Chapter 65: King Yama
Quietly arriving before the entrance to the Hall of Interrogation, I stood among a crowd of common ghosts watching the fun.
As expected, Xue Pan was kneeling in front of the hall, trembling, not even daring to lift his head much.
“Audacious lecherous ghost Xue Pan! You dared to cause harm to living beings in the human world, leading to Wu Sheng’s death before his natural lifespan ended at the hands of a yellow weasel! Now the victim, Wu Sheng, is here. I ask you, do you plead guilty or not?”
On the throne sat a stern-faced elder with a white crescent moon on his forehead, judging Xue Pan’s crimes.
According to common folklore, just from this elder’s facial reading, one could guess that this was likely the impartial King Yama.
Also known as Yama or King Yama.
“Gr-gr-great lord, I-I-I, little ghost Xue Pan, I-I do not admit it.”
Trembling so much that he could barely speak coherently, Xue Pan still said with some defiance.
Hearing this, King Yama slammed the startle hall wood with a “bang!”
“Insolent! The victim is here to testify, what else do you have to say?”
“Gr-gr-great lord, I-I am not convinced. He, he, he, Wu Sheng, harmed Li Meng, causing Li Meng to commit suicide. Yet he is still alive. Heaven’s justice is unbearable. I merely acted on behalf of Heaven, what crime have I committed?”
Seeing Xue Pan’s tough demeanor, though his mouth was trembling, he still dared to speak frankly. I thought to myself, damn it, as expected of my Chan Xin’s brother, timid as he may be, he just doesn’t submit.
Hearing Xue Pan’s words, King Yama became enraged.
“Acting on behalf of Heaven? Hmph! Who gave you the right? Heaven has the Heavenly Dao, Earth has the Earthly Dao, Man has the Human Realm, and ghosts have the Ghost Dao. As a mere lecherous ghost! You dare to boast! Guards!”
“Here!”
“Quickly take the little ghost Xue Pan and cast him into the eighteen layers of hell to suffer the torment of being fried and boiled!”
“My lord! I am wronged! My lord!…”
Damn, that was a fast judgment. I had originally planned to watch for a while longer to test if Fourth Brother would betray his brothers out of fear of death.
Fortunately, that guy was tough-mouthed, only crying out injustice without pushing the blame onto his other brothers. If he had done that, I would have turned and left immediately, not considering him a father.
Conversely, for brotherly loyalty, I, as the Big Brother, cannot just stand by as a son of a bitch.
Just as two Ghost Messengers were about to drag Xue Pan away.
I pushed through the crowd, strode forward, and shouted;
“Hold!”
Hearing my voice, Xue Pan turned and saw it was me, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably, as if he had been wronged at school and suddenly saw his biological father arrive.
I raised my hand, signaling him to be calm.
King Yama slammed the startle hall wood again.
“Audacious! Who is this below the hall? Daring to intrude upon the public court recklessly?”
Out of politeness, I first cupped my hands towards King Yama, then began to speak;
“My lord, this humble one…”
That thing, no, I haven’t made any mistakes, why would I be a humble one?
“I am this Xue Pan’s sworn Big Brother. My lord, this matter was caused by Huang Luoshi, how can the blame be placed on my brother Xue Pan? This seems unjust, doesn’t it?”
“Insolent! If it weren’t for Xue Pan and an immortal beast casting a spell causing Wu Sheng to eat shit, how would Wu Sheng have died at Huang Luoshi’s hands? What’s the difference between that and indirect murder?”
“Not so, not so, my lord. If it is simply because Xue Pan and others cast a spell to punish Wu Sheng, and Wu Sheng died because of it, then blaming Xue Pan and the others is too hasty, isn’t it? If the punishment for Wu Sheng at that time was not to make him eat shit, but to make him win the lottery, and Wu Sheng died from extreme joy, then a good thing would have become a bad thing, would that also be considered an indirect crime?”
Hearing this, King Yama pondered for a moment. Indeed, it seems to make some sense.
Seeing King Yama remain silent, I continued;
“As the saying goes, intent to do evil is evil. Unintentional evil, how can it be considered evil. My lord, forgive my bluntness, but the right and wrong, good and evil in the human world cannot be judged solely by the result. Xue Pan is certainly at fault, but he acted to uphold justice, and had no intention of killing Wu Sheng. Although there were contributing factors, including Xue Pan and others, Xue Pan, despite being a lecherous ghost, has a heart for justice and helping the weak. If he is to be convicted like this, then where is justice and righteousness placed?”
King Yama frowned slightly.
“If what you say is true, what is right and wrong?”
“There is inherently no right or wrong.”
“What is good and evil?”
“There is inherently no good and evil.”
“Why do you say that?”
“It depends on one’s true nature.”
“Good, good, good! A fine ‘depends on one’s true nature.’ Hahaha, wonderful, wonderful.”
Hearing my answer, King Yama was delighted.
It makes sense. Who are the ten Kings of Hell in the underworld? Few ordinary people would dare to debate the law before them as I do.
I estimate that this old master hasn’t seen someone as bold as me in a long time. A large part of it is likely because I spoke the truth, which is why he felt joy.
Generally, aren’t people with strength like this? They don’t particularly like flattery and insincere words.
Instead, my acting freely and speaking bravely is more likely to earn their admiration. I understand this point clearly.
The matter has reached this point.
If the plot had proceeded as before, without my intervention, Xue Pan would have been convicted, and Wu Sheng, due to the intervention of others and the resulting karma, would have died. He would have been leniently granted reincarnation.
However, after my words about “depending on one’s true nature,” it is clearly impossible for Wu Sheng to escape punishment.
As expected, King Yama signaled for Xue Pan to be released, and instructed the two of us to observe the trial.
He then began to interrogate Wu Sheng.
“Maj-…, Maj-…”
“Audacious Wu Sheng! In the human world, you held the position of a teacher. How dare you harm your own students? You have abandoned humanity! Heaven’s justice is unbearable! Do you know your crime?”
Upon seeing that King Yama had let Xue Pan go and was now interrogating him, Wu Sheng’s head spun. He had initially been relieved that his death would spare him punishment.
Who would have thought that this Heaven is more treacherous than that old woman’s big face driving a Land Rover! It changes just like that!
“My lord! I am wronged!”
“Insolent! How dare you quibble before me? Guards! Bring forth the dog-head execution device!”
Damn, it’s a good thing I saved Xue Pan. This old master is truly ruthless with his punishments; he uses them as soon as he says so. However, it’s understandable. This is the underworld, where people have no physical bodies and don’t feel pain. At most, it’s a form of mental torment, causing great fear and pressure in the criminal, leading to quick confessions.
After the Ghost Messengers pushed the dog-head execution device forward, they removed the red cloth.
Wu Sheng only took one look, and instantly soiled himself in fear.
“M-my lord! I am wronged!”
However, he was still making his final resistance with his words. After all, if he confessed, the punishment he would receive would definitely be worse than this.
“Still not confessing truthfully? Apply the torture!”
Seeing that Wu Sheng was still not honest, King Yama showed him no mercy and directly ordered the Ghost Messengers to execute him.
“Crack!”
Wu Sheng’s head fell off, but was picked up by a Ghost Messenger and reattached.
“Crack! Crack!”
After cracking it seventeen or eighteen times in a row, Wu Sheng was clearly terrified, his soul becoming much more ethereal.
If they continued, he would likely be soul scattered within a few more executions.
