After the official drove the road, the official sent us out of the land temple, and we got back into the carriage, and began the thrilling journey, the carriage came to a three-way intersection, one was a bright road, and the other was a dark road. I asked Zheng Tianbao, "Senior brother, which way should we go?" ”

Zheng Tianbao said: "The junior brother of Baoguo was locked away by Yin Cha with iron cables, so naturally he went to the underworld, let's take this road to the underworld." ”

After Zheng Tianbao finished speaking, he drove the carriage and horse and walked towards the dark road, the road was very dark, as if it was endless darkness, the wind was gusting, and the old trees and strange branches stood on both sides of the road. Zheng Tianbao asked me to close my eyes, after I closed my eyes, I heard the wind whistling outside the carriage, and when the wind was not, let me open my eyes, I opened my eyes and looked, the place I came to was like a town, I saw that the lights of that place were shining, those lights emitted a faint green light, indescribably gloomy, without a trace of sound, from a distance, it looked like a dead city.

Zheng Tianbao pointed to the place in front and said: "Senior brother, we are almost to the Yin City, this Yin City is the last station of the Yang City God, although it is the Yin City, but it still belongs to the Yang World, after this city is the Hades, the City God Temple is there, we can only go to the City God Temple, guide our officials to the road, and go to the City God to stamp the seal, so that we can be unimpeded in the underworld." ”

As the name suggests, Yin City is the city of the underworld, and the director of the Yin City is the Lord of the City God, which is equivalent to the mayor of our Yang World, the Lord of the City God was originally a god who protects the city, and was later named the god of justice by Zhu Yuanzhang: in charge of the living and the dead, rewarding the good and punishing the evil, life and death, blessings and blessings, and promoting happiness and interests, etc. When Emperor Zhu sealed the title of the god of the city god in the world, it was divided into king, duke, marquis, uncle, etc., and sacrificed at the age of the year, and the city god became an official position of a god after the Ming and Qing dynasties, rather than a god. The capital city god is enshrined by the provincial-level administrative region, which is equivalent to the governor of the underworld. The city god is equivalent to the prefect of the underworld, and the county town god is equivalent to the county order of the underworld. The city gods in each region are appointed by different people, and even by the local people themselves, and the selection criteria are loyal martyrs who died in the country, or historical figures who meet Confucian standards of integrity and intelligence. Under the jurisdiction of Chenghuang, there are civil and military judges, the great gods of various divisions, General Ganliu, General Fan Xie, General Niu Ma, day and night wandering gods, shackle generals and other gods.

We walked towards the lights, and when we arrived in the Yin City, it was still deserted, there was not a single ghost shadow, only lamps and candles that emitted a strange light. When I was wondering, suddenly the whole scene around me changed, there were noisy sounds everywhere, and then I looked back and forth, and all of a sudden it all changed, there were people everywhere, no, it should be said that ghosts, these ghosts were almost no different from ordinary people, but the clothes were different from people, there were all kinds of dynasties, and there were shops and sellers on the street.

I was in amazement when someone suddenly shouted, "Yin Si is patrolling the streets, get out of the way." ”

Then the crowd moved to both sides, and I saw a group of men and horses, these Yin soldiers riding big black horses, with swords, guns and clubs in their hands, very powerful. These horses walked through the streets, and when they passed by us, they didn't even look at us, but went straight to a place where the sentry was made of wood, and there were three big characters on the door: "Yin Soldier Division".

After the Yin Soldier Division, to a larger mansion, I saw that this mansion carved beams and painted columns, black and black gates, inlaid with copper nails, there is a plaque on the gate, on which a few big characters are written with gold lacquer dragon flying phoenix dance, there is also a pair of couplets in front of the City God Palace, the upper couplet is written Yangshi San, the accumulation of good and evil are all up to you, and the lower couplet writes that through the ages, who will be let go of the underworld.

There are many children in front of them, playing there, and it really responds to that sentence, there are no young and old on Huangquan Road. In front of the door stood a few ghost soldiers, with maces in their hands, fierce and vicious, and kneeling on the ground many beggars with missing arms and legs, begging there, these people looked at the people who pretended to be now, some of them had fat stomachs, some were fierce, some were vicious, and some were roe deer. These people had wooden shackles around their necks, kneeling there and begging, and the ghost pawns behind them kept beating and scolding with sticks.

