Stranger Danger

Thump!

Ye Qing did not move, however. Not even a little. In fact, it was the Hell of Black Rope that shuddered once and let out a dull thump.

As if angered by Ye Qing’s resistance, countless black ropes appeared from every direction and wrapped around Ye Qing. He was bound like a mummy in just the blink of an eye.

Right now, the dominant emotion in Ye Qing was one of confusion. After all, he hadn’t resisted. It was just that he was protected by the Profound Yellow Mother Qi, and he was as heavy as a mountain because he had reached the journeyman level in the “Earthly Sovereign Scripture”. That was why the black rope had failed to lift him up.

Ye Qing understood why the black ropes might be annoyed, but hell, was it his fault? No, it was their fault for being weak!

Ye Qing withdrew his strength. Only then the black ropes managed to pull him to a copper pillar. However…

“Dude, can you remove some of the ropes?”

Ye Qing rolled his eyes. He already allowed himself to be bound to the copper pillar, and still the ropes did not loosen. Did they really think that he would try and escape? Could they at least shift elsewhere so that he wouldn’t look like a goddamn mummy?

On a related note, the temperature of the copper pillar and the black ropes were… meh. It couldn’t even redden his skin.

Of course, this was a problem. Even if he had burned normally, it still would have taken him sixty years to cleanse his sins. But like this? Sixty years might stretch to eternity, not to mention that he didn’t have sixty years.

Heavens—I mean, hells below, can’t believe I had to do the hell’s work for it…

And so he cleansed himself using the Profound Yellow Mother Qi and the “Hellfire Red Lotus Saber Art” once more.

It took him longer than the previous hell to cleanse his sins—an incense stick to be exact—as a matter of course. After all, the punishment duration was twice as long as the previous hell.

Once done, Ye Qing found himself being pulled into the copper pillar by the black ropes.

In just the blink of an eye, he found himself standing in a world full of howling yin wind. The ghosts were walking against the yin wind while their flesh and blood were slowing being stripped away with every step they looked. They looked like walking skeletons moving toward hell-knows-where.

“And this should be the Hell of Yin Wind.”

The fourth hell of the eight major hells, the Hell of Yin Wind punished those who speak flowery words[1], aggressive people, thieves, and those possessed by the five poisons. Those who fell into this hell would suffer the erosion of yin wind, never be able to fall unconscious or die even though their flesh and blood had been stripped entirely. They could only walk endlessly and suffer.

“This hell punishes the Five Poisons, and yet the Five Poisons are simply human desires, are they not? Interesting.”

Ye Qing let out a chuckle while rubbing his nose.

Before his chuckle even faded, an imposing voice boomed, “You have committed the sin of attachment, aversion, and pride. You shall suffer three decades of yin wind to atone for it.”

The next moment, Ye Qing glowed like a colorful light bulb. However, the colorful lights appeared to be filthy, evil, and bone-chilling.

The next moment, a yin wind blew against him. Ye Qing felt something cold and evil slipping into his body, undeterred even by true qi.

The yin wind slowly killed a victim’s flesh and blood and increased the weight of their bones, making it difficult to walk. However, those who refused to walk would find themselves in much greater pain. Walking was the only way to diminish one’s suffering.

Not only that, the yin wind attacked the mind as well. It delivered severe mental pain and muddied one’s consciousness. And yet, the victim would never be able to fall consciousness or die until they left the hell.

“Huh… it can temper my yang god?!”

Suddenly, Ye Qing’s eyes lit up with delight. His physical body was strong, his mind was solid, and he was protected by the Profound Yellow Mother Qi. Therefore, the yin wind could not hurt him one bit. However, he discovered by accident that his yang god was growing more solid and stable just a few seconds after he was exposed to the yin wind. Clearly, this was an opportunity.

When a warrior had reached the Trueman stage, they mainly focused on solidifying, stabilizing, and strengthening their yang god. They also focused on understanding the laws of the world and understanding the will of the world. It was all to achieve what people called the union between heaven and human.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

That was why Ye Qing was delighted after discovering that the Hell of Yin Wind could solidify and stabilize his yang god.

Unfortunately, his delight only lasted for a second before reality, the ever cruel mistress, crushed it beneath her feet. It was because he wasn’t here to cultivate, but to retrieve the Ten Directions Stupa and the Kṣitigarbha Buddha’s inheritance. Considering the caliber of his competitors, it would not be an exaggeration to say that every minute counted.

