Chapter 514: Chapter 513: Torments of Hell, Cycle of Reincarnation in the Animal Realm

“King Yama said that Sumeru has saved Jiuzhou several times, thus amassing an abundant amount of merit, however, it is also a fact that he has killed nine million people, with his karma elevating to a ridiculous level.”

“Merit and karma cannot cancel each other out. Calculating both merits and crimes, Sumeru needs to endure various types of torture in hell to clear his karma, only then will he be eligible to reincarnate in the human realm.”

“Furthermore, his morality does not pass the test, though he is the only immortal in the past nine thousand years, he cannot stay in the Underworld as a ghost officer, he can only reincarnate in the human cycle.”

“After hearing this, Buddha Long Eyebrow appealed to the Underworld. He asked if he could take the punishment on Sumeru’s behalf to lessen Sumeru’s penalties. The Underworld agreed, allowing Buddha Long Eyebrow to reincarnate in the cycle of beasts, and even informed Sumeru of this arrangement.”

The female ghost officer on the side explained: “The goal isn’t to make Buddha Long Eyebrow suffer. He can’t substitute for Sumeru’s punishment. Our goal is to let Sumeru know that his master is suffering because of him.”

“Sumeru is being tortured in hell, suffering physical pain. By letting him know that his master is reincarnating because of him, he’s also suffering mental pain. Suffering physically and mentally could reduce his time in hell by half.”

“Whenever Sumeru emerges from hell, that’s when Buddha Long Eyebrow will be liberated from reincarnating in the cycle of beasts.”

“Every time after Buddha Long Eyebrow passes away, we ask him if he’s willing to continue being a beast, to be used as food by humans. If he’s unwilling, he can return to the human realm at any time.”

“However, every time Buddha Long Eyebrow chooses to continue reincarnating in the animal realm, and we keep informing Sumeru of this, causing him to continue suffering internally.”

“So, how much longer does Elder Sumeru need to stay in hell?” Jiang Li asked.

“Two million years.”

Jiang Li was taken aback, “That’s it?”

At first, two million years sounds like a lot, but Elder Sumeru has killed nine million people. This is already a halved sentence. Calculating it, it seems like killing one person would result in a half-year sentence in hell to clear karma.

“You can’t calculate it like that.” The female ghost officer pointed out Jiang Li’s wrong thinking. “Sumeru killed people from the Emperor of Heaven Origin’s city, a place infested with evil people. Some people deserved to be killed, and killing these people would actually add to Sumeru’s merit.”

“So that’s how it is.”

Jiang Li reflected for a moment, then turned his gaze towards Qing Luo, the 52nd Human Emperor.

“Human Emperor Qing, although I haven’t met you, I was able to glimpse a part of your past grandeur from Old Dragon King.”

“Old Dragon King? Oh, you mean Ao Yi. So, he’s still mimicking me?”

“Indeed, not only in behavior, but also in cultivation.”

Qing Luo was taken aback, her beautiful eyes widened, “He has reached the Transcendance Tribulation Stage?”

“This morning.”

“He made a pair with Captain Liu, one broke through to the Transcendance Tribulation Stage, the other became an Immortal.” Human Emperor Lu teased.

“Still, it took them more than an hour apart.”

“Is that true or false, can I trust you?” Human Emperor Lu looked Jiang Li up and down.

“Lu senior, you still don’t know me, when have I ever lied?” Jiang Li stated firmly.

“Little Lu, you’re in the wrong here. This child looks sincere, how could you doubt him?”

“I can read faces, this child is honest.”

“Little Li is law-abiding, how could he lie?”

The Human Emperors defended Jiang Li one by one.

“Nonsense, he and Bai Hongtu have never told the truth. When these two are together, not a single word can be trusted, even trusting a punctuation mark could lead to deception!”

Human Emperor Lu still remembered searching the entire night for ‘Celestial World Anecdotes’ and the Treasure Gathering Immortal in Sutra Collection Pavilion.

It was one thing for them to deceive the candidate for the Human Emperor, but they even deceived him.

“And you, when did you start reading faces!” Human Emperor Lu stomped his foot.

“Alright, alright, Lu senior, let me tell you another piece of good news.”

“What is it?” Human Emperor Lu turned his head away, sulking, not wanting to pay attention to Jiang Li.

“Bai Hongtu has developed a Spirit Plant array that mobilizes the power of the entire Jiuzhou, it can grant him the power of a Heavenly Immortal. Even without my intervention, Jiuzhou doesn’t have to worry about being attacked by Earth Immortals.”

