They say that Taizong’s soul, confused, came to the front of Five Phoenix Tower and saw the imperial chariot in procession with the generals on horseback awaiting him to join a hunting trip. Taizong happily agreed and floated over to join the parade. After traveling for some time, the men and horses suddenly disappeared. He found himself alone in a desolate place. As he was searching frantically for the road, he saw someone off to one side calling loudly, “Emperor of Tang, come this way! Come this way!”
The Emperor looked up and saw a man with his head covered in black muslin with a billowing sash and a belt of rhinoceros horns around his waist hiding a golden box. His hands held an ivory tablet and he wore a gauze robe. Auspicious light emanated from his person. Clouds swelled beneath his boots. Peeking out of his robe was a register of life and death that foretold one’s fate. His hair was fine and frizzy above his ears; his beard danced about his cheeks. In past years he was a minister of Tang, now his hands serve the King of Hell.
Taizong walked over and the man knelt and bowed, saying, “Your Majesty, forgive me for not receiving you sooner!”
“Who are you,” Taizong asked, “and why have you come to to receive me?”
The man replied, “Half a month past, the spirit of the Jing River Dragon King stood in the court of Senluo Palace and accused your Majesty of promising to save his life and then reneging on that promise, resulting in his death. King Qinguang of the first palace sent spirits to summon your Majesty so you could defend yourself in court. Your servant knew this, and so came here to await and receive you. However, today I have come late, and beg your forgiveness.”
“What’s your name?” Taizong inquired. “What position do you hold?”
“In past days,” the man replied, “your humble servant Cui Gui served the late emperor in the world of the living as a magistrate in Zizhou. After that, I was the vice-minister of the Ministry of Rites. Now in the world of the dead, I am a legal magistrate of Fengdu.”1
Taizong heard this with gladness and took the man by the arm, saying, “Sir came a long way. We have a letter from Wei Zheng for you, what luck that we should meet!” Taizong pulled the letter from his sleeve and gave it to Cui Gui, who thanked the Emperor and unfolded it to see. The letter read:
Your unworthy younger brother Wei Zheng sends esteemed greetings via this letter to my Elder Brother Cui. In my memories of our friendship, it is as if I can still see your face and hear your voice. It has been several years since I have had the privilege of hearing your brilliant debates. I do not know if you are enjoying the vegetable offerings I place at your shrine on holidays? I saw in a dream that my Brother has received a promotion, and I am glad to know you have not forgotten me. I sorrow that the worlds of light and darkness are separated by a distance as wide as the heavens and that we cannot meet face to face. Today, my Emperor Taizong suddenly passed. I guessed it must be because he was facing a case in the court of the dead, and that is the reason I now write to you. I pray that in the name of our friendship, I could trouble you to release my lord back to the world of the living as a favor to me, for which I am eternally grateful.
After the magistrate read the letter, he looked up and said happily, “Just a few days ago, Wei had executed that old dragon in a dream. Your servant heard about the matter and offered him many congratulations. He is also watching over my sons in my absence. And now this letter has come. Rest at ease, your Majesty. Your servant will return you to life and you will once again ascend your throne.”
Taizong thanked him. As the two conversed, two servant youths in black, waving imperial banners, approached and called out loudly, “King Yan sends his greetings and welcome.” Taizong and Magistrate Cui allowed the youths to escort them forth.
Suddenly they came upon a city. A sign upon the city gates stated: The Peaceful Realms, the Gate of Ghosts emblazoned in seven golden words.2 The black-robed youths waved their banners, indicating that Taizong was to enter the city and walk forward along the street.
On the side of the road, Taizong saw his father Li Yuan, his elder brother Jiancheng, and his younger brother Yuanji, walk forward and say: “Shimin is here! Shimin is here!”3 Jiancheng and Yuanji grabbed at him to kill him. Taizong dodged too slowly and was caught by the two men. Thankfully, Magistrate Cui called over a black-faced sharp-toothed demon who pushed the two men back and Taizong was able to escape. After walking for a while, he came to a magnificent palace with a green roof. Look:
Rainbow clouds piled ten thousand high; a thousand ribbons of red mist billowed faintly. Heads of mystical beasts decorated bright eaves; mandarin ducks.4 adorned shining roofs. The door was pierced with pure-gold studs. The threshold beam was a white-jade beam. Dawn light shone misty through latticed windows; red light flashed through beaded curtains like lightning. The palace rose up into the green sky, painted corridors connected jeweled courtyards. Fragrant smoke rose from beast-shaped vessels to infuse imperial robes. The flicker of red lanterns illumine fan-shaped doors. On the left, fierce Oxheads lined the street; on the right, looming Horsefaces stood at attention. With golden placards they received the dead and escorted spirits; in white silk they guided and shepherded souls.
