Volume 1 : Path through Purgatory

Chapter 3 : The Trial of a Mortal

A splash of cold water roused Zhang Gui back to consciousness. His eyes flickered open with difficulty, the bright light was too harsh for them . Ever since he landed in this mess the atmosphere had always been gloomy and dull. A bleak grey white canvas reigned over the domain of the undead. To see such bright lights surprised him until he was reminded where he was.

“Ah, I should be in that Palace… What did that Wei person call it? … Was it Xue Palace?”

By the time his eyes fully adjusted to the lights he realized that I was lying on cold hard stone. The first figure he saw was of Old Lady Meng who was bent over his body with her ladle in hand. Surely she had used that very ladle to pour water over him. She had a grim look on her face, in fact, ever since he had started shouting out in the valley, her face had been covered in frowns. That kind old lady that smilingly poured tea for reincarnating souls was nowhere to be seen.

“How long do you plan to remain lying there? Failure to pay respects to the esteemed emissaries is a grave offence, you won’t be able to withstand the punishment.”

Zhang Gui had for the first time heard Lady Meng speak. Her shrill voice felt like it was pricking needles at his ear drums. Perhaps this unpleasant voice was the reason for her silent nature , such a pointless thought flitted through his mind before he tossed it aside and tried to get up. He tried but … he could not. His trembling legs could not bear the weight of his body. An ordinarily easy task had been made difficult because of the bashing he had received earlier. His bones were making unnatural creaking sounds while his muscles seemed to be tearing apart.

“Tsk...tsk… That bastard Wei, I curse his entire family to the ninth generation. If he has a daughter, I swear I will make her fall for me and then leave her.”

The cursing seemed to give him the strength to force his body to stand upright. Gritting his teeth , with one push he managed to straighten his legs.Just as he was about to stabilise himself on two legs, a force came crashing down on him forcing him to kneel down.

“You dog, To stand in front of His Majesty and the emissaries, have your guts grown by a thousand miles?”

Of course it was “Bastard Wei” himself.

One asked him to stand up, the other forced him to kneel down. Clearly these two were playing with him. Zhang Gui wanted to go off on a rant full of curses but his recent beatdown had made him fearful of ever provoking these monsters. He would of course never stop swearing at them, only all the swearing will be done internally. With this thought he forced a smile on his face and raised his head to take a measure of his surroundings.

He was kneeling at one end of a gigantic hall. The light that had pricked his eyes was coming off from thousands of round pearls embedded into the walls and the ceiling. Six huge pillars seemed to support the weight of this hall. It looked like both the pillars and the walls were made of gold. Truly, the hall was the very embodiment of the word extravagant. Faintly, he could make out the various scenes etched onto the pillars. But before he could focus on the details, a light hearted chuckle distracted his attraction towards the other end of the hall.

Seated upon majestic high rise thrones were three figures. A young looking man seated in the middle was the one chuckling with a mildly amusing look. The crown on his head and his royal garb spelled out his identity for Zhang Gui.

“Your Majesty finds this situation funny ?”

The fair middle-aged woman seated on the left throne was staring at the King with a pensive expression. Clad in pure white silky robes, she was perhaps one of the most beautiful women Zhang Gui has ever laid eyes on. Shockingly, even her hair was snow white in colour, tied up into a bun, it only added to her graceful aura. Her left hand held an exquisite looking white hand fan.

“Now, now Bi’an, His Majesty is just amused by the situation. After all, it's not everyday that a mortal is brought to us for trial.”

Seated on the right throne was a burly dark skinned man. The black robes he wore could not hide the bulging muscles underneath. His hands continually stroked a blood red spear which was resting against his throne. A hint of care and affection on his face was evident as he looked at the spear.

“Haha, Senior Wujia is not wrong. I was just surprised at the roughed up look of this youth. There are more bruises on his face than I had thought was possible. Minister Wei clearly lost his cool this time.”

As if he was already anticipating these words, “bastard Wei” walked forward towards the thrones and bowed down.

“This servant apologizes for his indiscretion and I am ready to receive any punishment His Majesty sees fit.”

“It's fine.No harm, no foul.”

