When Ksitigarbha looked over there, he saw the eighteen levels of hell standing out one after another, with the sounds of ghosts wailing and howling coming from each level. Even Ksitigarbha couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.
Ksitigarbha glanced at it blankly, then turned to look at the six Venerable Ones of Rebirth, about to say something, when the person who had spoken earlier shouted, "Aren't you going? What are you standing there for?"
With a loud shout, Ksitigarbha was so startled that he broke out in a cold sweat. Without thinking twice, he headed straight for the eighteen levels of hell.
After Ksitigarbha left, the Venerable One of Rebirth who had spoken suddenly smiled and said to one of the people beside him, "The method taught by the master is really effective." After saying that, the six of them burst into laughter.
Now, Ksitigarbha arrived at the eighteen levels of hell, and each level he saw was more horrific than the last. Heaven's way is impartial, its rewards and punishments clear; these eighteen levels of hell were established for punishment. Each level was a vast, gray expanse, its size indistinguishable, surrounded by an endless sea of blood, where countless souls howled and struggled. These eighteen levels of hell are: the Hell of Tongue-Pulling, the Hell of Scissors, the Hell of Iron Trees, the Hell of the Mirror of Retribution, the Hell of Steaming Cages, the Hell of Copper Pillars, the Hell of Knives, the Hell of Ice Mountains, the Hell of Oil Cauldrons, the Hell of Ox Pit, the Hell of Stone Pressing, the Hell of Mortar and Pestle, the Hell of Blood Pools, the Hell of Unjust Death, the Hell of Crucifixion, the Hell of Volcanoes, the Hell of Stone Mills, and the Hell of Saws and Knives.
Hell is filled with people who committed great sins in the human world. After death, their souls come to the underworld and are judged by Yama, who sends them to the eighteen levels of hell to be punished. They are sent to one level according to the severity of their sins, and can only be reincarnated after their punishment is completed.
The cruelty of the punishments in this hellish realm allowed Ksitigarbha to witness much of it. Along the way, he realized that if he could help the evil spirits within these eighteen levels of hell, it would be a good thing. Having made this discovery, Ksitigarbha resolved that after traversing all eighteen levels, he would sit cross-legged in the final level, the Hell of Knives and Saws, with his hands clasped together, holding up the golden banner, a spiritual treasure acquired through practice, and chanting: "Namo Amitabha Buddha, I, Ksitigarbha, out of compassion for the suffering of sentient beings in the cycle of rebirth, hereby make this great vow: 'I will not attain Buddhahood until all sentient beings are liberated; I will not become a Buddha until hell is empty.'"
The sound of Ksitigarbha's voice instantly resounded throughout the Three Realms, heard by all sentient beings. Moved by Ksitigarbha's great vow to be freed from the suffering of reincarnation, all beings bowed in unison towards the direction of hell, chanting, "Namo Great Vow Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva!" At that moment, a seven-colored ray of merit suddenly shone down from the sky, illuminating Ksitigarbha. Ksitigarbha, already possessing the cultivation of a late-stage Great Luo Golden Immortal, was stimulated by this merit. A figure flew from his body, and a relic appeared on his head; Ksitigarbha had ascended to the Quasi-Saint realm. After Jieyin and Zhunti converted Western Buddhism to Buddhism, the relic on their heads was equivalent to a lotus flower in the Three Pure Ones of Taoism.
Suddenly, another loud roar was heard from the horizon, and a colossal creature flew towards Ksitigarbha. It was none other than Di Ting, a mythical beast from the Three Realms. Di Ting could hear all things in the world with its two ears, but it was ferocious by nature, feeding on the ghosts of the underworld and causing trouble there all the time. Today, moved by Ksitigarbha's great vow, it came to offer itself as his mount.
Ksitigarbha's spiritual cultivation had greatly advanced. He calculated with his fingers and learned the origin of the Di Ting. He smiled slightly and said, "Come, stop doing evil and come with me to deliver the souls of the dead!" The Di Ting respectfully knelt beside Ksitigarbha.
Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva recited: "This virtuous man possesses immeasurable, countless, inconceivable, and supreme merits. He is always diligent and strives to benefit and bring happiness to all sentient beings. In the past, before countless Buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, he made a vow of great compassion, firmness, courage, diligence, and inexhaustible effort for the sake of benefiting and bringing happiness to all sentient beings. Due to the power of this vow of great compassion, firmness, courage, diligence, and inexhaustible effort, he can, in a single day and night, or even for the time it takes to eat a meal, liberate countless hundreds of thousands of konasyutas of sentient beings from all kinds of sorrows and sufferings, and fulfill all their desires for the Dharma."
Ksitigarbha has now reached the Quasi-Saint realm, and his power is far beyond what he was at the late Golden Immortal stage. In an instant, golden light filled the entire hell, and all the ghosts in hell who had not yet been delivered flew westward to become the Eight Heavenly Dragons of the West.
The fact that Ksitigarbha made such a great vow was naturally known to everyone in the underworld. The Ten Kings of Hell immediately gathered to discuss countermeasures. King Qin Guang said, "These Buddhist people are really too hateful. They actually came to my underworld to cause trouble."
Emperor Song also said, "That's right. Why didn't they come to help when you established the Underworld? Now that they see the Underworld prospering and benefiting from it, they've all become unusually diligent."
King Yama said, "In that case, we must think of a way. It is our duty to entrust this underworld to us, since you have entrusted it to us."
King Pingdeng laughed and said, "If Ksitigarbha were to peacefully perform rituals for the evil spirits in the Yin Mountains, that would be fine. However, the eighteen levels of hell are important administrative areas of the underworld. Now that Ksitigarbha is performing rituals in the eighteen levels of hell, he is disrupting the normal operation of the underworld and going against the way of heaven. Therefore, we naturally have an excuse to deal with him."
King Wheel of Reincarnation laughed and said, "No rush, no rush. Think about it, why doesn't Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva save evil spirits in Yinshan, but instead runs to the eighteen levels of hell?"
Upon hearing this, all the Yama Kings began to calculate silently. Suddenly, they all burst into laughter.
King Yama laughed and said, "Your Majesty is indeed a master strategist. I never expected that a mere trick would deceive Ksitigarbha."
Originally, Ksitigarbha was supposed to make a great vow on Yin Mountain so that he could later deliver the souls of the dead there. However, when Ksitigarbha arrived at Yin Mountain, he encountered the Six Venerable Ones of Rebirth. He was scolded by the Venerable Ones of Rebirth and became somewhat confused. Little did he know that the Six Venerable Ones of Rebirth had already received the decree of Xuan Tian. When they saw Ksitigarbha, they used a small magic spell, a very common one, the spell of bewitching the mind, but it was cast using Buddhist teachings.
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