Chapter 5: A First Exploration of Hell

"Netherworld?" Meng Xingyuan shouted, "Are you going to kill me?"

Ah Feng was amused: "Haha, how can I kill my benefactor? I mean take you to the Netherworld for a spin." “

"I'm a big living person, how can I go there? I won't go!" Meng Xingyuan still shouted.

"Although I am a female ghost now, I can be regarded as a fairy in my previous life. If you can't even go to hell, are you still called a god?" Every time he mentions his past life, Ah Feng will feel a little proud, and he will always say a few more words.

"Why do you have to take me to the underworld?" Even though Ah Feng made a package ticket, Meng Xingyuan was still very reluctant.

Ah Feng analyzed him and said: "We have to go to hell for several reasons: first, of course, it is to avoid the tracking of those stinky Taoists. They can find us every time, then we go somewhere they didn't expect it. Second, back then, Meng Po did not force me to drink Meng Po soup, which was also considered a kindness to me. This time I went there as a reward for my kindness. Third, I am now greatly injured, my mana is gone, and there will definitely be evil spirits bullying me in the underworld. And you are still the god of virgins, with strong yang energy, and can protect me. “

Meng Xingyuan's face turned red all of a sudden, and he said hesitantly: "You, how do you know, I'm still ...... Is it a virgin?"

"I can feel the yang energy on your body heavier than someone else's. Then, I deliberately said that you are still a virgin to 'deceive' you. Who knew you would admit it so quickly. Laugh at me, haha. Probably getting rid of the tracking of the Taoist priests, Ah Feng relaxed and joked with Meng Xingyuan.

Meng Xingyuan waved his hand speechlessly and helplessly, speechless: "You just said that I can protect you, will those evil ghosts in the underworld be afraid of me?"

"Yes, as the saying goes, 'People are three points afraid of ghosts, and ghosts are seven points afraid of people.'" The yang energy in the human body is like a furnace, and if a ghost encounters it, it will be 'burned'. Especially for people of high moral character and cultivation, ghosts can see the light shining from the top of their heads, and of course they dare not approach it. Ghosts can only possess the body when they are sick or weakened, and their yang energy is very weak, which is the 'ghost upper body'. And you are a kind-hearted person, so you have more righteousness in your body. Ah Feng is like a tireless teacher, patiently explaining to Meng Xingyuan.

"If that's the case, then I'll go with you. Ah Feng's words made Meng Xingyuan have no worries. Moreover, there is also a bit of curiosity about the underworld in his heart.

According to Ah Feng's instructions, they got off at the next station and took a taxi to a slightly remote place.

After the taxi left, Ah Feng said: "This is the local land temple, and the land temple is the place where everyone's soul is born and dies. Whether you go to hell or die in bliss, you have to pass through here. ”

However, Meng Xingyuan only saw a barren meadow and no temple. He asked puzzledly, "Ah Feng, why didn't I see what land temple you were talking about?"

"In some places, the land temple was built by the world and can be seen by the naked eye. Some of them are not visible to the people of the world. Ah Feng was surprised and said, "I'll let you see it right away." ”

Meng Xingyuan felt his eyes cold, as if his eyes had been dripped with two drops of potion. He couldn't help but close his eyes, and when he opened them again, he saw a building like the yamen he saw on TV, with blue bricks and tiles, and antique. This greatly exceeded Meng Xingyuan's cognition for more than 20 years, and his heart was shocked, and he was stunned for a while.

"Don't be stunned, let's go inside. Ah Feng's urging made Meng Xingyuan come to his senses.

Stunned and walked into the Land Temple, Meng Xingyuan saw a case in the middle of the room, brown and red. On the top of the case was a paper book with three large characters written on it: household register. There was also a middle-aged man wearing a round-necked robe and a black gauze winged hat like an ancient official uniform.

When he saw Meng Xingyuan coming in, he scolded loudly: "Bold! Who is coming, who dares to trespass on the Land Temple?"

Before Meng Xingyuan could speak, Ah Feng revealed his image and smiled: "Father-in-law of the land, you are not small today." ”

The father-in-law of the land looked at it, quickly got up, and bowed down: "It turned out to be the personal maid of the Queen Mother, and the little god didn't know that it was the lower realm of the Great Immortal, and the crime deserved death." ”

"The land is a big deal. Ah Feng still smiled, "I'm a lonely ghost now, don't talk about any immortals." ”

The father-in-law of the land still bent over and bowed his hand, his face full of righteousness: "Daxian is too modest." Between heaven and earth, gods and ghosts said, who doesn't know the name of the Great Immortal? I just don't know that the Great Immortal is here today, what are you doing?"

