If the Ten Yama Kings accepted the East State's decree, then the Netherworld and Qi State would have a nominal relationship of subordination. A title was power; it established the bonds of ruler and subject.
Yang Xuance already wanted to chop off his own legs. Why had he walked into this hall?!
After taking refuge, what kind of power had he actually gained? Where was the freedom he had been promised?
Once a prince of Yang State, he had been a subject of Qi State, serving Linzi in all things, answering every summons to war, offering tribute every year. He had watched his homeland be devoured bit by bit. Generation after generation, the Yang Clan resisted, yet to no avail; in the end, they were swallowed whole. A state that had endured for dozens of generations became three prefectures of Qi State.
He too had drifted from place to place all these years, and only with great difficulty had he finally clung to a thigh that looked like a real thigh to cling to. So why was it that the moment he joined Yama Palace and became King Pingdeng, Grand Yama Lord of the Ninth Hall, Ksitigarbha was telling him that they still had to accept Qi State's decree?
What was the difference from Yang State?
After circling round and round, he was back where he had started. Fate was simply an absurd joke!
Once he had served Qi as a member of its royal house; now he served Qi as a god or ghost. Seas had turned to mulberry fields, the years had spun their wheel, yet Yang Xuance's original heart remained unchanged—he was merely waiting once again to be destroyed!
Of course, calmly speaking, there were differences.
In name, the Emperor of Yang State inherited the throne independently;