Volume One: The Soul-Gathering Gourd, the Flame of the Spirit Lantern Chapter Five: Swindled by the King of Hell!

Suddenly, an eerie wind swept through the entire mountain graveyard.

Gu Mo, kneeling on the ground, clenched his hands tightly around his own throat.

He struggled, but it was futile—within seconds, the air in his throat was forced out.

In barely ten seconds, Gu Mo’s face flushed scarlet, veins bulging near his temples.

Lack of oxygen, ringing in his ears, and an overwhelming terror surged deep into his soul.

He felt darkness descend before his eyes, his consciousness fading, his heartbeat suddenly slowing.

It was as if someone hurled his heart into a bottomless abyss.

In the midst of his agony, a hysterical scream rang directly in his ear.

“Don’t you dare speak of my father! If you do again, I’ll strangle you myself!”

With that, Gu Mo, on the brink of death, released his hands.

Life-saving air rushed into his throat, and he collapsed forward onto the ground, gasping in pain.

Hoo—

With heavy breaths, his color slowly returned.

Cough, cough!

A violent fit of coughing sent a crystal-clear stream of saliva trickling from his mouth.

At that moment, Gu Mo could not have felt worse.

Truth be told, unless one has been choked, it’s impossible to imagine such torment. The sensation of suffocating to death is surely the most agonizing!

After a long while, Gu Mo slumped onto the ground.

Faced with such a powerful threat, he could only grovel and beg for mercy.

“Sister Ghost...no, no...esteemed King of the Underworld, it was my foolish eyes that failed to recognize greatness! Please, do not take offense!”

After a round of flattery, the voice of King Yan Jiang Jingxue echoed once more in his mind.

“Hmph! You know your place, boy. I’ll let this slide!”

Gu Mo finally felt the weight in his heart lift. Clearly, preserving his life was paramount.

Then, his eyes darted about—curiosity overcame him, and he asked,

“Honored King Yan, what happened last night? Why were there so many armored guards and a groom’s attire in front of that bridal sedan?”

He quickly added,

“If it’s inconvenient to answer, I won’t press further!”

But after saying this, there was no reply for a long, long time.

Gu Mo frowned in perplexity, muttering under his breath,

“What the—did that damned King Yan leave? At last, peace and quiet!”

Thud!

Gu Mo’s own fist smacked hard against his skull.

King Yan Jiang Jingxue had merely been silent in contemplation, not gone.

“If you speak ill of me again, I’ll twist your head right off!”

---

Upon hearing this, Gu Mo’s heart tightened. He hadn’t expected this beautiful King Yan, seemingly harmless, to act with such ruthless decisiveness!

“King Yan, I won’t dare again!”

Then King Yan sighed and began to recount her story.

“My true name is Jiang Jingxue. Since I can remember, I never saw my mother. I pestered my father for answers, but he always kept silent. Recently, his term ended—so he passed the throne of King Yan to me…”

Hearing this, Gu Mo felt a wave of emotion.

‘Who would have thought even the King of the Underworld had a term of office!’

After a sigh, Jiang Jingxue continued,

“According to my father’s instructions before he left, I rode a red bridal sedan that night to the Hall of Life and Death Reincarnation, to fetch my husband, who had never shown himself. Once wed and after... that... I would fully gain my powers…

But then, a band of thieves invaded the Underworld, attacking me directly. Except for myself, all the ghostly soldiers in the wedding procession were scattered, their souls dispersed.”

Gu Mo, thoroughly confused, hurriedly interjected,

“King Yan, what exactly is ‘that’?”

Thud!

Jiang Jingxue made Gu Mo’s fist strike his own head again.

“Don’t ask what you shouldn’t!”

Though Jiang Jingxue was possessing Gu Mo, he could still sense her embarrassment.

To avoid further blows, Gu Mo cautiously voiced another question,

“King Yan, since you’re the ruler of the Underworld, why not summon your husband directly? Why journey all the way to the Hall of Life and Death Reincarnation? Your husband certainly acts like he’s above it all!”

At that, a sigh sounded in Gu Mo’s mind, and a dazzling golden pill appeared before his eyes.

“No choice—my husband must have a pure yin fate. He must cultivate in the Hall of Life and Death for forty-nine years, then consume the golden pill to be able to wed me. If I hadn't arrived in person, this pill might have been stolen by the thieves.”

Now, Gu Mo finally understood the whole story.

“King Yan, why is your father’s surname Qin, but yours is Jiang? And what exactly does your father oversee?”

Jiang Jingxue called Gu Mo an idiot, then patiently explained,

“My father, King Qin Guang, is named Jiang Ziwen, head of the ten Kings of Hell who rule the underworld.

