King Qin Guang was completely dumbfounded.
Sitting behind the desk where he had judged countless ghosts, he stared at the baby girl who was demanding her wages and bonuses with righteous indignation. His mind went blank.
Tongtian's daughter?
Since when did Master Tongtian have a daughter?
And even if he did, why would she come to the underworld to cause trouble—and demand that they pay her wages?
What kind of nonsense was this?
"Utter drivel!" King Qin Guang was, after all, the foremost of the Ten Kings of Hell. He quickly composed himself.
He slammed his gavel down and barked, "This is the underworld! How dare you, demon, run rampant here!"
"I don't care whose daughter you are. Trespassing in the underworld and assaulting our ghost guards are heinous crimes!"
"Guards!"
He tried to summon the ghost guards, only to realize Ox-Head and Horse-Face were still hanging on the wall, their lives hanging in the balance.
The other little ghosts in the hall had long since fled behind the pillars, trembling with fear. None dared come forward.
"What are you yelling for?" Xiruan scoffed, curling her lip. "Is this all the staff your company has? You don't even have one person who can fight."
She walked to the middle of the hall and looked around at her leisure.
"Tsk, tsk. You sure know how to live it up. The desk is made of blackwood, the brush has wolf-hair bristles, and even the floor is paved with soul jade."
"Looks like you've been skimming your employees' wages for years!"
King Qin Guang was so angry that his beard practically stood on end.
These were standard-issue items in the underworld. How had she turned them into evidence of corruption and embezzlement?
"You... You'd better stop slandering us!"
"Me, slander you?" Xiruan turned around and glared at him. "I'm asking you, have you kept a lot of Jie Sect disciples' True Spirits here after they died?"
King Qin Guang's heart jolted at her words.
So she had come for the True Spirits of those Jie Sect disciples.
He did know about this matter.
After the Investiture of the Gods campaign, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva had personally intervened, claiming that the Jie Sect disciples had incurred too much blood karma and needed to cleanse their sins in hell. He had held thousands of their True Spirits back from reincarnation.
Those Jie Sect disciples had then been sent to the Eighteen Levels of Hell and the City of the Wrongly Dead.
The Ten Yama Kings had felt that this was improper, but Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva was powerful and had the Two Saints of the West backing him. They hadn't dared say anything, choosing instead to turn a blind eye.
They never expected the person in question to show up today—and as an unreasonable little menace, no less!
King Qin Guang started to feel a headache coming on.
Ksitigarbha had done it, but the blame would fall on them at Yama's Palace.
"This matter..." King Qin Guang's eyes shifted as he decided to pass the buck. "This was Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's decision. It had nothing to do with us."
"Their True Spirits are all at Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's ashram, under his supervision."
"Ksitigarbha?" Xiruan frowned, her little brows knitting together at the name. "Another one from that bald company?"
"That's right, that's right!" King Qin Guang hurriedly nodded. "Every wrong has its perpetrator, and every debt its debtor. If you're looking for someone, you should go to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. You shouldn't come cause trouble at Yama's Palace!"
"Oh, really?" Xiruan tilted her little head as she watched him. "So your company just rented the premises to that bald company and let them run an illegal factory here?"
"Then you're accomplices too, aren't you?"
King Qin Guang: "..."
How did this little thing's mind work? How could her logic be so bizarre?
Just then,
a commotion rose outside the hall.
"Big Brother, what happened? Who dares make a scene at Yama's Palace?"
Several streaks of light flashed by. King Chujiang, King Songdi, King Wuguan, and the other kings from the nine halls all hurried over after hearing the commotion.
As soon as they entered the hall, they saw Ox-Head and Horse-Face hanging on the wall, and a little girl with a baby bottle standing off against King Qin Guang. They all froze.
"What... What's going on?"
Seeing his brothers arrive, King Qin Guang immediately felt emboldened. He hurriedly recounted what had happened, embellishing the story as he went.
The other Nine Kings of Hell were all furious when they heard him.
"Outrageous!"
"How dare a little girl come to raise hell in our underworld!"
"Big Brother, why waste words on her? The ten of us can join forces and form the Ten Kings of Hell Formation to subdue her!"
King Zhuanlun had the shortest fuse. He was ready to attack right away.
The Ten Kings of Hell were all Da Luo Golden Immortals.
The formation they could create together was so powerful that even a quasi-sage might struggle to gain the upper hand.
