and robes was completely engulfed.

Chapter 81: Yama's Throne

Under the watchful eyes of a crowd of ghost soldiers and ghost messengers, a raging fire started from the heart of Acting Yama. It didn't take long before the beams of the house and the case were burned to ashes.

And Yama Luo, who was burned by the karmic fire, had his soul torn apart on the spot and died a death that could not be dead again.

"When a thought arises in your mind, the fire of karma burns fiercely. It is not others who burn you, but you who burn yourself."

When the souls of people in the world of the living leave their bodies and go down to the underworld to perform the duties of Yama, they are of course not completely free and can handle cases according to the personal preferences of the person who also serves as Yama.

Whether it is the story in "The Death of Yama" about the official named Wei who served as Yama and died suddenly on the spot after his deeds of abusing his power for personal gain and intending to shield others were exposed, or the article "Li Boyan" which records that Li Boyan, a native of Yishui County, Shandong Province, was brave and courageous and was summoned to the underworld to temporarily take over the position of Yama for three days. During this period, when he interrogated his fellow villagers and acquaintances and showed favoritism, karmic fire immediately emerged in his heart and directly burned the temple. When he restrained his selfishness, the karmic fire gradually dissipated.

However, this does not mean there is no way around it.

If the person who concurrently serves as Yama Luo wants to bend the law for personal gain, he only needs to remove himself from the court, not try the case personally, and instruct his ghost soldiers and ghost messengers to abuse their power for personal gain. Naturally, he does not have to worry about being burned by the fire of karma in the court.

Therefore, Su Su guessed that the scholar who was being tortured by the acting Yama in the court was most likely sent here at the instruction of someone else. And if the acting Yama, who was suffering from the burning fire of karma, wanted to show favoritism, he would transfer the relevant cases to other places, so as to avoid the karma fire that would burn in his heart if he acted selfishly during the trial.

This loophole is really easy to exploit.