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Chapter 127: Punishment
Soon, Black Wuchang led us to Yama's Hall. Above the hall, there was a long table where a person dressed in a tiger-patterned official robe was seated. He wore an official hat, had a face full of black whiskers, and his eyes were wide open with an intimidating glare. Upon seeing him, I immediately knew that this must be Yama, the one in charge of life and death in the human realm.
Standing next to Yama was a person in a white robe, who was none other than White Impermanence, whom I had met before. Looking at both sides of the grand hall, the Eighteen Great Punishing Ghosts stood there, each one of them glaring at me and Cao Qilong like evil spirits.
As we reached the front of the hall, Black Wuchang said to Yama, "These are the two Little Yin-Yang who have committed offenses!"
Upon hearing this, Yama's already dark face turned even angrier. He slammed the wooden block on the long table and shouted, "You two Little Yin-Yang have caused such a great disaster! The spirit guarding the Ghost Gate will be dismissed because of you; what punishment do you deserve?"
The sound of the wooden block slamming down truly frightened us. After all, this was Yama's Hall! At that moment, both Cao Qilong and I were so scared that our legs trembled, and we knelt down on the ground. I said, "Yama, we acted with good intentions but ended up causing trouble. I didn't know they were the Four Spirits guarding the Ghost Gate; I mistook them for Four Ghosts!"
Yama became even angrier upon hearing this: "A mistake is a mistake; there are no excuses. You two have quite a nerve to commit such a grave offense and still dare to trespass into the Underworld. Do you really think I won't punish you for it?"
From his expression, it was clear he intended to punish us severely. At that moment, my heart sank into my throat. The punishments in Hell are nothing like those in the Yin Realm; here, punishment could mean skinning alive or boiling in oil—let alone returning to the living world; just being able to leave the Underworld with a complete body would be fortunate.
I quickly pleaded, "Yama, we came here solely because the Ghost Gate was unguarded. We know we made a grave mistake, but we couldn't bear to let it go wrong again. That's why we risked our lives to come here and ask you to send someone to guard the Ghost Gate."
Upon hearing this, Yama's anger seemed to subside somewhat. He said, "Considering that you can still think about the bigger picture, I'll temporarily spare you from Hell's Punishment for trespassing into the Underworld. However, how do you plan to address your fault in dismissing the guarding Four Spirits?"
Hearing him mention this fault left me dumbfounded; it was indeed a disaster of my own making. If I admitted it, then I would have to face punishment—wouldn't that be worse than death? But if I didn't admit it, I had no reason to evade responsibility.
At that moment, Black Wuchang suddenly spoke up: "Yama, let's decide on this punishment later. Since there is currently no one guarding the Ghost Gate, we really need to come up with a solution quickly; otherwise, if countless ghosts escape, it will surely lead to great trouble."
I glanced at Black Wuchang and was surprised that he could actually say something sensible. My opinion of him shifted slightly. However, I also cursed him inwardly—didn't he already know that there was no one guarding the Ghost Gate? Why wait until now to say this? He only pretends to be capable in front of his superiors; I look down on him!
After listening to Black Wuchang's words, Yama nodded and said, "Old Seven is right; there really cannot be a day without someone guarding the Ghost Gate." After thinking for a moment, he then addressed the Eighteen Great Punishing Ghosts before him: "Alright then, until further notice, you Eighteen Great Punishing Ghosts will take turns guarding the gate!"
After hearing the "Eighteen Great Punishing Ghosts," they stepped forward with a loud noise and then clasped their fists as they left. However, as they departed, they all glanced at us, looking as if I owed them some money that I hadn't repaid. It seems that the job of guarding the Ghost Gate isn't very pleasant, so they must really hate me.
Once the Eighteen Great Punishing Ghosts left, Yama began to look at us again, and I immediately felt nervous. Was it time for us to be punished?
Sure enough, Yama slammed the gavel again, glaring at us with his lion-like eyes, and said, "You two have committed a grave mistake. Tell me, should I punish you?"
Cao Qilong and I exchanged glances, unsure how to respond. Should we say we deserve punishment? If he really decided to punish us, it would be too late for regrets. But if we said we shouldn't be punished, that would imply we didn't acknowledge our wrongdoing, which might anger Yama even more and lead to us being thrown into the Eighteen Layers of Hell.