Seeing Human Emperor Lu still turning his head silent, Jiang Li walked over to him, only to see Human Emperor Lu trying to suppress his laughter.

Looking at Jiang Li’s face, Human Emperor Lu finally couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.

After laughing, Emperor Lu commented sternly: “Hmm, that young fellow Bai Hongtu does have a lot of tricks, it’s good that he finally put his brain to proper use.”

Emperor Yuan Shang highly appreciated Bai Hongtu’s initiative: “If only there had been a Spirit Plant array in my era, there would have been nothing to fear from mere Earth Immortals.”

The other Human Emperors nodded in agreement, only regretting that there wasn’t such a genius as Bai Hongtu in their time.

Only Jiang Li had a different opinion: “It couldn’t have been earlier. If the Immortal Realm knew that Jiuzhou had the power to upgrade to a Heavenly Immortal, they would focus on dealing with us, and might not even be able to hold out until my appearance.”

Jiang Li was right. If Du Ye, the grandmaster, knew that Jiuzhou had a Spirit Plant array, he would upgrade Jiuzhou’s threat level and design other plans, accelerating Jiuzhou’s downfall.

Jiang Li stayed with Human Emperor Lu for a long time. The Human Emperors reminisced about the past glory of Jiuzhou, talked about family matters, and discussed the Immortal Realm and the Mahayana stage.

“I was wondering why I couldn’t break through the Mahayana stage, it turns out it was all made up by the Immortal Elder.” Yuan Shang slapped his thigh, wanting to find the Immortal Elder for a chat.

“The Immortal Elder is really good at making things up. He created an entire race of Heavenly Demons, even talked about their origins and their cultivation methods, leaving me all muddled. If it wasn’t for the Underworld telling me there are no Heavenly Demons, I would still believe that I was killing Heavenly Demons!”

The Human Emperors empathized and nodded in unison. The Immortal Elder looked so kind, yet he was so good at deceiving people. The whole Jiuzhou was fooled by the Mahayana Stage and the Heavenly Demons for nine thousand years.

They only found out the truth at their death’s door.

Wait, didn’t they just mention someone who looked honest?

After the laughter and joking, Yuan Shang reflected: “The Immortal Elder also doesn’t have it easy. He fabricated lies wholeheartedly, giving us an illusory hope. If it wasn’t for the Immortal Elder, Jiuzhou would perhaps have been destroyed by internal strife alone.”

As Yuan Shang was familiar with the situation back then, he knew that the Immortal Elder had no choice but to lie.

If he were the Immortal Elder, he definitely wouldn’t be able to take it to this level.

“We thought we had hope and were always striving. The Immortal elder knew the truth, but he still gave us hope. No wonder he suddenly aged, as they say, the heart and mind dictate the body.”

Jiang Li laughed: “Now the Immortal Elder is much better. With me, the strongest war potential, he doesn’t have to fabricate hope anymore, nor does he have to worry about the threat of the Immortal realm. I am the hope of Jiuzhou.”

“Not to mention, the Red Dust fairy has been resurrected, the Immortal Elder is constantly trying to sneak into the Pure Land of Red Dust every day.”

“What? The Red Dust Fairy has been resurrected?” This is big news, the Red Dust Fairy has been hailed as the embodiment of the beauty of Heavenly Dao. As the Heavenly Dao has now gained intelligence, it’s inevitable to think more about it.

The female ghost officer, who had been quietly listening to Jiang Li and his seniors’ conversation, said, “I did hear the Dao Ancestor mention something about the Red Dust Fairy.”

Jiang Li turned his head: “What did Dao Ancestor say?”

The female ghost officer said: “He said that the reason Heavenly Dao gained intelligence is due to the prayers of all living beings, asking the heavens to open their eyes. The Heavenly Dao responded to the desires of the beings and reacted accordingly.”

“Heavenly Dao divided into many, creating multiple incarnations, each representing the beauty, strength, wisdom, order, and enlightenment of Heavenly Dao, etc.”

“These incarnations wander the world, observing the sufferings of all living beings in various realms. The thoughts of these incarnations return to heaven, and with the convergence of numerous thoughts, the Heavenly Dao makes decisions, gains intelligence, and saves the world.”

“Finally, the Dao Ancestor said that these were all conjectures, not necessarily correct. Since ancient times, the intentions of heaven are hard to fathom, and even the Heavenly Dao has means that he cannot comprehend.”