"I don't have any big deals, I just want to take this benefactor of mine to the underworld for a walk. I don't know if the father-in-law of the land can make it convenient. After speaking, Ah Feng also bowed slightly.

"It turned out to be the grace of the great immortal, and the little god has eyes and doesn't know Mount Tai, and he is offended. The father-in-law of the land hurriedly saluted Meng Xingyuan again. Meng Xingyuan hurriedly learned the appearance of the father-in-law of the land and returned the salute.

Frowning and thinking for a while, the father-in-law of the land said again: "What the great immortal wanted, I didn't dare to make a mistake. It's just that the little god is only responsible for the land within a radius of a hundred miles, and the great immortal and the engong don't belong to the local clan, if the little god goes down to the underworld, I'm afraid it's still a little inappropriate......"

Ah Feng smiled and said, "The land is fair and impartial, and the iron face is selfless. After I return to Heaven, I must face the Queen Mother with a lot of 'good words'. ”

The father-in-law of the land paused for a moment, his face changed significantly, and he hurriedly bent down and saluted: "How dare you disturb the purity of the queen mother in a trivial matter." If Daxian wants to go, go away. If there is a mistake, the little god will bear it alone. ”

"Then there is the father-in-law of the land. Ah Feng also bowed his head and returned the salute.

Meng Xingyuan was happy in his heart: It turns out that the officialdom of Heavenly Court is the same as that of the human world.

The father-in-law of the land brought Ah Feng and Meng Xingyuan to the god case. There are two passages on both sides of the case. One is bright and bright, the other is dark and depressing.

Meng Xingyuan thought to himself: With Ah Feng's identity, he must be going to leave that bright and brilliant one. “

However, after Ah Feng thanked his father-in-law, he took Meng Xingyuan into another dark and depressing passage.

"We're on Huangquan Road now. You will see a lot of ghosts and yin soldiers, don't be afraid, they don't dare to hurt us. After walking a few steps, Ah Feng reminded Meng Xingyuan in a low voice.

"Okay, I got it. Meng Xingyuan still couldn't help but ask Ah Feng: "Why didn't you choose another path just now? That one looks much more beautiful." ”

Ah Feng didn't reply and said, "Stupid, that one leads directly to the Western Elysium." We're going to hell, and of course we can't go through that one. ”

Meng Xingyuan smiled awkwardly, didn't dare to speak again, and could only look at the scenery while walking. In fact, there is only one kind of scenery, which is a kind of fiery red flowers, overwhelming, and bursts of light fragrance wafting in. It's just that this kind of flower, Meng Xingyuan has never seen it in the world. In addition, the entire bumpy and rugged Huangquan Road was gray, and nothing could be seen clearly.

Although there is no scenery, there are many ghosts that look like people, with iron chains tied to their bodies, and they are pulled forward by the Yin soldiers. Some of these ghosts are kneeling on the ground, begging the Yin soldiers to let them go back and take a look at their families, some are wailing and crying, telling their grievances, some are bowing their heads and moving forward in silence, some are shouting at the Yin soldiers, because he was a certain "big official" who was powerful in the world during his lifetime, and some are begging to be released with low eyebrows and promising that after they return the yang, they will burn a carriage of paper money for the Yin soldiers......

No matter what the ghosts say, the Yin Soldier is unsympathetic and unmoved, and will even raise the whip in his hand and slap it the ghost's body.

Meng Xingyuan couldn't help but sigh in his heart: Life has been in the world for decades, no matter whether it is rich or poor, high or ordinary, in the end, it will all come to naught, like a dream. Moreover, let's do more good deeds, so that we don't have to go down to the underworld to suffer, and we can go directly to Elysium.

When he was still sighing, a stone platform came into Meng Xingyuan's eyes. This platform is narrow at the bottom and wide at the top, with a face like a bowback and a back like a bowstring. Except for a narrow stone-level path, the rest of the place was actually full of swords and murder weapons. The whole platform also exudes a chilling gloomy light. At the top of the platform, there are three big red characters - Wangxiang Terrace.

