Expounding What People Desire, the Kings Raise Objections

"Good outweighs evil, yet the sin is not small? What kind of logic is that? How can there be such a saying? Could it be that in this King of Hell's Hall, evil is praised and good condemned instead of evil punished and good rewarded?"

Hearing this unexpected declaration that defied all common sense, Li Kun's pride as the Human Emperor finally showed itself. His string of questions rose louder and louder, each one ringing like a hammer striking the ground.

Yet the man seated high above, wreathed in black mist, remained unmoved. Instead, he sneered and asked, "King of Hell's Hall? You have mistaken the place. This is not somewhere like that. And you think we are praising evil and condemning good? Then let me ask you: what is good? What is evil?"

Li Kun was stumped by the question and, for a moment, could not respond.

What was good? What was evil?

He had scarcely ever considered such a question. The reason was simple: the distinction between good and evil lay in people's hearts. Everyone had their own scales, and whether an act was good or evil seemed plain at a glance. Few people bothered to define precisely how it should be judged, or which deeds were good and which were evil.

"Can't answer?" The man in black mist still sneered. "Then let me tell you. Good is artifice. Transforming Nature and Developing Artifice—that is what you people, who think yourselves superior to others, use words, organizations, and habits to do: forcibly twist the innate nature of living beings and instill concepts into them. That is how good and evil came to be. And so-called evil is precisely human nature!" "This..." Caught off guard by the retort, Li Kun did not know how to react. He felt that