Just when I was at a loss for what to do, Cao Qilong beside me stammered, "No... we shouldn't be punished!"
Upon hearing this, I thought we were doomed.
Then Yama suddenly laughed, looking at us as if we were two fools. After laughing, his expression turned cold as he shouted, "You dare say you shouldn't be punished after committing such a grave mistake?"
Cao Qilong replied, "We acted out of goodwill and mistakenly took the Four Spirits for the Four Ghosts Carrying the Coffin. If doing good deeds leads to punishment, who would still want to do good in this world? Wouldn't it be better to avoid doing good altogether and just seek not to do wrong?"
When Yama heard this, he immediately found it amusing and pointed at me, asking, "Do you think the same way?"
Since Cao Qilong had already said so much, I naturally had to agree with him. So I nodded and said, "My senior brother is right. Although we made a mistake, it was out of good intentions. We hope Yama can see this clearly!"
Yama nodded after hearing this. Seeing that, I thought maybe he would really let us off the hook. However, after nodding, Yama shook his head again and said, "Although what you say makes sense, a mistake is still a mistake. How can your good intentions negate your wrongdoing?"
After saying this, he looked at me again: "Especially you; previously in the Chapter of the Mass Grave you caused great trouble. Now you've made another mistake. If I don't teach you a lesson now, you'll surely repeat this error. As for your punishment, I won't impose any severe penalties this time. Considering that you acted out of goodwill and are Paper Effigy Makers after all—there are countless homeless ghosts in need—your punishment will be to make Spirit Houses for them!"
As he spoke these words, he turned to the clerk beside him and asked, "Huang Yuan, have you counted the number of homeless Wandering Souls?"
The clerk named Huang Yuan flipped through his records and replied, "There are over six hundred thirty-two thousand homeless ghost citizens in total. The Underworld has already settled six hundred thirty-one thousand ghosts; there are still about thirteen thousand six hundred without homes."
Upon hearing that there were over six hundred thousand homeless ghost citizens, I was shocked. If we had to make Spirit Houses for over six hundred thousand ghosts, wouldn't that mean we'd never finish? Fortunately, it turned out that the Underworld had already settled over six hundred thousand ghosts; only a little over ten thousand remained without homes.
Yama nodded and said to us, "Alright then, after you return to the world of the living, build me one hundred thirty-six hundred houses!"
After hearing this, we hurriedly accepted our punishment and thanked him for sparing us from harsher consequences.
Thus, the mistake of Four Spirits being mistaken for Four Ghosts in the coffin was resolved, and we only needed to complete the construction of over ten thousand Spirit Houses after returning to the world of the living. We then left Yama's Hall and headed towards the World of the Living...
Once we exited Yama's Hall, we rushed towards the city gates, but at that moment, someone called out to us. Turning around, both Cao Qilong and I were stunned to see that it was My Grandfather and Master Ma.
They were dressed in black clothing, identical to the Yin Chai we had seen earlier, and I immediately realized that they had become Yin Chai in the Underworld.
Having been apart for so long, seeing my Relative again filled both Cao Qilong and me with excitement as we rushed over and burst into tears.
After a while, Grandfather and Master Ma asked how we ended up here. We recounted everything that had happened over the past few days, but they both suddenly burst into laughter, leaving us bewildered.
I asked them why they were laughing. Grandfather replied, "You were played by Yama and Black Wuchang. The Ghost Gate was unguarded; how could the Underworld not take notice? The reason they deliberately didn't send anyone is that they anticipated you would come down."
At that moment, I was confused and asked Grandfather, "Why does the Underworld want us to come down? We are two unknown living people; what could they possibly want from us?"
Grandfather said, "Did you not see all these homeless spirits here?"
I nodded, and then Grandfather continued, "Sigh, too many people in this world do not believe in cause and effect. There are too many who do not believe in Ghosts, and even more who are unfilial. This has resulted in countless poor Wandering Souls scattered throughout the Underworld. The houses left behind by souls reincarnating are far from enough to accommodate these homeless Wandering Souls. So when Yama saw you make a mistake, he deliberately let you come down to help settle these homeless Wandering Souls."
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