Journey to the West: I have Nine Golden Crows Inside Me
Chapter 1094: Seven eighty-three, the noble yin god

Chapter 1094: Seven eighty-three, the noble yin god

The Heaven Court naturally was not willing to see the Underworld occupied by the Buddhist door, thus, these two major forces began a protracted power struggle surrounding the Underworld.

The reason for such chaos in the Underworld, with frequent changes at the top levels, mainly stemmed from the rivalry between the Heaven Court and the Buddhist door.

If a person from the Buddhist door was in power, they would inevitably face Heaven Court’s targeting, and vice versa—if a person from the Heaven Court held power, they would face the Buddhist door’s targeting. In such a scenario, who could last long?

"The situation in the Underworld has stabilized quite a bit recently, probably all thanks to me."

Jiang Chen’s face retained its strange expression as he withdrew his gaze.

The Underworld had recently been very peaceful, extremely so. The Heaven Court seemed to have overlooked the Underworld, and the Buddhist door was too preoccupied to bother with it, resulting in the Underworld falling into a tranquility it had not known for a long time.

And, in the end, this was all thanks to Jiang Chen’s efforts.

Because Jiang Chen had plotted the downfall of the fake Buddha on Spiritual Mountain, causing the Buddhist door to completely lose its footing in the Underworld, the Heaven Court consequently gained the upper hand.

However, a problem arose. Apart from being the new master of the Buddhist door, Jiang Chen was also a major figure in the Heaven Court—to some extent, Jiang Chen could be called the third most important person in the Heaven Court.

The Jade Emperor was the boss, the Queen Mother was second in command, and Jiang Chen was third.

The logic was simple, for besides the Jade Emperor and the Queen Mother, only Jiang Chen could command the heavenly gods. Thus, while Jiang Chen’s official title in the Heaven Court might not be the third highest, his power most certainly was.

With Jiang Chen wielding such great power, other major figures in the Heaven Court dared not offend him and, before he made his stance clear, they hesitated to touch the reins of power in the Underworld.

If these two dominant powers, the Buddhist door and the Heaven Court, dared not interfere with the Underworld, naturally, even less so would the other forces.

It was under these strange circumstances that the Underworld finally welcomed a long-absent peace. The ten kings of hell diligently performed their duties, organizing the Underworld’s operations into smooth order.

Indeed, it could even be said that since the appointment of the ten kings, never before had they been so dutiful; not only were rewards and punishments clear-cut, but they were also unequivocally impartial.

The ten kings of hell had no choice—being ignored did not mean they were safe; this could be the calm before the storm.

In secret, who knows how many eyes were watching them, ready to make them the first to bear the brunt should the situation change, reducing them to cannon fodder.

Fearing an undignified and obscure death, the ten kings of hell were naturally trying their best to perform, hoping to earn some merit to save their skin at the critical moment.

Being immortal has one great advantage: as long as one does their job well, they can earn merit, which is akin to a salary issued by the Heavenly Dao.

Why do many lower-level immortals like being gods and enter the Heaven Court as their career? The goal is to seek merit.

Among the gods, especially those of the Underworld, it was the easiest to accumulate merit. The ten kings of hell were in charge of the reincarnation of the Underworld, a role of utmost importance. Perform well, and one could earn a large amount of merit every day.

Basically, by fulfilling their duties diligently for ten thousand years, the merit earned would be sufficient to elevate the ten kings to the Innate Dao Monarch realm. If they remained diligent for one million years, then it wouldn’t be difficult to become an Innate Dao Venerable.

This would be an Innate Dao Venerable who has proven the Tao with merit, a very prestigious identity. Quasi-Saints would have to call them a fellow Taoist when meeting them, and even Saints would have to treat them with respect.

In the Ancient Era, when Mother Earth was in charge of the reincarnation of Heaven and Earth, although there were no judges of hell like the Yama, there were similar positions that were very noble divine posts.

One could say that these divine posts were even coveted by the great transcendents of the Mystic Sect. Even Saints could not guarantee that all their disciples would cultivate to the realm of the Innate Dao Venerable. Therefore, many great transcendents had secretly asked Mother Earth for favors to secure a future for their disciples.

Merit was useless to the Witch Clan; faced with the earnest requests from the great transcendents, Mother Earth did not refuse, but simply gave away these divine posts as favors.

The consequence of this was that many great transcendents owed Mother Earth favors, which later contributed to her good reputation and popularity; surely, this was not unrelated.

It was only after the great changes in Heaven and Earth, and Mother Earth’s withdrawal from the world, that this situation came to an end.

The positions of the ten kings of hell were so important, reputed as the most noble in Heaven and Earth, that in theory, everyone should be vying to hold these posts. Yet nowadays, they become the lowest of offices, which goes to show the times have changed, and moral values have declined; the purity of heart is no longer what it once was.

In the past when Mother Earth was in power, who would dare to meddle with the operations of reincarnation? Wishing for death? Hence, the gods of the Underworld could justly enforce laws and collect a large amount of merit every day.

Latterly, when the Underworld was in power, it was simply an administrative organ under the Heaven Court. Since the Heaven Court itself could not intimidate the Three Realms, much less could the Underworld. Consequently, various forces meddled with the affairs of reincarnation, seeking benefits for themselves.

The Underworld’s power was weak, and faced with the demands of other forces, it dared not refuse. As a result, the authority of the Underworld was lost. No longer able to enforce justice impartially, it inevitably became disconnected from all that was noble, and its gods fell to a low position, no longer able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the heavenly gods.

The status of the Underworld’s gods fell from being above the heavenly gods to below them, which could be succinctly summed up as: poor backing!

The Heavenly Dao is supremely fair—if a deity performs well, they can earn merit; likewise, if they perform poorly, they will be punished. The more one takes, the more they will be punished.

The ten kings of hell hold power over the reincarnation of all things; their authority is extremely heavy. Done well, they can earn boundless merit and might even aspire to become Innate Dao Venerables in the future, but if done poorly, they’ll face a fate of Neverending Calamity.