"Let's not joke about this, especially with words like that."
I stared coldly at the Emperor God. There was no wavering in his eyes as he spoke again.
"Hell's Eye opened because it sensed a new master. That is why it awakened. Hell itself is an immense containment mechanism—its existence defies all understanding. It has existed since my father's era, when humanity was absent. If I were to use a metaphor, Hell is like a boundless infernal pit, a wasteland of refuse and suffering."
I immediately stood up. The Hades Circle had said something similar before.
"Can you tell me exactly what that means?"
The Emperor God nodded and began to speak.
Long ago, after this world was created by all living things, life emerged—not only humans, but insects, fish, birds, beasts, flowers, trees, mountains, and rivers. Each possessed its own life force.
Even then, Hell existed. When insects, fish, birds, and beasts died, when flowers and trees withered, when mountains and rivers collapsed and dried up—all these changes unfolded steadily over time.
There is life and death in this world. The living exist beneath the sun, moon, and stars, while the dead are entombed far below. All the filth and corruption that arises in between ultimately flows into the Infernal Pit—known as Hell.
This realm is unlike any other—a monstrous, ever-expanding abyss, capable of swallowing all the world's refuse and sorrow.
This is the ancient Hell, and in such a Hell, there was no ruler. It was like the dark side of all things in nature—Hell existed from the beginning, as the shadow behind the light.
All of this has existed since the dawn of creation. To maintain the world's normal operation, Hell expanded infinitely. Everything became logical: the dead fall into Hell, and new life appears in the world.
Endless death, endless rebirth—all things followed this simple mechanism, constantly undergoing a transformation called nature. But everything changed with the arrival of humans.
The emergence of humans was unnatural, completely against the laws of nature. Perhaps the gods wanted to add a touch of novelty to this lively but dull world, so Mother Goddess Nuwa created humans.
I already know most of what happened afterwards. The Emperor God didn't dwell on it but began to talk about a major event that occurred after the death of the Wraithlord.
Because of the Wraithlord's immense power, even after death, he could not vanish. He reappeared in a form completely opposite to humans—a ghost.
With the birth of ghosts, Hell underwent an incomparable upheaval. Everything on the side of life, upon reaching its end, inevitably fell into Hell and became death. After the Wraithlord died, he naturally descended into Hell.
The moment the Wraithlord fell into Hell, he absorbed all the negative things there. For ghosts, this was the perfect nourishment—he grew even more terrifying than before.
Afterwards, the gods joined forces and finally managed to suppress the Wraithlord. They successfully separated his Three Souls and Seven Spirits, and the duty of guarding the Wraithlord fell to his three children.
The Wraithlord's three children bestowed special powers upon the gods and became the administrators of Hell. From that time on, Hell began to serve humanity most of the time.
After death, people fall into Hell. But because of the Wraithlord, Hell itself had already died—it no longer expanded infinitely, and the sunlit world also stopped growing.
This was a disaster for all living things. At that time, a rift appeared in Hell—a crack that would absorb and crush everything that entered.
Even the three who had fully mastered Hell were powerless. As the number of humans grew, they tried to turn Hell into a paradise for the dead, just like the world of the living.
At first, this worked perfectly—until the Rift appeared in Hell, and everything changed. The dead would fall directly into this crack and be completely crushed. The Rift was like a giant grinder, endlessly devouring the dead.
Even the Emperor God and the others themselves struggled against this extraordinarily devouring force. The three had no idea why this was happening.
Meanwhile, the once-thriving human population began to dwindle. To give birth to a human required vast, pure life force to forge the core of the soul.
The amount of life force needed for humans was so immense that after each birth, nearly all the world's energy was depleted. At that time, the living and dead realms were fixed in size, so the life force couldn't increase.
New life would die immediately, as there was simply not enough life force. To cope, the three used their powers to allow life force and death force to transform into each other, enabling reincarnation.
This promising development was disrupted by the rift at Hell's center.
Eventually, the three understood—the Rift appeared because the Wraithlord had absorbed a vast amount of Hell's power. To fill this void and stave off oblivion, Hell began to devour all dead things, like a monstrous maw endlessly consuming the lifeless.
All negative things became Hell's targets for consumption. To stop this, the three thought hard for a long time and finally found a solution.
With the combined power of Emperor God, Sylvia Yan, and Phantom Sage, they instantly gathered most of the world's vital energy—almost to the point of withering everything. Then they searched for ways to create more vital energy.
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Eventually, their methods worked. All things in the world began producing vital energy, even if only a little. But it was enough to allow humans to be born—a stroke of luck.
To feed Hell's hunger, the three devised a system: humans could not reincarnate endlessly. Instead, their deeds in life would be judged. There was a complete evaluation system—evil souls would suffer punishment in Hell, while the good could reincarnate directly.
The Hell I see now was born under these circumstances. The reason evil souls are punished isn't just for their crimes, but because the pain, sorrow, and despair they produce during torment serve to fill Hell's belly.
Gradually, a complete mechanism was established: good souls, when reincarnated, would generate life force; evil souls, when tormented, would generate death force. Balance was restored.
Because of the influence of vital and death energy, the rift in Hell gradually took on a physical form—it became an eye that could monitor life and death.
When Hell's Eye opens, it means there is a huge disparity between life and death. It signals that Hell is starving. People are constantly being born and punished, but this system of rewards and punishments can't change the hunger.
That's why the Ten Judges were chosen—the starving Hell, desperate for sustenance, sensed something and selected the Ten Judges as its administrators. The second opening of Hell's Eye was because of what Emperor God and the others did, which led to problems in Hell.
Afterwards, Hell recognized the Ten Judges as its administrators. Together with Ksitigarbha and Lady Meng, they established the Sixfold Cycle System above Hell.
The life force produced in this way continually cycles through the Sixfold Cycle, which perfectly carries the transformation between death force and life force. Those punished in Hell perfectly fulfill the task of feeding Hell's hunger.
Now, Hell's Eye has opened for the third time, which means this mechanism can no longer satisfy Hell's needs. Hell opened its eye because it saw a suitable new administrator appear.
"Impossible, hahaha."
I smiled helplessly.
"You don't need to fully understand everything I've said. But you must know this: when the number of humans and ghosts becomes drastically imbalanced, Hell's Eye will open. Because of the surge in ghosts, Hell began to expand, but the world of the living couldn't keep up. Since the beginning of creation, the numbers of life and death were set—their balance is what allows the cycle to function perfectly. The Sixfold Cycle System established by the Ten Judges has already surpassed both Hell and the world of the living. Although it confused Hell for a while, and they're trying to solve Hell's problems, Hell has noticed and wants to eliminate them, choosing a new master instead."
"What does that have to do with the three of us?"
I asked immediately, then took a sip of wine. I was half-skeptical about everything the Emperor God said—after all, I couldn't help but feel a sense of aversion toward these beings who had lived for countless ages.
"Origin, coexistence, and demise—if the three are combined, it's a perfect constitution. That's exactly what Hell needs now. So Hell chose you three as the next administrators. That's why the Ten Judges, Ksitigarbha, and Lady Meng are so anxious. They might succeed soon, eliminating this eternally starving Hell and relying on the Sixfold Cycle to control both realms."
I still shook my head.
"I'm not interested in any of this, and I doubt the other two are either."