Subsequently with a wave of his hand, the King enveloped Zhang Gui with a green glow. Almost instantly the green glow started showing its effectiveness. The bruises were all but gone. His body seemed to be brimming with energy. If one could see through his body at these bones they would see them being fixed at a remarkable speed.

Zhang Gui himself should have been shocked the most after feeling his body recover so easily. But his mind was in a turmoil of its own. His eyes kept on bouncing between the gorgeous lady and the burly man. As a story his mother used to tell him resounded in his mind, he realized that he recognized these people; The Yin General : Xie Bi’an and the Yang General : Fan Wujiu. These were the Yin-Yang Guardians of the Underworld!

These two were the shields of hell. The indomitable duo that swept across the Yellow Springs River and subdued the millions of Rakshasa residing within it. Serving directly under the Yama King , they were known as his left and right hands.

Needless to say, the young looking man smiling at him had to be the Yama King : Ruler of the Underworld! Even though the smile was as innocuous as it could be, just the pressure from his royal aura sent a chill down Zhang Gui’s back.

Zhang Gui truly felt small. Like a tiny ant trying to dodge the mighty steps of giants from crushing him to a pulp. Whether it was his fight with Bastard Wei or the miraculous green glow that the King had nonchalantly cast upon him, he had always been helpless. And this was not even considering the fact that almost everyone he saw turned to be a God-like existence. He started wondering whether his luck would be considered good or bad, being the only man amongst Gods.

“Very well, now that everyone is well and awake, We shall begin the trial against this youth. Zhang Gui from Earth, you have been accused of inciting a rebellion and treason against this Court. How do you plead ?”

“Oh it's definitely bad luck. One hundred percent it's bad luck. I just wanted to go home and now they say I incited a rebellion? I shouted a few words and now I am being accused of treason? Maybe one of these bastards is also the God of bad luck.”

Inwardly sighing at his awful fate, he was busy brainstorming for a way to get out of this predicament.Perhaps he could cry his eyes out seeking mercy. Or maybe he could blame it all on the “Vitality Thunder” , it was anyways that thing’s fault that the situation turned out the way it did. That treacherous thing, provoking him to declare independence and then leaving him stranded. He truly had a bone to pick with that “Vitality Thunder”.

But before he could even muster a defence for himself , his case was already doomed.

Of course it was his nemesis Bastard Wei. Walking up to the thrones ,he handed over a crystal ball and a book to the Yama King. The crystal ball was lustrous with a transparent surface. Soon, scenes involving Zhang Gui started playing on the surface of the crystal. From his declaration to the bloodbath at the Pond Of Reincarnation, all the way to his brutal fight with Minister Wei including the anticlimactic unveiling of the Vitality Thunder.

For the first time a frown could be seen on Yama King. Even the Yin-Yang Guardians had unpleasant expressions on their visage.They subsequently replayed the scenes once again only this time with the audio. The scowl on their faces and the occasional glare directed towards him made him feel incredibly uncomfortable. As if a heavy stone was sitting on his chest preventing him from breathing.

The Yang General then took the book that Minister Wei had presented to the Yama King. The book could only be described as ancient. With the black-brown thick leathery cover around it in tatters, this book had clearly seen quite a passage of time. He unceremoniously flipped through it once glancing at the contents briefly. With an hmph, he passed the book along to the Yama King and the Yin General who went through it just as he had.

“ I think We have seen enough to reach a judgement. This Seat finds the accused soul, Zhang Gui from Earth guilty! He shall be sentenced to suffer the agonies of the first Eight levels of the Eighteen levels of Naraka for a period of time not exceeding Nine Reincarnation Cycles.”

“Additionally, under my authority as the Tenth Court Yama King, Xue Zhuanlun, I decree his soul to be branded with the Heart Binding Curse.”

“Whaaaattttt? It's over already ?”

Zhang Gui wanted to protest or atleast plead for his case but before he could even move, a wooden ladle swiftly hit his head. And with a stupor, he blacked out ….. again.

And with that, a bizarre trial had come to an end. It ended without the defendant uttering a single word.It ended with a mortal soul sentenced to doom!