This Liao Zhai is not right

When the acting Yama in the hall was burned to ashes by the fire of karma, the words on the cloth in Su Su's sight changed again.

"With selfish thoughts and no public spirit, the acting Yama Zhang Zhongsheng was burned to death by the fire of karma, and his soul was scattered. The position of Yama is vacant. Now, Su Su, the city god of Guobei County, Jichuan Prefecture, is temporarily taking over the position of Yama."

The underworld is short of staff, so they recruit people from the mortal world to act as Yama, regardless of their quality. They can just recruit anyone to take up the position, which shows that it is not too difficult to obtain the position of a god.

After all, Yama is Yama, and King Yama is King Yama.

The difference of one word makes a world of difference.

As his mind wandered, the mourning clothes that Su Su was wearing disappeared in an instant, replaced by a loose-fitting crown robe. In his hand appeared a jade sceptre, one foot and two inches long, with four mountains carved on it. The tassels on his head hung down, swaying, and were very unsightly.

The yin-yang face that Chang'e had painted pale in the morning also returned to its original state, but it was obscured by the tassels and could not be seen clearly.

At this moment, the bribe-demanding ghost officer who was mixed in with the many ghost soldiers was still a little slow to react.

Yama, who was supposed to be sitting in the court to judge the yin and yang, was burned to death by the fire of karma. The ugly female ghost, who was supposed to be captured and thrown into the hell of tongue-pulling, was wearing a crown and a tassel on her head. She was surrounded by people and looked intimidating without even getting angry.

This development is too outrageous.

Just after taking over the position of Yama, Su Su felt that the vigorous divine power in his heart was ignited by a blazing flame. He could not help but say, "Anyone who harbors selfish thoughts and intends to bend the law for personal gain during the trial shall be punished by the fire of karma."

As soon as he finished speaking, a raging fire suddenly appeared above the court, instantly burning the bribe-demanding ghost into charcoal, shattering his soul. Then the fire quickly spread among the ghost soldiers, burning layer by layer with black smoke lingering.

The scholar in the hall, who was wearing a Confucian scarf and a long gown with washed-white hair, was so shocked by the sudden change that he forgot to scream. Su Su swept him with the soul-beating ruler hidden in his sleeve and threw him out of the court.

At this point, the karmic fire burning in the court had no more restraints and soared into the sky. The figures of the ghost soldiers had no room to resist. The karmic fire burned them into wisps of black smoke and completely turned them into ashes. Then it spread and completely set the entire court on fire.

The flames were so fierce that they could be clearly seen from as far away as the Naihe Bridge.

"Under the avalanche, every snowflake is brave enough to make its way to the horizon."

"There is not a single innocent person in this room. No wonder the underworld is in turmoil, allowing ghost kings and demons from all sides to find opportunities to carve out their own kingdoms in the underworld."

Looking at the courtroom engulfed by the raging fire, no ghost soldiers or ghost officials came out. As they were all burned to death by the fire, the entire hall collapsed.

"Yan Luo? No, who are you?"

The ghost soldiers guarding outside the official residence came over, but as soon as they entered the residence, a karmic fire broke out and burned the whole place to ashes in a blink of an eye.

Su Su turned around and walked out of the residence slowly. Wherever he passed, karma fire rolled. No matter if they were ghost soldiers, ghost messengers, or the judges under the command of Acting Yama who had not yet realized what was happening and hurried over, they were all burned by the karma fire from the heart and could not escape the fate of being reduced to ashes.

What he saw and felt made his mind clear and thorough. The blazing flame rooted in his heart and igniting divine power continued to grow stronger, and actually led to the growth of the vigorous divine power in his heart as well.

Escape, escape, escape.

The terrified ghost soldiers and ghost officials fled in all directions, and even the ghost team that had been waiting in an orderly manner for trial was thrown into panic. They no longer cared whether they were wronged or not, and the most important thing was to escape.

The already chaotic underworld was made even more chaotic by Su Su's actions.

Walking slowly, the scholar finally came to his senses and kowtowed to Su Su, shouting that he was innocent, intending to ask Su Su to overturn the verdict for him.

Su Su stopped and asked, "Why did the deputy Yama torture you to extract a confession?"

