Legend of the Great Sage

n a hurry for revenge, so she could not bother with him either, which earned him a free bowl of clear soup.
It saved him a significant amount of “karma”, which was far more valuable than that piece of spiritual jade.

However, he was not someone to be trifled with when he was still alive.
He was renowned for his pettiness.
When he saw this, he only sneered away. You foolish kid, don’t even think about getting through this third checkpoint!

The Hell realm had a total of three checkpoints that required bribes.
The first was the Hell Guard or soul collect who came to take them.
If they were not properly bribed, they would face trouble on the Road to the Yellow Springs.

The second was for that bowl of Granny Meng’s Soup.
If they did not purchase the clear soup, everything would fall into shambles, and they would forget their past.
They might not even be able to make it through the tortures of hell.

The third checkpoint was the four adjudicators, as well as the most important checkpoint.
Whether they were rewarded for their good or punished for their wickedness was completely up to their whim.
It took a sizable sum if they wanted to clear their crimes and escape punishment.

At this moment, one of the ghost guards outside called out, “Old man, what’re you staring for?” He walked over viciously with a staff of water and fire.

Normally, why would the old man take the puny ghost seriously at all? He could erase him from existence with a single strike.
But now, he was forced to obey, shoving another spiritual jade over to him.

The ghost’s expression changed slightly as if he was smiling, but his face was just as vicious as before.
He rubbed his head.
“You sure are a clever one.
Here, even dragons better stay coiled and even tigers better keep their tails tucked.
It’s all useless whether you’re some Yin Soul or Yang Soul.
Seeing how obedient you are, I’ll let you in to take a look!”

The old man smiled dryly and followed behind him up to the hall.
Apart from the three checkpoints, the various ghost guards and envoys encountered along the way needed bribing too.
Otherwise, they could make trouble, and there would be plenty of suffering for him to go through.
He cursed Li Qingshan even more inside, Why do I have to be so submissive, yet that kid can act so arrogantly? Let’s see just how you die!

Adjudicator Lu arrived behind his desk again.
A few vicious ghosts were about to drag Li Qingshan over to the Mirror of Retribution when granny Meng mocked him.
“Lu, don’t even bother.
He’s broke!”

“Broke!” Adjudicator Lu was still rather reluctant to accept that.
He asked, “Who are you? Do you have any ‘respect’ for me?”

Li Qingshan raised his head and smiled.
“Dear sonny, you’re going to give some respect to your daddy?”

The hall fell silent.
Whether it was the colossal ghost outside the hall or the ghost guards inside, they were all stunned.
They had never seen someone who still behaved so rudely and arrogantly within a king of hell’s court.

Adjudicator Lu was taken aback as well as if he had never imagined someone actually had the courage to speak to him like that.
He said furiously, “What did you say? Say it again?”

“Dear grandsonny, you’re going to give some respect to your granddaddy?” He fell by another generation.

Bang! Adjudicator Lu slammed the desk and rose to his feet, flying into a fury.
“Drag him off to the third, fifth- no, ninth layer of hell immediately!”

The vicious ghost guards surged over again, some twisting his arms and some grabbing his head, dragging him out of the hall.

Li Qingshan did not struggle, nor did he erupt with curses.
He just glanced deeply at adjudicator Lu before glancing past the four words, “The penetrating mirror hangs high.” again.
He could not help but smile, which soom turned into roaring laughter.
Even when he was dragged outside, his laughter continued to echo in the hall.

Adjudicator Lu shivered for some reason.
“What an improper person.
He has no respect for the law at all! Fellows, are you satisfied with this?”

Granny Meng felt strange inside.
She did not feel any delight from victory at all.
She ground her teeth.
“You should have sent him to the eighteenth layer of hell so that he can never be reborn!”

Ox-headed A’pang thought, If only that happened.

However, it would not be that simple.
Apart from the tenth court, King Zhuanlun, the Wheel-turning King, the nine other courts were responsible for two layers of hell each.
Even if he was sent to the ninth layer of hell, he had to go through each layer one by one, and each major layer of hell had countless minor hells, which came with endless pain and torment—climbing up mountains of blades, falling into pots of oil, crossing forests of swords, bitten by wasps, insects and snakes, wading through rivers of pus, fire and ash…

That was where the name Avīci, or endless, came from!

Kid, hopefully you can last through it all!