Chapter 636 - Bribery
Serene Darkness Mansion.
Zhong Yue, Qiu Jin'er, and the white Wu Chang was sitting in the hall with the judges and the officers accompanying them. The dancers were waltzing like butterflies in the hall center. Delicacies of Hell and the best wine were served on the table.
Some of the delicacies were even made from god spirits.
These godly spirits were pure and devoid of any resident souls. They were condensed into only three-inches and sprinkled with spices to be served as Hell's speciality.
One of the judges forked up a godly spirit and gladly devoured it.
"Nice, truly scrumptious!" He exclaimed.
Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er felt too uncomfortable to eat the godly spirits. Although Zhong Yue had heard from Xin Huo once saying monster god inner cores had been handpicked and served as delicacies long ago, consuming living godly spirits was a concept far too disgusting for him to accept.
Even the gluttonous Qiu Jin'er, who enjoyed delicacies more than anything, also couldn't stomach the concept.
"Come! Emissary Tianji, Emissary Buyu, Emissary Tianzheng, do eat some of Hell's best dish!" The judges laughed and said.
Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er exchanged a look, he then whispered to him through his psyche, "Jin'er, we have no choice but to eat. If we don't, we will be seen as declining their offer to take the same stand and they will see us as enemies."
Qiu Jin'er nodded in understanding. None of these judges are clean, they were all corrupt leaders of Hell but gaining their trust was the only way to survive.
Thus, Zhong Yue and company could only begrudgingly eat the godly spirits so that they could gain the trust of the other judges as fellow sinners.
Surely enough, such a political measure was a form of unspoken deal to everyone.
Now, the choice is solely theirs. Should they eat the godly spirits, the judges would treat them with more familiarity, but if they refused, the judges would have no choice but to kill them to cover up the rampant corruption in Hell.
Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er would've accepted any other method of proving themselves to the judges, but eating living godly spirits was approaching their bottom-line, especially when they were raw and uncooked.
Zhong Yue looked at the white Wu Chang who the judges referred to as Tianzheng, a name that was clearly made up as well. But even the white Wu Chang was hesitant to comply with eating the godly spirits.
Is he really a Hell Overseer, or a fake one just like us? Zhong Yue couldn't help but question his identity.
The 18 judges were staring closely at them, their eyes were as cold as ice and their bodies were poised to spring into action.
"Friends, as much as I would like to enjoy the feast with you, I actually prefer cooked food." Tianzheng said.
The judge with a lion body, Judge Bi Luo knocked on the table and shouted, "Guards! Fork up the godly spirits and grill them on the Hellfire for Brother Tianzheng!"
Immediately, a few guards walked up with a huge pitchfork and pierced three godly spirits at the tips. The godly spirits groaned and whimpered when grilled alive with the Hellfire.
Judge Bi Luo pointed the pitchfork right at the tip of Chang Tianzheng's nose, while he gave a bright smile, "The godly spirits are best served when they are cooked medium-rare."
Chang Tianzheng frowned and forced a godly spirit down his throat. Then, he turned to Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er with a smile, "I am not a good eater, I shall leave the rest to my dear two colleagues.
Zhong Yue instantly sterned up his face, "I am a vegetarian."
Zheng, zheng, zheng—
A series of sounds of blades unsheating themselves could be heard as the Hell guardians raised their weapons with killing intent.
Zhong Yue lamented in his heart while Chang Tianzheng gloated furtively, At least someone was accompanying me with the same suffering.
"Why must you be so troublesome?" Zhong Yue laughed aloud as he said, "I don't like godly spirits. However, I am somewhat fond of the gods' inner cores. I wonder if you have any of them at hand?"
The judge of Serene Darkness Mansion nodded softly, and the Hell guards immediately laughed happily, "Emissary, we are just playing around with our weapons!"
Zhong Yue heaved a breath of relief as he and Qiu Jin'er ate one godly inner core each. Then, he said to Chang Tianzheng, "Brother Tianzheng, thank you for the kind offer, but I guess you will have to keep the delicacies for yourself now."
After the feast, the dancers ebbed from the hall, and the judge of Serene Darkness Mansion clapped his hand while raising his voice, "After the feast, come the treasures! Bring them up!"
The Hell guards marched in lines into the hall and piled the treasures on the floor.
"30 godly grosgrains weaved by the Heaven Girls of the Shen Sang Celestial Race!"
"30 pieces of ape skin from the godly apes of the Ape Life Island!"
"One tributary to the Hell River!"
"9 Hell King Celestial Pearls and 9 Hell King DemonPearls!"
"10 bowls of Heaven Court's Heavenly Morning Dew and 10 bowls of Demon Underworld's Demonic Night Dew!"
