I am a fairy in Journey to the West

Chapter 224: Confrontation with the Soul, the Injustice is Clear

After hearing what the City God of Luoyang said, Ao Jun felt as if struck by lightning and her whole body went limp. If it weren't for the quick eyes and hands of the Fire Spirit Immortal who held her up, she would have collapsed to the ground.

"Taking human life lightly!!!" Ao Jun, who had come to her senses, roared towards the hall at the top of her lungs. Then, blood was gushing out of her seven orifices, her eyes were red, and she fell straight to the ground after a mouthful of blood spurted out of her mouth.

"Dragon God!" Wu Zhao and Baoer rushed forward, while the True Immortal Huo Ling quickly stepped forward and reached out to touch Ao Jun behind his ear.

Then the Fire Spirit Immortal stood up and said, "The Chan River Dragon King was so angry that his Taoism was reversed, bleeding from all seven orifices, and he fainted."

Hearing this, King Qin Guang frowned and then said, "Then we have no choice but to suspend the retrial of this case and let her go down to recuperate first."

As he spoke, King Qin Guang stood up, turned around and bowed behind the precious screen and pearl curtain, as if he was waiting for something.

At the same time, in the compartment behind the precious screen and bead curtain, Zhuang Yan took out a golden pill from his sleeve and said, "This is the 'Yin Yang Great Rejuvenation Pill' refined by Taishang Laojun. It can heal injuries, save lives, and cure all disasters and diseases."

Upon seeing this, Emperor Dongyue immediately said to Marshal Tie who was standing beside him, "Quickly send the golden elixir to the Chanhe Dragon King for consumption."

Marshal Tie bowed and said, "Yes, sir." Then he stepped forward, took the Yin-Yang Pill from Zhuang Yan, and turned and walked out.

Soon King Qin Guang saw Marshal Tie coming out, but he did not receive the order from Emperor Dongyue to suspend the trial. Instead, he watched Marshal Tie walk straight down, came in front of the Fire Spirit Immortal, and handed over the Yin-Yang Great Huandan.

"Feed this pill to her." said Marshal Tie.

Upon hearing this, the True Immortal Fire Spirit immediately took the Yin-Yang Pill from Marshal Tie. At first, he was a little hesitant when he got the golden pill, and did not feed it to Ao Jun right away.

But soon, the True Immortal Fire Spirit sensed a familiar aura from the Yin-Yang Great Huandan, which was Zhuang Yan's aura.

The Fire Spirit Immortal quickly glanced at the precious screen and bead curtain above, then nodded and said, "Okay."

Then the Fire Spirit Immortal opened Ao Jun's tightly closed mouth and put the Yin-Yang Pill into it.

As soon as the pill entered his mouth, a golden divine light immediately lit up on Ao Jun's body. Then, the reversed Taoism, Qi and blood in Ao Jun's body were instantly restored. All the hidden injuries and new and old injuries on his body were healed, and even the disasters in the next five hundred years disappeared.

The moment Marshal Tie returned to the compartment to report to Emperor Dongyue, Ao Jun had already woken up and was full of energy.

After Ao Jun woke up, tears immediately fell from his eyes and he threw himself into the arms of Fire Spirit Immortal and burst into tears.

Fire Spirit Immortal gently stroked her back and consoled her: "Don't be sad yet, and relax for now. Although your brother has been tortured to death, his soul is still here. The most important thing right now is to find out the cause and effect."

When Ao Jun heard this, he nodded immediately, then forced himself to stop being sad, wiped his tears and stood up again.

"Then let's continue." King Qin Guang said.

The Fire Spirit Immortal immediately said, "Prince Qin Guang, although Ao Fan has been tortured, his soul has not dissipated. Please bring Ao Fan's soul here and confront him in court to explain the whole story."

King Qin Guang said: "Although Ao Fan's soul is still there, he has already been sent to the Tenth Palace. I am afraid he has already been reincarnated."