"After I died, the ghosts took my soul to the underworld, which is under the jurisdiction of the Examination Department. My merits and demerits in life should be sorted out, and I can be reincarnated after the judgment is made. Unexpectedly, the head of the department named Empty-bellied Ghost King asked me to cut off the flesh from my legs and offer it to him when he first saw me. I was so angry that I cursed him a few times. He immediately flew into a rage and falsely accused me of being a bandit. I robbed countless properties and killed 67 people in my life. According to the law of the underworld, I should be punished by burning with fire and then thrown into the volcanic hell. I refused to confess, so the Empty-bellied Ghost King handed me over to the Yama here and tortured me to make me confess."

As he was still speaking, the scholar stopped kowtowing and unzipped his trouser legs. His legs were covered in blood and bones, and it was unknown how much flesh had been cut off.

As Su Su had guessed before, this scholar was indeed passed to the acting Yama for judgement at the behest of others out of personal favor.

She knew that the Hollow-Bellied Ghost King mentioned by the scholar was of great importance. He was the head of the Examination Bureau appointed by King Yama. In the article "The Examination Bureau" from Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, he deceived his superiors and bullied his subordinates, so that the ghosts in the underworld who were persecuted by him dared not speak out. Even seeking help from Wen Rensheng, the reincarnation of the Hollow-Bellied Ghost King's grandfather, could not make the Hollow-Bellied Ghost King restrain himself.

Fortunately, Wen Rensheng was young and righteous. He ran to King Yama to complain in anger, which led to the punishment of the Empty-Dulled Ghost King.

A new official has three things to do when he takes office. Now that he has obtained the throne of Yama, Su Su will certainly not sit idly by and watch the existence of insects like the Empty-Dull Ghost King in the underworld. Even if he is the chief of the Examination Department appointed by his immediate superior, Yama, so what.

If Bao Zheng, who was conferred the title of King Yama after his death, knew about this, he would probably want to kill the Empty-Dulled Ghost King on the spot even more than Su Su did.

Chapter 82 The Ghost in the Underworld

He waved the soul-beating ruler to release the black-faced ghost who had been suppressed for many days.

"God."

Suddenly appearing, the black-faced ghost was about to kowtow and beg for mercy as usual, but the next thing he knew, Su Su was wearing the Yama robes before him. He vaguely remembered that when she was in Yangzhou city the day before, she was just a city god. He didn't expect that in just two days, she had become the Yama of the underworld.

"I have met Lord Yama."

Seeing this, the black-faced ghost bowed his head and kowtowed.

Although Su Su is currently only the acting King Yama, and is still a far cry from the real King Yama, who knows whether she will really replace the position of the King Yama who has entered the cycle of reincarnation.

There's nothing wrong with flattering someone.

Su Su ignored the flattery of the black-faced ghost messenger and said bluntly: "Since you can contact King Yama, you must know where the Examination Bureau is. Take me there and the matter of stealing the pill ends here."

All things are done without regard to the heart. There is no perfect person in the world when it comes to the heart.

Although the black-faced ghost messenger did the thing of seizing Hu San's inner elixir, the sentencing for the crime was very different between the completed and attempted crime. The fact that the black-faced ghost messenger was not burned to ashes by the karma fire after he appeared is an excellent proof of this.

"I will obey Yama's order. Please follow me."

Upon learning that he would be released, the black-faced ghost was delighted. He kowtowed to Su Su several times, then stood up impatiently to lead the way.

The scholar was arrested and followed behind the black-faced ghost. Soon a city wall appeared in front of them. The city gate was guarded by ghost soldiers. When they saw Su Su, who was wearing a crown and robes, coming here, they hurriedly saluted and called him "Yan Luo".

Ignoring them, he walked straight into the city. Everywhere he looked, he saw ghosts with bloody legs. Occasionally, he saw one with intact legs, whose faces were greasy and who looked wealthy.

Led by the black-faced ghost messenger, Su Su soon saw a low and cramped government office, but in the backyard there was a hall that was much taller and more magnificent than the government office.

There are stone tablets on the left and right outside the hall, with dark green characters on one side and "filial piety, brotherhood, loyalty and trustworthiness" on the other, and "propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame" on the other.