"300 godly inner cores!"
One of the officers announced the treasures as they were sent in. The treasures were divided into 3 parts, one for each Hell Overseers, and it took almost half an hour for the treasures to be presented.
Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er were dumbfounded as they were bombarded by the enormous treasures that even ordinary Deity Overlords didn't have the qualifications to possess!
Surely enough, Hell's corruption was rooted in greed and bribery; every single Hell official was a beneficiary, especially the judges that held high posts in Hell.
Zhong Yue glanced around, the judges were smiling warmly at them, but the other officers and guards continued staring coldly with masked killing intent.
We are not Hell Overseers, and it'd be a waste to not take these free treasures! Hell's corruption is none of my business.
Zhong Yue gestured toward Qiu Jin'er, and they stepped forward to keep their treasures away while Chang Tianzheng did the same.
Immediately, the pressure in the hall dissipated, and jubilant laughter proceeded to fill the halls.
"Emissaries, when will you return to report to the higher-ups?" The Serene Soul Judge asked.
Zhong Yue, Qiu Jin'er, and Chang Tianzheng exchanged a look before answering, "If we return now, the higher-ups will know we were 'persuaded' to cover for the judges. Thus, we need to stay a little longer before we hand in our report. Also, we can't return empty-handed, a few political sacrifices are necessary, for the optics. If you have any enemies that you'd like to take out, then this is your chance to do so."
"Brother Tianji, you are thoughtful!" The judges praised.
For the next few days, the judges accommodated them in the Serene Soul Mansion, and they were followed closely by a few Hell officers everywhere they went.
But even so, that didn't ease the judges' hearts. They had invited the Hell Overseers to a feast every 3 to 5 days, one mansion after another. Zhong Yue, Qiu Jin'er and Chang Tianzheng were treated like royalty from the first mansion to the 18th mansion.
Every dish served was divine and greatly boosted Qiu Jin'er's prowess. She was now even closer to awakening her Innate Wood Spirit.
Even Zhong Yue's prowess was strengthened, pushing him a little further on his path of awakening his Sun Moon Twin Spirit and Innate True Soul.
The 18th and last Hell mansion was the A'Bi Mansion. After they finished the feast, Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er, accompanied by a few Hell officers, toured around the city. They strolled on the city walls and enjoyed the picturesque scenery.
Outside of the city, the floor was paved with a sea of stars, countless planets flowed and shrouded the nebula.
From afar, the nebula looked like a star observatory tower, but it was so unfathomably large that it even dwarfed the already huge A'Bi City..
The Bridge of Helplessness drew a beautiful arc across the starry sky, hovering across the 18 Hell mansions as it transported countless souls into the star observatory tower.
The star observatory tower was grand, and every star around it orbited it. Zhong Yue looked around, and his heart thumped all of a sudden as he mumbled in his heart,
"These stars… they are orbiting in a patterned sequence, just like the totem patterns of a teleportation portal? No, it looked similar, but something is different in it…"
"It's a teleportation portal, but only for the souls!" Xin Huo answered, "What a magnificent piece of work! A portal formed by the stars and planets!"
Zhong Yue's heart shuddered, he looked to the side and asked, "What is this?"
"The Reincarnation Station." The Hell officer beside him replied, "All of the souls will be reincarnated through this station. Whether you are reincarnated into the Heaven Realm, Earth Realm, Celestial Realm, Myriad Realm, Elemental Realm or Prison Realm, reincarnation can only be completed through this station. Emissary, if you direct your attention in that direction, you will see the Sea of Oblivion. Every soul will have to go through the sea and wash away all of their past memories before they are ready to be reincarnated."
Zhong Yue looked over and saw the Sea of Oblivion. It was bigger than a galaxy and floated in the starry space.
The sea water was produced by a strong existence through divine alchemy, a single drop was strong enough to wash away the memories of ordinary cultivators. However, the stronger gods had a certain degree of resistance toward it. There existed a possibility of awakening their past life memories after reincarnating.
That Hell Emperor, is he in the Sea of Oblivion? Zhong Yue thought.
"Where is the Abyss?" Zhong Yue suddenly asked.
"There!" The officer pointed at a glimmering pathway that led to a hole of darkness. The dark hole could absorb all light, and if it weren't for the totem patterns that were glimmering faintly around it, one couldn't even tell it existed at all.
"Although we are treated like kings here, we are not real Hell Overseers. The longer we stay, the higher the risk of exposure." Zhong Yue conducted his voice to Qiu Jin'er through his psyche, and he said, "We will rescue the man Bi and An requested, and leave right away after that!"