I looked at these people and whispered to Zheng Tianbao, "Senior brother, look at these people, why are they so pitiful? ”

Zheng Tianbao said: "These are the people in the yang world, who suck the people's fat and ointment, do evil and bully the good, and harm others, these are not ghosts, but souls, they are punished in the city god temple, and after the sentence is completed, they can go to the underworld to report." Although there is no retribution in the yang world, after the death of cause and effect, there is no escape. ”

I now knew it, and then there were screams in the yard, and those sounds were like the wails of people when they were dying, and they shouted with all their strength, which made people feel terrible, and it reminded me of the howls of those animals when they were slaughtered. These sounds are not made by one, but by a group of ghosts.

At this time, there was an old man dressed in a bad way, came out of the City God Palace, turned around, and then walked towards the City God Palace, Zheng Tianbao hurriedly went up and said: "Old man, old man, this is the first time we have gone to the underworld to do business, we need to cover the official to guide us, and ask the old man to help take us there." ”

The yin guy looked up at us, and I saw that he was kind and kind, with a white beard floating on his chest, and he looked at us and said, "Something is wrong, you look like a ghost of the new dead, why are you a yin?" ”

Zheng Tianbao said: "We are doing good deeds in the upper area, but we died unjustly, thanks to the pity of our land lord, let the two of us do a bad job, this time we were sent to the underworld for business, our brothers don't know what to do when they get here." ”

As he spoke, he took out the gold and silver ingots, and stuffed them into the old Yincha's body, and the Yincha hurriedly pretended to excuse himself, Zheng Tianbao said: "We want these yellow and white stones, they are useless, and the old man doesn't think this thing is cumbersome, so he will help our brothers accept it." ”

Lao Yin said: "It's easy to say, it's easy to say, don't call me an old man, I'm an old ghost, my surname was Hou before my death, everyone called me Hou Lao Ghost, you just call me Lao Hou." I see that you are refreshing ghosts, we will have time in the future, make a ghost friend, I will be the eldest brother, and you will be the brother. ”

The underworld and the yang world are the same, if there is gold and silver, we will stuff the gold and silver into the arms of the old ghost Hou, and the old ghost will immediately become a brother. Zheng Tianbao said: "No, according to the seniority, my brother and I have to call you Hou Lao." ”

Old Ghost Hou said: "No, no, we can all be people who don't know how many times we have been reincarnated, so no matter what age you have here, you can call me Brother Hou, and I am happy to hear it." ”

Since Hou Lao Ghost insisted on this, we had no choice but to call Brother Hou, and after the polite words, we talked about stamping the official with the guide, and when we finished speaking, Hou Lao Ghost said: "This matter is a little difficult to do today." ”

Zheng Tianbao said: "What's so difficult? Please also ask Brother Hou to help us be accommodating. ”

Hou Lao Ghost hurriedly said: "No, no, I mean I'm afraid that you are afraid, you are a new ghost, but you also know the rules of the City God Temple, this fifteenth day of the first month is the day of trial of prisoners, the underworld is not the yang world, this yin law is ruthless, all the dead people are considered a transit station here, after the punishment of the city god master, the guilty will be taken by the ghost pawn to the underworld to be punished again, and the good can temporarily stay in the Yin City and wait for reincarnation.

This punishment is a hundred times stricter than the yang world, as the saying goes, good has good and evil is rewarded, it is not that the time has not come, and the retribution will come when you arrive at the City God's Temple, cutting off your hands, gouging out your eyes, disemboweling, heart-picking, all kinds of torture are in it, I am afraid that you will be afraid, so I said so. ”

At this time, I wanted to hurry up to save my junior brother and protect the country, so I grabbed a few more gold bills and handed them to Hou Lao Ghost and said, "Brother Hou, we are not afraid, you can lead us in, right?" ”

Hou Laogui pretended to excuse himself, and then after accepting it, he said to me: "Okay, but no matter how scary you see, don't make a noise, this is the City God Temple, don't dare to make a loud noise." ”

I nodded and said, "Brother Hou, don't worry, we will never speak loudly." ”

Hou Lao Ghost nodded, and then led us, after arriving at the door, handed over the carriage and horses to the ghost pawn to take care of, we took a few gold bills to the ghost pawn, the ghost pawn was very happy, it seems that the money is really a good thing.