"Reporting to Yama, this is the Examination Department. The head of the department is the ghost king Xudu. He studied hard and achieved some success, but died young without any fame. King Yama took pity on him and temporarily entrusted him with the important task of supervising the assistants in the underworld and judging cases. He is waiting for him to make contributions so that he can be reborn into a wealthy family."

The black-faced ghost stopped in front of the Examination Office and revealed all the secrets of the Empty-bellied Ghost King.

The implication is that the Ghost King with Empty Belly had some knowledge in his life, but died before he could pass the imperial examination. King Yama felt sorry for him and decided to help him out, so he made him the temporary chief of the Examination Fraud Department, thinking that after working for a while, even if he had no merit, he would have worked hard, so he would find a wealthy family for him to be reborn.

However, Bao Heizi was wrong. Once the Empty-Dulled Ghost King gained power, he began to do whatever he wanted. Not only did he enjoy cutting the flesh from the legs of newly dead ghosts, he also formed cliques to avoid the supervision of the Karma Fire and did whatever he wanted in the Examination Bureau, which was responsible for investigating the malpractices of the underworld.

"This King Yama is probably too busy managing the affairs of the Ten Palaces to think of a way out, and he just gives important tasks to anyone he finds pitiful. He doesn't look like the impartial, wise and decisive person he was in his lifetime."

After muttering a few words in his heart, he immediately walked into the government office in front.

A plaque with the words "Office of Examination" was hung high above the hall, and on the left and right doorposts hung a pair of couplets carved with green characters.

The first line reads "school, sequence and academy, two words represent virtue and hidden education", and the second line reads "seniors, middle officers and junior officers, all students of rites and music in the same hall".

After a quick glance, an official immediately came out to greet him. He had curly hair and a hunchback, and looked as old as a centenarian. He had an upturned nose, turned-out lips, and a mouth full of fangs and sharp teeth. He was extremely ugly and terrifying.

Behind this official there was an attendant with a human body and a tiger's head, dressed in a long gown and a square scarf, looking like a legal advisor, with a folding fan in his hand to pretend to be elegant. There were also a dozen yamen runners waiting on him in the hall, most of them looked ferocious and vicious, with their demonic forms not yet completely shed. When one got close to them, one could smell gusts of fishy air and the faint wails of ghosts, making the Examination Office look full of evil spirits, without any of the solemnity of the underworld.

"I don't know if I failed to welcome you to my place. I hope you will forgive me..."

The ghost king with a hollow belly and a mouth full of fangs and sharp teeth saw the Yama crown from afar and thought it was an acquaintance visiting. But when he got closer, he found that the person wearing the Yama crown was actually a woman he had never met before.

He immediately stopped talking and glanced at the tiger-headed master behind him, as if asking with his eyes who this person was.

Before they could finish communicating with their eyes, Su Su bluntly scolded, "Forgive me? Forgive me for what? Ghost King Xudu, your crime has been exposed. Follow me to the King of Hell."

My incident happened?

He had committed so many sins that the Ghost King with a Hollow Belly had no idea what Su Su was talking about for a moment.

It was not until he saw the scholar's legs covered in blood and bones that he suddenly realized that Su Su had really come to call him to task.

"You are just a mortal in the Yang world, holding the position of Yama Luo. This department is the head of the Examination Department appointed by Yama Luo. Are you qualified to come to this department to question me?"

The Ghost King with Empty Belly suddenly became furious and shouted loudly. The tiger-headed lawyer behind him waved his folding fan, and more than a dozen yamen runners who were waiting in the hall flew forward, revealing their true forms, including wolves, hyenas, tigers and leopards. They stirred up a bloody wind, and the ghosts appeared, all rushing towards Su Fu.

Upon seeing this, Su Su injected the divine power mixed with karma fire in his mind into the soul-beating ruler and pulled it out casually. The ghosts that rushed over were pierced through by the black ruler one after another, and then their bodies were burned by the karma fire and turned into ashes instantly.

"Okay, the entire Examination Bureau is full of evil demons that suck people's blood, eat people's hearts and livers, and absorb people's vitality for cultivation. You, the Empty-bellied Ghost King, are probably a spy planted in the underworld by some great demon who claimed to be the queen of the underworld."

Su Su's casual attack made the faces of the monsters in the Examination Bureau change drastically, and his subsequent remarks frightened the Empty-bellied Ghost King so much that he trembled all over.