He presides over the First Palace, responsible for recording the fates and deaths of mortals, guiding rebirth, and overseeing good and evil in the netherworld. His Judgment Palace lies beyond the Great Sea, to the west along the Black Road of the Yellow Springs.

He governs the length of human life; each person’s deeds are reported by city gods, earth spirits, and inspectors to the palace, where my father personally judges. Those whose good and bad deeds are balanced are spared punishment and sent directly to the tenth palace, or reborn according to their merits—as male or female, rich or poor, to fulfill their karmic consequences. The deeply sinful are dispatched to various hells to endure torment and cleanse their sins.

On the day a virtuous soul’s life ends, it is guided to rebirth. Those whose merits are balanced are sent to the tenth palace, to be reborn—perhaps male to female, or vice versa, their fortunes measured to settle past grievances.

Those with more evil than good are brought to the right platform in the palace, called the Mirror of Retribution. The platform is three meters high, the mirror ten spans wide, hanging to the east with seven characters atop: ‘No good soul before the Mirror of Retribution.’

The souls of the wicked see their own sinister hearts reflected and realize then that all the gold in life cannot be carried along, that only their sins remain. After passing the mirror, they are sent to the second palace for punishment in hell.”

Flooded with such information, Gu Mo was utterly bewildered. He hadn’t imagined the underworld truly existed. Was everything recorded in Journey to the West real?

As he pondered, Jiang Jingxue’s bell-like voice rang once more in his mind.

“All right, I now declare: from this day forward, you are my attendant!”

Gu Mo was instantly dumbfounded, petrified on the spot.

---

“What? Attendant? Are you blackmailing me? I was only accidentally brought down by Black and White Impermanence. Saving you was entirely Old Master Xia’s idea. There’s no benefit for you in tying me up!”

“Hehe!”

Jiang Jingxue giggled mischievously, then declared sternly,

“For three thousand years, I’ve been confined in my father’s Judgment Palace, seeing no one but a few ghost servants. It’s boring to the point of madness! The world above is lush, beautiful, far more interesting than the underworld. Whatever happens, I must explore it properly!”

Gu Mo broke out in cold sweat as he grasped her meaning.

His eyes darted about, and he muttered inwardly,

‘This newly appointed King Yan is nothing but a recluse!

No way! For the sake of my own life, I’d better send her away as soon as possible. If the underworld’s envoys come looking, I won’t survive even nine deaths!’

With this in mind, Gu Mo grinned slyly and began to play along with the naive King Yan.

“Oh~ Honored King Yan, it is my greatest privilege to serve you! Where would you like to visit?”

“Hmmm...wherever there’s good food, that’s where I want to go!”

Gu Mo broke out in sweat again.

‘In any case, I’ll keep this silly girl happy for now, then slip away when the chance arises!’

So, Gu Mo stood up, grinned, and headed down the mountain...

Time spun by, and dusk soon approached.

After a whole day of wandering, Jiang Jingxue was like a runaway horse. The memories of the day were nothing if not embarrassing!

Since Jiang Jingxue could only taste mortal delicacies by possessing Gu Mo, she sampled almost everything in sight.

But Gu Mo bore the brunt—after all, a stomach has its limits. Stuffed with so many foods in such a short time, his body could hardly cope!

Even now, Gu Mo held a sausage in one hand, milk tea in the other, his round belly packed full of delicacies, even several boxes of digestive tablets couldn’t save him.

Thank goodness he had only taken Jiang Jingxue to the food street. If he had brought the ‘silly girl’ to the clothing mall, Gu Mo, clad in women’s clothes, would surely have been branded a pervert by the entire crowd!

Then, even eight mouths couldn’t explain his way out, and he might even be dragged off by the police!

He dared not imagine such a scene!

Left with no choice, Gu Mo could only grumble inwardly,

‘This silly girl has never seen the world; she wants to eat everything, play with everything. If this keeps up, she’ll run me ragged! No, I’d better get back to the shop, pack up, and escape!’

Then, a thought struck him—a perfect place.

‘Hehehe! Once I’ve packed up, I’ll head straight for Wutai Mountain; no underworld envoy or ghost soldier will find me there! Hahaha!’

So, dragging his exhausted body, Gu Mo returned to the incense shop. Gazing at the bronze lock on the door, he hesitated.

‘Grandpa Xia told me to lay low for now, and the underworld must be locked in battle. It’s unlikely the ghost soldiers or envoys will bother with me for a while, right?’

Little did he know, danger was already silently approaching from the darkness...