Ao Jun's body trembled again, and then his face turned pale, and he said with trembling lips: "How can the underworld do things like this?!!!"

King Qin Guang said calmly: "The underworld has its own laws and regulations. How dare you, a little god from the River Palace, question it?"

Ao Jun wanted to argue, but was stopped by the Fire Spirit Immortal. Then he heard the Fire Spirit Immortal say: "Please ask King Qin Guang to issue another approval document to go to the underworld to escort Ao Fan's soul here. If he has been reincarnated, it will be another matter. If he has not yet entered the reincarnation platform, just escort him here directly."

King Qin Guang nodded and said, "Okay, let's do as Minister Huo Ling said."

After saying this, King Qin Guang issued an imperial edict and said to Judge Wu of the City God's Palace, "Take my imperial edict and go to the Tenth Palace to investigate. If Ao Fan's soul has not yet been reincarnated, bring him here."

"Yes." Judge Wu bowed and accepted the order. Just as he was about to step forward to receive the order, the Fire Spirit Immortal said, "Wait a minute."

King Qin Guang looked at the Fire Spirit Immortal and asked, "What else does the Minister have to say?"

Fire Spirit Immortal smiled and said, "It's not that I don't trust the fellow Taoists from Luoyang City God's Mansion, but there are some areas in this case that they should avoid. Please ask His Royal Highness Prince Qin Guang to send another divine general to go there."

When King Qin Guang heard this, he immediately turned his head to look at the divine generals behind him. Just as he was about to refute the True Immortal Fire Spirit, the Iron Marshal came out again, pointed to a divine general and said, "You go."

The god general who was named immediately nodded his head and accepted the order. Then he stepped forward to take the talisman from King Qin Guang, turned around and left the underworld hall and went directly into the underworld.

King Qin Guang looked at the departing divine general, turned around and said to Fire Spirit Immortal and Ao Jun: "If it were a normal process, Ao Fan would have already entered the reincarnation by now."

Ao Jun's face turned pale, his lips were tightly pursed, and he lowered his head with a sad look on his face.

The Fire Spirit Immortal was calm as usual, and smiled at King Qin Guang, saying, "Your Highness, the way of heaven is impartial and always favors the good. If there is really injustice in the case of Ao Fan, I believe that heaven will not let him reincarnate like this."

This sentence stumped King Qin Guang. He was stunned for a long time and didn't know how to refute.

At this time, in the back compartment, Nezha said with a smile: "Daoyou Huoling can debate with Buddhist monks and never lose. I am afraid that many immortals in my heaven cannot compare with her in this regard."

Emperor Dongyue has always been watching the performance of Fire Spirit Immortal. He only saw that Fire Spirit Immortal was calm and composed, polite and restrained, able to grasp the key points, and had a high level of realm, which made him admire him very much.

Emperor Dongyue said to Zhuang Yan, "Lord Lingtai, after this matter is settled, regardless of whether this Minister Huo Ling is guilty or not, how about transferring her to Dongyue to take up the post? I will grant her a fifth-rank official position."

Zhuang Yan smiled and said, "Your Majesty, you should ask her yourself. I am only her superior, not her master."

"Okay." Dongyue Emperor smiled and said, "After this matter is settled, I will summon her to ask her."

Zhuang Yan smiled and nodded, but at this time Bixia Yuanjun asked in surprise: "Why does that fellow Daoist look so familiar? Eh? The Soft Gold Elephant, is he the reincarnation of fellow Daoist Li Xuan?"

Hearing this, Nezha also turned his head and looked out. His eyes fell directly on Li Zhen. He saw through his true appearance at a glance, "It is indeed the image of soft gold."

Zhuang Yan nodded and smiled, "Your Excellency Yuan has a keen eye. This Li Zhen is indeed the reincarnation of Fellow Daoist Li Xuan."

Hearing this, Bixia Yuanjun nodded slightly and said, "It seems that the day when the Eight Immortals return to their positions is not far away."