Judging from this reaction, it is possible that Su Su was right about the Empty-Dulled Ghost King being a traitor.

After all, as the head of the Examination Corruption Department, the yamen runners and legal advisors around him were all monsters in human form. There wasn't even a single ghost messenger or underworld soldier. It was almost as if the words "I have a problem" were written all over their faces.

The original text of "The Examination Bureau" also mentioned that Wen Rensheng sneaked into the Examination Bureau and spied on the Hollow-Bellied Ghost King and his subordinates who had transformed into human forms butchering the flesh of a newly dead ghost's legs. He shouted, "This is so tragic. What kind of world is this?", which frightened the Hollow-Bellied Ghost King so much that he sat up in panic.

The aura of the newly dead ghost will completely dissipate after seven days. The Ghost King with Empty Belly cuts off the flesh from the legs of the newly dead ghosts, probably to provide them for these monsters to practice.

Seeing that his deeds were exposed, the Empty-bellied Ghost King hurriedly shouted: "Quick, quickly take this man down! If this matter gets to the ears of the blind King Yama, we will be doomed."

As the Hollow-Bellied Ghost King kept shouting, the frightened monsters around him stepped forward again, with red light flashing in their eyes, as if they were ready to fight to the death.

"Master, this man has profound Taoism skills. I'm afraid we are no match for him. His deeds have been exposed. I hope you can quickly bring out the Ghost King statue and eliminate him with thunder-like means." Master Hu Tou whispered an idea.

Another statue of the Ghost King!

Su Fu's eyes were filled with coldness: "You monsters, could it be that you are the monsters under the command of Lord Black Mountain?"

"You actually know about this?" Master Hutou was shocked.

Chapter 83: The King of Hell is Blind

As the saying goes, enemies often meet on a narrow road.

Su Su never thought that when he sneaked into the underworld to seize the throne of Yama, he would encounter monsters and demons under the command of Black Mountain Lord.

Now that he is in the underworld, once he asks the Empty-Dull Ghost King to bring out the Ghost King statue of Black Mountain Lord, it will definitely not be as easy to deal with as it was outside the city of Yangzhou a few days ago. Moreover, from what they said, King Yama's eyes are blind. He was probably hit hard when he was encircling the remaining soul of Chi You. No wonder he is in charge of the affairs of the Ten Courts of Hell, but sits back and watches Black Mountain Lord, a ghost immortal, stir up trouble in the world of the living, and even regards him as a serious threat to his heart.

"It's really the monster under Lord Black Mountain. Now it's in my hands!"

She no longer held back, divine power burst out from her mind, and she pulled out the soul-beating ruler repeatedly, along with the blazing yang energy emanating from the Wangchuan Jade. These monsters that relied on unorthodox means to transform into incomplete human bodies were easily beaten by her, causing their spirits to tremble and lose all their supernatural powers, falling to the ground like lambs to be slaughtered.

The Hollow-Bellied Ghost King and the Tiger-Headed Master who had given them advice turned around and ran away, as if they were going to take out the Ghost King statue to deal with Su Su.

He mobilized the power of the Yang God, stretched out his hand and grabbed, and two long ropes emerged from the ground, tightly tying up the defenseless Empty-bellied Ghost King and Tiger-headed Master.

"Immortal Binding Rope? The power of the Yang God! Not only are you Yama, but you are also a Qi Refiner who has cultivated the Yang God!"

The hollow-bellied ghost king was tripped by the long rope and kept twisting and struggling on the ground, shouting in fear: "The world is about to be in chaos. Instead of hiding in the secular world to seek the great path of heavenly immortality, you are getting involved in right and wrong here. Aren't you afraid of dying and all your cultivation turning to ashes?"

"It's none of your business. I'll go wherever I want."

I, Su, not only serve as Yama, but also the City God of Guobei County!

The soul-beating ruler smashed down on the head, smashing the tiger-headed master's forehead, and summoned the Yin Spirit to suppress it in the ruler. Then the divine power of the heart surged out, and the black ruler suddenly hit the upturned nose and protruding lips of the hollow-bellied ghost king, hitting him directly and making him sink deeply into the ground.

"Lord Black Mountain will not let you go." The Ghost King with a hollow belly threatened.