Faced with such a strange building, Meng Xingyuan couldn't help but ask: "Ah Feng, what is this lookout platform for?"

Ah Feng also stopped and explained: "This lookout platform is for dead ghosts, here to take a last look at their relatives and hometown. The ghost went up to the lookout platform, and it can be seen anywhere in the sun.

"Originally, there was no such platform. Until the Qing Dynasty official Bao Zheng served as the first palace of the king of Yama, he often heard the ghosts crying miserably because of the surviving attachment to the relatives and hometown of the Yang world, so he was moved by compassion and ordered the construction of Wangxiang Tower. However, because of his kindness and over-compassion, Master Bao secretly released his ghost to return to the yang several times, and was demoted to the fifth palace of the king of Yama, and the Wangxiang Terrace was not demolished. Later, when the compassionate Guanyin Bodhisattva heard about this, he was greatly moved and rebuilt the Wangxiang Tower. ”

"Look at your relatives for the last time," Meng Xingyuan muttered to himself, "Maybe in the next life, I will never meet again, this is a real parting! What kind of heart-rending and heart-wrenching pain will it be?"

"Instead of being sad and remorseful on the Wangxiang Terrace, why don't you be kind to the people around you when you are alive?" Ah Feng's tone was also very sad, "Okay, let's go." ”

Meng Xingyuan shook his head and reluctantly followed Ah Feng's footsteps. What Meng Xingyuan saw and heard on Huangquan Road and Wangxiangtai made Meng Xingyuan feel very depressed, he lowered his head and walked silently, without saying a word for a long time.

Suddenly, he smelled a thick smell of blood, and he also heard bursts of barking dogs and screams from ghosts. The sound was so terrifying that people would feel weak and their hearts pound when they heard it.

Looking up, Meng Xingyuan saw a group of fierce vicious dogs, with fierce eyes showing fierce eyes, copper teeth and iron teeth, and fur standing up. The vicious dog rushed into the ranks of the ghosts, opened its mouth and bitten. There are ghosts that have had their legs bitten off, there are ghosts that have half of their arms torn off, and there are ghosts that have even had their heads bitten off...... This vicious dog ridge is full of broken flesh and stumps, and it is drenched in blood. Meng Xingyuan also screamed in fright and hid behind Ah Feng.

In addition, Meng Xingyuan was also surprised to find that several ghosts had a stick in their hands, and the vicious dogs did not dare to step forward and bite it. The ghosts threw out some more food and ran forward in a panic. There was also a ghost with two empty hands, which was not attacked by the vicious dogs.

Ah Feng explained: "In the people, if someone in the family dies, people will stuff a 'dog beating stick' and some food in the hands of the deceased when the deceased is decorated - this is all prepared for the evil dog ridge. The reason you just saw that you didn't have a 'dog beating stick' in your hand and crossed the ridge safely is because the ghost was a dog lover before his death, so naturally he will not be bitten. And the ghost who was desperately attacked by the vicious dogs so much that it was divided into many pieces, just because he was a butcher when he was in the Yang world, and he killed countless dogs, so he would naturally be hostile to these vicious dogs. “

They talked as they walked, and they came to the two mountains again. The two ridges stand straight, and only a sheep farm path can pass through. As soon as Meng Xingyuan entered the mountain, he saw a group of eagles flying over, they flapped their huge wings, bringing up gusts of wind, making people unable to open their eyes, and fiercely pecked at the eyes and body of the passing ghost with their iron hook-like mouths, pecking out a large hole deep into the bone marrow of the ghost's body in a few strokes. The ghosts were all bloody, full of holes, and their organs were leaking out, and they were crying loudly, and they were miserable. Meng Xingyuan took a closer look, and it turned out that it was not an eagle, but a rooster.

Ah Feng sighed and said, "When people in the world bury their relatives, in addition to putting a 'dog beating stick' on the chest of the corpse, there will also be a plate with grains, which is prepared for crossing the Jinji Ridge here. However, even if there is more grain to feed, the evildoer will still suffer from pecking at his eyes. Therefore, no matter how much you prepare after death, it is better to do more good deeds while you are alive. ”

Meng Xingyuan nodded again and again, urging Ah Feng to leave this place quickly.