In the netherworld, the God of Mount Dongyue came to the Tenth Hall holding the talisman of King Qin Guang to inquire about the soul of Ao Fan.

What needs to be said here is that the Ten Palaces of the Underworld are not ten parallel duties, but vertical duties.

After all souls are captured by the underworld, they must first be sent to the First Hall to be examined for their merits and demerits, and then the hall to which they should be sent is determined based on the amount of their merits and demerits.

Those who have equal merits and demerits will be sent to the Tenth Hall, the Hall of the Wheel-Turning King, for distribution and will be reincarnated into the secular world, with men being transformed into women and women into men.

Those who have done more evil than good are escorted to a high platform on the right side of the palace, called the "Mirror of Sins". They are made to look into it and see the good and bad of their hearts in this world. They are then sent to the Second Palace to suffer.

If one has done more good than evil, he will be granted good fortune in the next life and sent to reincarnate in the tenth palace. If one has made great contributions in his life, he will be led to become a Yin spirit in the underworld and receive a heavenly position.

When the Dongyue God saw the Chakravartin of the Tenth Hall, the Chakravartin ordered the judge in the hall to check the reincarnation records on the Samsara Platform.

After a moment, the judge reported, "Your Majesty, the reincarnation record of Ao Fan's soul does not exist in the reincarnation register."

"Oh?" Hearing this, Dongyue Divine General said, "So he hasn't reincarnated yet?"

The Chakravartin immediately asked, "Since he has been approved by the First Hall, he should have been reincarnated long ago. Why is there no record of his reincarnation?"

The judge immediately started to investigate, and after a while he answered, "Your Majesty, the Wheel King, Ao Fan's soul had been delivered here, but was taken away by Your Majesty, King Yama. You agreed to this at the time."

The chakravartin suddenly realized and said, "It is true."

After that, the Dongyue Divine General of the Wheel-Turning Dynasty said, "The Divine General can go to the Fifth Palace, King Yama, to retrieve Ao Fan's soul."

Upon hearing this, Dongyue God General bowed and said, "Thank you, Your Highness, the Chakravartin. I'll take my leave." After saying this, he left the Tenth Hall and went all the way to the Fifth Hall.

The fifth hall is the Yama King Hall, which is in charge of the Great Hell of Shouting and the 16 Minor Hells of Punishing the Heart. Anyone brought to this hall will be taken to the Wangxiang Terrace, where they will be made to hear and see their relatives in the world and the various disasters they have suffered due to their sins. They will then be pushed into this hell and carefully investigated for their sins. They will then be sent to the 16 Minor Hells of Punishing the Heart, where their hearts will be hooked out and thrown to snakes to eat, and their bodies and heads will be chopped off. After suffering for a full day, they will be sent to another hall.

The fifth hall, King Yama, was originally a minister named Bao from the Song Kingdom in the southern continent of the mortal world. He was famous for his ability to solve cases like a god and his integrity. After his death, he was appointed as King Yama by the Heavenly Court and was in charge of the first hall of the underworld. However, this King Yama often showed kindness and sympathized with the souls who died unjustly during his lifetime. He always sent these souls back to the mortal world to redress their grievances.

Although this action was of the utmost good, it was against the laws of the underworld and violated the natural order of heaven and earth. Therefore, he was transferred by the Northern Yin Fengdu Emperor to be in charge of the Fifth Palace, and King Qin Guang was in charge of the First Palace instead.

When the Dongyue God arrived at the Fifth Hall, King Yama had already ordered people to bring Ao Fan up.

Ao Fan was wearing a light blue robe, with a blue dragon like his sister. Ao Fan had a delicate appearance, with a hint of arrogance between his brows, which was typical of a young man.

Arriving at the palace, Ao Fan immediately bowed to King Yama and said, "Ao Fan greets His Majesty King Yama."

King Yama smiled and said, "No need to be polite, please stand up."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Ao Fan bowed and stood up.