Su Su sneered, mobilized the power of the Yang God, and stepped the Empty-Dulled Ghost King into the ground. "You stupid ghost king, your words are quite funny. As the Yama King of the underworld, if I don't take the initiative to pacify Black Mountain King, it means he has been very kind. Will you let me go? To tell you the truth, the chess piece he sent into the Yang world to stir up unrest was killed by me, and the ghost king's clone who came to the Yang world was destroyed by me. Who won't let who go?"

"puff!"

A mouthful of dark pus and blood spurted out from his throat, and the Ghost King with Empty Belly wanted to say something.

However, Su Su did not give him the chance. He pierced the soul-hitting ruler into the ghost king's skull, and the ugly and terrifying body of the ghost king collapsed instantly. The soul of a ghost who was about twenty years old and quite elegant was suppressed in the black ruler.

At this time, Su Su turned his head and looked outside the government office.

But I saw an old man who was as black as charcoal, wearing a crown on his head, with incense bags hanging on both sides of his earmuffs, a long robe with a lotus leaf collar and wide sleeves, boots on his feet, and his hands holding a hu in front of his chest. He was about seventy years old, with a stern face and empty eyes standing outside the door.

"Greetings, Bao Yanluo." Su Su put away the soul-beating ruler and bowed slowly to King Yama who was standing outside the door.

King Yama turned half his body aside and responded, "I have been ignorant for a long time and did not know how to judge people. I almost caused a disaster. I am ashamed of this."

"The chaos is coming, and it is beyond human power to stop it. Bao Yanluo should not blame himself."

Looking at King Yama's empty eyes, there was a very deep knife mark here, almost splitting the entire skull in half along the temple. There was flesh and bones in between, and it seemed to be healing, but there was always a cold black air lingering around, cutting the connected flesh and bones in half, over and over again.

As if sensing Su Su's gaze, King Yama explained, "Chi You made five weapons. This is the injury from the long spear in the hand of Chi You's remaining soul. The evil spirit is causing trouble. It is difficult to heal. It will take a hundred years of suffering to heal."

"How could the remaining soul of Chi You be so ferocious?" Su Su asked knowingly.

King Yama responded with a bitter smile, "Chi You was an ancient military lord. After his death, his body was divided into five parts and hidden in the Five Extremes. His remaining soul turned into a demon and was suppressed under the Nine Netherworlds. On the day the seal was broken, the blood in the underworld flowed like a river. Nine of the Ten Kings of Hell died, and I was almost beheaded. Fortunately, I was rescued by the Emperor of Fengdu, so I was left with a broken body. I have no way of verifying what happened afterwards, but I only know that the gods in heaven have been staying indoors until now, and I guess the casualties must have been extremely heavy."

There are a lot of words, but very little useful information.

No matter whether a great innate god like Emperor Xiyue died in the battle with Chiyou, or that Guan Sheng was in the process of attacking Chiyou, nothing was leaked.

It was obvious that King Yama could not get much information about Chi You. Su Su changed his mind and asked again: "Ghost kings and demons from all sides are running rampant in the underworld and occupying their own territories. Does King Yama have no plans to raise an army to suppress them and stabilize the underworld?"

"I have the will, but not the strength. The underworld has become so corrupt that it is already difficult to maintain its operation. I no longer have the strength to quell the turmoil in the underworld."

King Yama looked ashamed, his hollow eyes swept over the demons in the Examination Bureau, and continued, "That Lord Black Mountain has become a ghost immortal, and took advantage of the reincarnation of King Biancheng to occupy the City of the Dead. He is quite resourceful, with many soldiers and generals, and has become a powerful force. I am blind and cannot distinguish between good and evil. I was deceived and allowed the demons under his command to infiltrate the underworld. It was just a step away from causing a disaster."

It turns out that when the Ghost King with Empty Belly called you blind, King Yama was not mocking you, but that you are really blind!

What else could Su Su say about this? King Yama did not just quit his job and engage in reincarnation to repair his damaged divine body. Instead, he went to work with a work-related injury and barely maintained the operation of the underworld, preventing the yin and yang from becoming unbalanced. He had already made a great contribution by severing the cycle of reincarnation, and it was impossible to put the blame on him.

He swung the soul-beating ruler in his hand, releasing the soul of the Empty-bellied Ghost King and the ghost of the Tiger-headed Master.