"Good! Let her learn that the dignity of the underworld is not to be challenged!"
King Qin Guang made up his mind, too.
If they didn't take this little thing down today, the Ten Kings of Hell would lose all face!
In an instant, ten torrents of yin energy erupted from the kings, and Yama's Palace began to shake violently.
Holy Mother Wudang's expression changed. She stepped in front of Xiruan.
"Be careful, senior!"
"I'm fine, Auntie." Xiruan patted her arm, looking completely unconcerned.
"Oh? Calling for backup?"
"Perfect. I'll take out all you managers at once and save myself the trouble of tracking you down one by one!"
She raised the Chaos Baby Bottle high above her head.
"Today, I'll show you what violent debt collection means!"
Just as the battle was about to begin,
a gentle yet supremely authoritative Buddhist Chant came from the deepest part of the underworld.
"Amitabha."
"Until hell is empty, I shall not become a Buddha."
"Which benefactor disturbs the underworld's peace?"
A brilliant Buddha Light pierced through the layers of yin energy and shone into Yanluo Palace.
Wearing a kasaya and exuding a dignified aura, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva slowly emerged from the light, riding a strange beast that looked like a lion.
"Ha! Speak of the devil!"
Xiruan pointed at Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva and shouted to the Ten Kings of Hell:
"Look! That bald crook! He's the boss of the illegal factory!"
"He came right to us!"
The Ten Kings of Hell were startled when Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva appeared. Then they all felt relieved.
The person responsible was here!
Good. Now they could finally pass the buck!
King Qin Guang immediately cupped his hands toward Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. "Bodhisattva, you've come at just the right time."
"This girl claims to be Master Tongtian's daughter. She came to cause a commotion at Yama's Palace over the Jie Sect True Spirits, and we were about to take her down!"
He had chosen his words carefully.
He had identified Xiruan and explained why she had come, while casting himself as a righteous defender of order in the underworld.
What he meant was: Bodhisattva, this is your problem. You deal with it.
Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's gaze fell on Xiruan, and his brows drew together slightly.
Master Tongtian's daughter?
He made a divination, but the secrets of heaven were shrouded in chaos. He couldn't discern anything about the girl's origins.
However, Diting, the mount beneath him, suddenly let out an uneasy, low whimper.
Diting was an ancient divine beast, capable of discerning all things in the world and especially skilled at hearing people's hearts.
From the tiny girl before him, he sensed something that made even his soul tremble with... overwhelming terror!
"Bodhisattva, this girl... cannot be fought head-on!" Diting hurriedly sent him a telepathic message.
Ksitigarbha's heart tightened at those words.
Diting never lied.
A being who could make even Diting afraid was no ordinary person.
It seemed that Master Tongtian had indeed left something in reserve when he was imprisoned in Zixiao Palace.
However, Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva was no ordinary figure either.
He bore the Two Saints of the West's charge to guard the underworld and spread Buddhist teachings, accumulating boundless merit.
He was confident that even if she was a safeguard left by a Saint, he might still be able to fight her here in the underworld.
Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva looked at Xiruan with a compassionate smile and spoke gently:
"Young Benefactor, I am Ksitigarbha. The Jie Sect True Spirits you mentioned are indeed in my care."
"They incurred too much blood karma and were filled with resentment. If they entered reincarnation directly, they might taint the Great Dao of Reincarnation."
"I kept them in hell so that they could listen to sutras day and night, cleanse their sins, and attain liberation sooner. This is a great act of compassion and merit."
The Ten Kings of Hell nodded to themselves as they listened, thinking that the Bodhisattva certainly knew how to make things sound good.
But as soon as Xiruan heard him out, she spat, "Pah!" She pointed at Ksitigarbha, her little face full of scorn.
"Like I'd believe a word you said! You bald guys are all rotten!"
"That's exactly what the good-for-nothing in our village said when he stole someone's chickens and claimed he was helping them through a tribulation!"
"Cleansing their sins?"
"I say you're trying to brainwash our employees and turn them all into your company's unpaid labor!"
"Enough talk!" Xiruan slung the baby bottle over her shoulder. "Today, either you hand them over and pay us a big sum in emotional damages!"
"Or I'll beat you, the boss of this illegal factory, and those ten crooked foremen under you until you agree!"
The smile on Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's face finally stiffened.
He realized there was no reasoning with this little girl. Her logic followed its own rules and was practically unbreakable.
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