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“The King of Qinguang of the First Palace sent devil messengers with an urgent summons to Your Majesty to be present when the case is heard between the Three Orders: the Human Order, the Underworld Order and the Water Order. When I heard this I came here to meet Your Majesty. I arrived late, so I beg for forgiveness.”
“What is your name and position?” asked Taizong.
“When your humble servant was alive I used to serve His Late Majesty. I was magistrate of Cizhou, and later made vice-president of the Ministry of Rites. My name is Cui Jue. I have now been given office in the underworld as the judge in charge of cases at Fengdu.” Taizong, greatly delighted to learn this, went up to him and supported him with his imperial hands as he said, “Sir, you have made a long and exhausting journey. Wei Zheng, our minister, gave us a letter for you; how lucky that we have met.” The judge thanked him and asked where the letter was. Taizong produced it from his sleeve and handed it over to Cui Jue, who received it with a bow. When he opened it he saw that it read as follows:
Your Excellency, Metropolitan Judge, and Venerable Elder Brother Cui,
Remembering our former friendship; I still see and hear you as if you were alive; but many years have now flown by since I last received your pure instruction. On feast days I set out some vegetarian dishes as a sacrifice to you, but I have been unable to divine whether they are enjoyed by you. As I have the good fortune not to have been abandoned by you and you have appeared to me in dreams, I now know that my great elder brother has risen high. But, alas, there is a great gap between the worlds of darkness and of light, and we are unable to meet each other as we are each at different ends of the universe.
As the Cultured Emperor Taizong has recently passed away of a sudden illness it seems likely that his case will be discussed by the Three Orders, so that he is bound to meet you, elder brother. I beseech you to remember the friendship of the days when you were alive and give His Majesty such assistance as will enable him to return to the sunlight. This would be a great favour, and I shall write again to thank you. I ca
Your younger brother kowtows to you.
With affection,
Wei Zheng.
The judge was very pleased when he had read the letter. “I know about how the official Wei of the perso
As they were talking a pair of servant boys in black appeared, carrying ba
A myriad coloured veils of haze drifting about it,
A thousand wisps of red mist dimly appearing.
The flying eaves had monsters at their ends,
The matching tiles of the five roofs were gleaming bright.
Rows of golden studs were driven into the doors,
A length of whitest jade was placed across each threshold.
When the windows faced the light they glowed like the dawn;
Red lightning flashed from the lattice and the blinds.
The tower soared into the azure sky
While porticos led to sumptuous courtyards.
Incense from braziers shaped like beasts perfumed the royal robes;
The light from lanterns of purple gauze was thrown on palace fans.
To the left a row of ferocious bull-headed demons;
To the right were terrible horse-faced devils.
Those who escorted the spirits of the dead had golden tablets;
Those who summoned souls wore white sackcloth.
This place was called the assembly of the underworld,
The Palace of Yama, King of Hell.
As Taizong gazed at it from the outside, jade ornaments could be heard tinkling as they swung from the belts of officials, and rare perfumes could be smelt. In front were two pairs of attendants holding lanterns, and behind them the ten generations of kings of the underworld came down the steps. The ten kings were the King of Qinguang, the King of Chujiang, King Songdi, King Wuguan, King Yama, King Impartial, King of Mount Tai, the Metropolitan King, the King of Biancheng, and the King of the Ever-turning Wheel. They came out of the Senluo Palace and bowed to Taizong in greeting. Taizong felt too humble to go forward.
“Your Majesty is a monarch in the world of light, but we are only kings in the world of darkness. It is therefore only right that we should do this, so why this excessive modesty?”
“We have offended against Your Majesties,” replied Taizong, “so how can we venture to talk in terms of light and darkness, or men and ghosts?” After much yielding Taizong went into the Senluo Palace, and when they had finished bowing to each other they sat down as hosts and guest.
A moment later the King of Qinguang clasped his hands together and said, “Why is it that the ghost dragon of the River Jing has brought a case against Your Majesty, saying that he was executed despite your promise to save him?”
“I had a dream that an old dragon came to ask me to save him,” replied Taizong, “and I did in fact promise that he would come to no harm; but as it turned out his crime was a capital one, for which he was due to be beheaded by the minister in the perso
When the Ten Kings heard his statement they bowed and replied, “Even before that dragon was born it was written in the registers of the Southern Pole Star that he was destined to die at the hands of a perso