Then, King Yama pointed at the God General of Dongyue and said to Ao Fan, "Your case has been sent back for retrial. This time you will go with this God General to the trial. Don't be afraid. Tell us everything in detail in court. It's better to tell the truth than to lie. This case involves the lives of countless people of your clan. Remember my words and go."

Ao Fan was stunned when he heard this, then bowed respectfully and said, "I will follow King Yama's instructions."

King Yama nodded, and then the two ghost commanders in the hall shouted, "Zhang Long, Zhao Hu."

The two ghost commanders came out in response, bowed and said, "I am here."

King Yama said, “I order the two of you to follow the Dongyue God General and take Ao Fan to the Luoyang City God’s Underworld Palace for trial.”

The two ghost commanders Zhang Long and Zhao Hu immediately bowed and said, "As you command."

Not long after, Dongyue God and Zhang Long and Zhao Hu escorted Ao Fan's soul to the underworld hall.

The moment he saw Ao Fan's soul, Ao Jun immediately cheered: "Brother!"

When Ao Fan heard this familiar and gentle voice, he was startled and suddenly raised his head to look at Ao Jun.

"Sister!" Ao Fan also exclaimed, then rushed forward quickly, but the two siblings hugged nothing, because Ao Fan was just a ghost now.

"Brother, how are you?" Ao Jun asked Ao Fan with tears in his eyes.

Ao Fan immediately poured out all his grievances. He told Ao Jun how he was captured and how he was killed, which made Ao Jun very distressed.

At this time, Dongyue God General, Zhang Long and Zhao Hu came forward to report. When King Qin Guang saw Zhang Long and Zhao Hu, he understood what was going on and said with a smile, "It turned out that King Yama had taken action to retain Ao Fan's soul. It seems that there is indeed some hidden story in this Ao Fan case."

Hearing this, the Luoyang City God remained calm and said, "There is a hidden story in this case, and there are more problems, but they are not in my underworld."

King Qin Guang nodded, then he picked up the gavel and banged it, saying, "Since Ao Fan's soul is still here, let's retry Ao Fan."

Ao Jun below heard this and hurriedly said to Ao Fan: "Brother, why did you offend the City God that day? Tell me everything now. Don't worry, sister will accompany you."

"Yes." Ao Fan nodded, then walked forward and bowed, saying, "Ao Fan greets His Royal Highness Prince Qin Guang."

King Qin Guang said, "Ao Fan, quickly tell me the cause and effect of your collision with the City God of Luoyang that day. Don't lie if it's true or not. Tell me the truth and everything."

Ao Fan replied, "Yes."

Afterwards, Ao Fan told the whole story of how he had offended the City God that day. It was all because of the "behead and offer" edict issued by the Human Ministry a thousand years ago.

Because this decree had never been abolished, the gods on earth would be rewarded as long as they offered tributes of precious dragons and phoenixes.

Therefore, any gods in the world who have a little bit of power would go around capturing dragons and phoenixes that have committed crimes, then chop them up and offer them as tribute in order to ask for merit.

This has led to a phenomenon where phoenixes are rare in the world, and even if you encounter one, each of them has great abilities and is not easy to capture.

But there are many dragons, especially those real dragons with mixed bloodlines, which are much easier to catch than phoenixes.

Sometimes, in order to sacrifice them, many people in the divine palace would even deliberately lure the real dragons into committing crimes, and then capture and chop them up as sacrifices.

This is what happened to Ao Fan. That day, he went out to play on the Luo River and happened to meet the Luoyang City God who was on patrol.

Originally, both sides were living in peace, but a ghost general under the Luoyang City God discovered that Ao Fan was a real dragon and immediately provoked him with words.

Ao Fan was a hot-blooded young man who could not stand the stimulation of dirty words. He immediately clashed with the ghost general, and it eventually turned into a collision with the City God's carriage.

Thus, Ao Fan was set up as a trap by the ghost general for enforcement of the law. After being caught, he was quickly sentenced to death by beheading by the Luoyang City God. He died and his soul was escorted to the First Hall of the Underworld for examination.