The main entrance of the Underworld is the home of Old Yan, Senluo Palace. As Taizong was outside watching, he saw jade pendants jingling on either side, exotic incense. Before the door were two pairs of torches, and behind them the ten Kings of Hell descended the steps. The ten Kings of Hell were: King Qinguang, King Chujiang, King Songdi, King Wuguan, King Yanluo, King Pingdeng, King Taishan, King Dushi, King Biancheng, and King Zhuanlun.
The ten Kings exited Senluo Palace and bowed to invite Taizong inside. Self-conscious, Taizong hesitated. The ten Kings said, “Your Majesty is ruler of the men of Yang.5 We are rulers of the ghosts of Yin6 Since these are our ranks, there is no need to overly defer to us.
Taizong said, “We’ve offended you, we do not dare to debate the ways of men and ghosts, of Yin and Yang.”
After much protesting,7 Taizong walked forward into Senluo Palace and officially greeted the ten Kings. Each took their seats.
After a short time, King Qinguang clasped his hands together and said, “The ghost of the Jing River Dragon reported that your Majesty had promised to save him and reneged on that promise, resulting in his death. Can you explain?”
Taizong said, “We dreamed that the dragon begged us to save him and we did indeed promise to keep him safe. We did not realize that he would be executed for his crime by our Minister Wei Zheng. We called Wei Zheng to the palace to play chess, but to our surprise, he executed him in a dream. Our minister had the supernatural skill of projecting his spirit, and the Dragon King was dying for his crimes. How are we to blame?”
Having heard this, the ten Kings bowed and said, “Even before the dragon was born, the South Polestar had already foretold that he would die at the hands of a human minister. We knew this long ago. But he raised a dispute here and demanded that your Majesty come here to mount a defense. We have delivered him to the Wheel for Reincarnation. Today we troubled your Majesty to come here and beg your forgiveness.”
After he finished speaking, he waved over the magistrate of Life and Death, “Bring the book quickly and let us see what the Emperor’s foreordained lifespan is.”
The Magistrate quickly went to the department office and brought out the Register of Life for the rulers of all nations and inspected them one by one and found that the Tang Dynasty Emperor Taizong of the great Southern Continent would rule for thirteen 【一十三】years. The Magistrate was astonished and immediately dipped the big brush into concentrated black ink and added two strokes to the “一” before presenting the register. The ten kings looked through the register and saw that the Emperor was foretold to rule for thirty-three 【三十三】years and asked, “How many years has it been since your Majesty ascended the throne?”
Taizong replied, “Since we ascended the throne, this year it will have been thirteen years.”8
King Yan said, “Let your Majesty rest at ease. You have twenty years of life left. This time you have come to defend your suit, please return to the world of the living.”
Taizong bowed in thanks. The ten kings of hell, the magistrates, and the high generals saw him out of the Palace so that he could return to life. As they left Senluo Palace, Taizong brought his hands together and asked, “How will all who live in our palace fare?”
all who live in our palace
The phrase I translated as “all” is 老少, which means “young-old” and includes everyone in between!
The ten kings replied, “All are safe, but we are afraid that your Majesty’s sister may not have long to live.”
Taizong asked again, “When I return, I have nothing with which to thank you other than offerings of melons and fruits.”
The ten kings were delighted and said, “In our realm we have east melons9 and west melons,10 we are only lacking in south melons.11”
Taizong said, “I will offer some as soon as I return.” and bid the kings farewell.
1 A city in the world of the dead. ↩
2 By chance, the sign has seven words in both Chinese and English! ↩
3 Taizong is a title. His given name is actually Li Shimin. ↩
4 An auspicious bird in Chinese culture. ↩
5 Yang, light, i.e. the living world ↩
6 Yin, dark, i.e. the world of the dead. ↩
7 an act to show respect and humility ↩
8 Lol fate is a fickle thing ↩
9 a pun on winter melons. The Chinese word for east and winter sound the same ↩
10 watermelons ↩
11 pumpkins. There is no such thing as a north melon ↩
Etymology Adventures 