Then, Ye Qing’s joy stood up again like a resilient cockroach. It was because he recalled that the Hell of Yin Wind was a part of the Ten Directions Stupa. If he became the master of the Ten Directions Stupa, then he would obtain the Hell of Yin Wind as well. When that happened, he could enjoy the yin wind for as long as he liked.

Shit, I’m getting a little excited!

Now brimming with motivation, Ye Qing did what he did before and washed away his sins using the Profound Yellow Mother Qi and the “Hellfire Red Lotus Saber Art”.

When he was fully cleansed, and the yin wind blew at him again, he found himself standing in a world made completely out of ice and snow.

The hell before was already ice cold, but this? This was cold on an entirely different level. It was a cold that drilled into one’s bones and froze the marrow utterly. The ground was all transparent, translucent ice, and icy spikes were all over the place. Countless ghosts were skewered by the spikes and frozen to the ground.

Not only that, goose-feather sized snow was raining from above, and they were all as sharp as blades. They left many terrible wounds on the ghosts’ bodies.

“The fifth hell, the Hell of Frigid Ice…”

It was stated in the Buddhist sutras that those who spoke flowery words, aggressive people, thieves, those possessed by five poisons, and the lustful would enter this hell and suffer the pain of being skewered by ice, and wind and snow eroding their flesh and blood. The victims could not die no matter how severe their injuries, and they would suffer endlessly until their sins were cleansed.

“Huh! It’s the Snow of Sin!”

Ye Qing grabbed one of the snow falling from the sky and raised an eyebrow.

What was the Snow of Sin? As its name implied, it was a kind of snow that only appeared at places where great sin was gathered. If the Snow of Sin landed on a person with no karmic hindrance or sin, then their health would improve, and their lifespan would increase. But if it landed on a sinner, then it would cut them like blades, hurt them to their core, and freeze them all the way down to the marrow. It was quite the unusual weather to put it mildly.

Despite holding a Snow of Sin, Ye Qing did not feel any pain whatsoever.

“It looks like the Snow of Sin thinks that I am a clean-living and moral man in this regard. Cool!”

Ye Qing chuckled at his own pun and, for the first time since he entered the hells, heard a declaration of innocence, “You have not committed any sin of lust, and you are unfailingly pure and upright. Very good!”

As soon as the voice finished, the surrounding wind and snow wrapped around him tightly. The next moment, he was gone.

When Ye Qing regained his consciousness again, he found himself standing in a sea of fire.

The fire reached so high it seemed to touch the heavens. The earth was so blackened it looked like it would never recover. At the same time, red lotuses were falling from the sky like it would burn anything and everything.

Amidst the flames, countless ghosts were burning and screaming at the top of their lungs.

“Tapana, the Hell of Scorched Flames…”

Ye Qing looked at the towering inferno around him and exclaimed in surprise, “Huh! It’s my old friend, hellfire!”

Those who spoke flowery words, aggressive people, thieves, those possessed by five poisons, the lustful, and those who murder—especially of the innocent—would plunge into the Tapana and suffer hellfire in both body and mind. So long as their sin wasn’t cleansed, the hellfire would never fade.

“You have committed the sin of murder. Although you have never murdered the weak or young, not everyone you killed is guilty, and the number of lives you took are countless. For this grave sin, you will be burned by hellfire for ninety nine years!”

The grandiose voice boomed as if on cue.

“Ninety nine years, huh? I guess I have killed a lot of people.” Ye Qing pouted. It was also because Kṣitigarbha Buddha had personally condemned him for the sin of murder. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have ninety-nine years worth of sin to cleanse.

Ye Qing sighed. He had no choice but to use the Profound Yellow Mother Qi and the “Hellfire Red Lotus Saber Art” to cleanse himself once more. He already couldn’t wait thirty years before, and he certainly wasn’t going to wait ninety-nine years now.

This time though, it took him a full twenty four hours to finally cleanse himself of his sins. It was mainly because he decided to conserve his Profound Yellow Mother Qi and let the “Hellfire Red Lotus Saber Art” do most of the work. It was because he hadn’t reached the adept level of the “Earthly Sovereign Scripture” and so did not possess a limitless amount of Profound Yellow Mother Qi. He had already expended a good amount before, so of course he should conserve the rest for when he truly needed it.

After he finally washed off his sin of murder, hellfire enveloped him, and he found himself standing before a gigantic millstone.

1. I can’t get over how every hell so far punishes flowery words lol. ☜