However, because Ao Jun caused a big disturbance in the Luoyang City God's Mansion, the case was reported to the Ten Kings of Hell. King Yama then learned about the matter and after Ao Fan was sent to the Tenth Palace, he went to detain him and kept him under protection in the Fifth Palace.

After listening to Ao Fan's report, Ao Jun immediately raised his head and said, "Your Highness Prince Qin Guang, isn't this a wrongful case?"

The Fire Spirit Immortal even said: "As a dignified fifth-rank god of the underworld, he actually allowed his subordinates to provoke others for the sake of merit, and then framed them afterwards. This is really despicable."

King Qin Guang looked a little unhappy and asked the City God of Luoyang: "Is this true?"

Luoyang City God bowed and said, "Your Highness, I didn't know that my general provoked Ao Fan. I only know that he injured the ghost soldiers and generals that day and bumped into the little god's carriage."

"Where is the general that Ao Fan mentioned? Ask him to come to the palace to answer." King Qin Guang said.

The City God of Luoyang raised his hand and pointed at Ao Jun and said, "She caused a big disturbance in the City God's Mansion that day, and the general died at her hands."

Hearing this, Ao Jun immediately regretted it.

But the Fire Spirit Immortal said: "Even if the Yin God dies, his soul will remain. You can bring his soul here."

King Qin Guang immediately asked the City God of Luoyang, "What is the general's name?"

The City God of Luoyang said, "Zhao Yi."

King Qin Guang immediately said to Zhang Long and Zhao Hu, "You two must obey my orders first. Go to the top of Yinshan Mountain and capture the soul of the ghost general Zhao Yi."

Zhang Long and Zhao Hu took the order and left. Only half an hour later, Zhao Yi's soul was brought over.

After Zhao Yi arrived, he saw King Qin Guang, Ao Jun, Ao Fan and even many gods he had never seen before. He became extremely nervous.

King Qin Guang shouted at this moment: "Zhao Yi! Ao Fan has reported all the facts. Were you the one who provoked him first, provoked him to do it, and then framed him? Confess the truth immediately!"

After saying this, King Qin Guang slammed the gavel hard, making a loud bang.

Zhao Yi was so frightened that his whole body trembled. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, and soon confessed his guilt.

With Zhao Yi's confession, there was no longer any doubt in the case. Ao Fandi was wrongly accused. Although he did injure the ghost soldiers and generals and did collide with the City God's carriage, the fault was not on him.

"How dare Zhao Yi!" King Qin Guang immediately issued an order: "Come here, take away the body of the priest Zhao Yiyin, and escort his soul to the fourth hall, the 'Black Rope Hell', to be hanged upside down, have his eyes gouged out, and have his bones scraped away for 10,000 years. No commutation of sentence is allowed, and no reincarnation is allowed."

"Your Highness, please spare my life, Your Highness, please spare my life. I know I was wrong, and I will never dare to do it again. Lord City God, Lord City God, save me." When Zhao Yi heard the punishment sentenced by King Qin Guang, he was immediately frightened and begged for mercy.

Zhang Long and Zhao Hu stepped forward, received the order from King Qin Guang, then walked down the steps of the palace and ruthlessly captured Zhao Yi, taking him away directly from the ghost gate into the underworld, and then went straight to the third palace, the Palace of Emperor Song.

After Zhao Yi was taken away, King Qin Guang immediately set his eyes on the City God of Luoyang and asked, "City God of Luoyang, do you have anything to say?"

The City God of Luoyang stood up and bowed, saying, "Your Highness, Prince Qin Guang, I have nothing to say. I was not aware of Zhao Yi's provocation of Ao Fan, and there was an order from the Human Ministry regarding the beheading of Xian. There was nothing wrong with my punishment of Ao Fan."

After saying this, the City God of Luoyang said calmly, "I am not guilty of any fault."

(End of this chapter)