Continuing to walk forward, Meng Xingyuan actually came to a lively place, with a lion dance and dragon team, a stage for singing big operas, and artists swallowing swords and spitting fire...... It's really like a temple fair in the yang world. Although Meng Xingyuan was surprised, his mood also changed a lot, and a little smile appeared on his face. Even the ghosts who had just arrived here breathed a sigh of relief.

However, when the ghosts approached, the lively procession suddenly disappeared, leaving only a large group of ghosts with "missing arms and legs". They shouted and rushed into the ranks of the new ghosts, forcibly tearing off parts of the bodies of the other ghosts and installing them on themselves until their bodies were completed. There were also a few ghosts swaggering through the crowd under the protection of the Yin soldiers, but none of the ghosts came to harass.

Meng Xingyuan glanced at Ah Feng suspiciously.

"This is the 'Wild Ghost Village', and the lively scene just now is all hallucinations, formed by the ghosts who have passed through the Evil Dog Ridge and Jinji Mountain and have incomplete limbs, in order to make the new ghosts relax their vigilance. Then, taking advantage of his unpreparedness, he rushed up and snatched other people's limbs, mounted them on himself, and waited until his own body was complete, and then moved on to the next station. As for those who were escorted by the Yin soldiers, it was because the relatives of the ghost Yang world burned three catties and six taels of paper money in front of the deceased's spirit, and used it as 'road money', so they could pass smoothly. “

Meng Xingyuan sighed: Money can make ghosts grind. The ancients did not deceive me!

The two of them sighed, and then walked forward, and came to a gazebo, in which there was a gurgling well. The ghosts are lining up one by one to drink from this spring.

"Does this pavilion have a name?" Meng Xingyuan asked.

"Of course it has a name," replied Ah Feng, "its name is 'Ecstasy Temple', and the water in that well is 'Ecstasy Water'." As long as the ghosts drink the water from this well, they will report all the sins they have committed in their lives without concealment at the judgment of the ten halls of Hades below. Also, as long as it is a ghost who drinks the spring water, it is almost impossible to return to the sun, and you can only accept the fact that you have become a ghost. ”

"We've walked so many places, why haven't we seen Meng Po yet?" Passing by several places, and being frightened many times, Meng Xingyuan felt a little tired.

"Haha, counting from the Land Temple, we have to see Meng Po in the thirteenth place, and we haven't reached the halfway point yet. ”

Meng Xingyuan had no choice but to take another step and finally came to the gate of a city. There is a couplet next to the city gate, the upper couplet: people and ghosts and ghosts and ghosts have different paths, and the next couplet: yin and yang and yin and yang are forever separated. Directly above the city gate, there is no horizontal batch, only a black plaque, on which three gold lacquer characters are written: Xudu City.

Meng Xingyuan walked into the capital city, but found that there were two city gates inside. Between the gates hung two lights—one bright and the other dim—and although there was a gust of wind blowing, the lights did not move, as if they were painted in mid-air.

Walking into the second city gate, Meng Xingyuan saw ten slightly smaller city gates neatly arranged, each of which was guarded by Yin soldiers wearing swords and guns.

Ah Feng took the initiative to ask, "Do you know what these ten city gates are?"

Meng Xingyuan shook his head: "I haven't been here again, of course I won't know." “

Ah Feng explained in detail: "These are the first to tenth Yama palaces, and there is a Yama king in each Yama palace, and they are called the 'Ten Kings of the Underworld', namely: King Qin Guang, King Chujiang, Emperor Song, King Wuguan, King Yama, King Biancheng, King Taishan, King of the City, King of Equality, and King of the Wheel.

"Every Yama king has his own intelligence that he is specifically responsible for. No matter what sins the ghosts are bothered with in the Yang World, one or more Yama halls will be in charge of the trial. Moreover, the king of Yama and the ghost cha here are both law-enforcers and are absolutely at fault. Those who have been wronged in the Yang world will definitely be given justice, and those who have committed evil and crimes in the Yang world will naturally be punished as they deserve. After being judged one by one in these ten halls of Yama, they will be sent to the next stop, which is also the eighteen layers of hell that the world often refers to. Depending on the results of the trial, each ghost will be sent down to different levels of the region to receive unimaginable sufferings in the yang world. In comparison, punishments such as tongue pulling, skinning, and oil panning are insignificant. ”

Meng Xingyuan was sweating profusely when he heard this, his heart was beating faster, his breathing was short, and he urged Ah Feng to hurry up again and again.