The Star Light Shines When He Came prologue

T/N: Unexpectedly, there are a lot of footnotes… They should be clickable and will take you to the bottom. Click again to jump back to the chapter. (If it's not working, it'll be fixed in a couple of hours, sorry for the trouble ;u;)

After Ksitigarbha1, Dizang, promised himself if Hell was not empty, he would not attain Buddhahood, he became the ruler of Hell.

Xie Fei was now the current Dizang, the King of Hell.

After being Dizang for tens of thousands of years, Xie Fei was always in the Cloud Emerald Palace in closed-door cultivation. Except for critically important problems that needed to be reported to him, the other problems in Hell were all left to Houtu, the Queen of the Earth, and the Judge of Hell Cui to manage on his behalf, and together the Ten Courts of Hell2 each did their own duty.

For a long time, Hell functioned as such in an organized manner.

Then, without knowing from when it started, the Ten Courts of Hell discovered that the ghosts coming to Hell weren't quite right. The resentment of these ghosts was at an extreme. They were unwilling to drink Old Lady Meng's Lethe soup3. They refused to cross the Bridge of Helplessness4. They even went so far as to incite the suppressed malicious spirits of Hell into restless, confused movement.

After all, resentment was the perfect nourishment for these malicious spirits.

The Ten Courts of Hell wrinkled their brows, realized something was not quite right, and hurriedly reported up to Houtu. After Houtu and Judge Cui investigated, they discovered the issue's condition was severe, and thusly contacted Xie Fei, interrupting his closed-door cultivation.

Xie Fei, dressed in a black and gold changpao5, a silk sash tied around his waist, and a head of black hair spreading across his shoulders, walked out from behind them.

Houtu, wearing a set of gold huafu6, slightly gave a greeting7. Judge Cui respectfully cupped his hands. "Greeting Dizang."

Xie Fei nodded, his brow indifferent, and said, "What is it?"

Houtu, wearing a beautiful expression, said with an exquisite voice, "The Ten Courts of Hell reported that the ghosts who recently came have deep resentment and obsession. After Judge Cui's investigation, we found that these people may have suffered some kind of blow during their past life and thusly become malicious spirits. If not properly handled, it's very likely they will become demons."

"Oh." Xie Fei pursed his lips, handsome face displaying a bit of coldness.

"Dizang." Judge Cui looked at Xie Fei, hesitated, and very carefully opened his mouth to say, "These malicious spirits are already unsuitable to reincarnate in the Six Realms of Existence8. Now, they only have two choices, either to gather resentment and become demons, or to guard resentment in Hell and become wandering ghosts."

Xie Fei's slender hands knocked lightly on the arm of the chair, peach blossom eyes9 wandering, only opening his mouth after a long time. "Didn't you say they had resentment?"

Judge Cui nodded, looking at Xie Fei with a little uncertainty.

Xie Fei thought about it and said indifferently, "Then let them use their souls as the price to help them dispel resentment."

Hearing this, Houtu wrinkled her beautiful brow and slowly relaxed. She raised her sleeve, laughing, "As expected Dizang doesn't disappoint, jiejie10 really admires you."

Xie Fei nodded, brow indifferent as always, as if he hadn't heard Houtu's joke. Houtu also seemed used to it, not really caring about Xie Fei's actions.

After dealing with this matter, Xie Fei rose to leave, but Judge Cui hurriedly said, "Dizang, I don't know who is more suitable to assign to dispel resentment?"

Xie Fei sat languidly back in the chair, elbow propping up his chin, and lazily asked, "Right now, who in Hell is free?"

Judge Cui waved his sleeves and a completely black volume with the gold-embossed words "Judge's Book" appeared in his hands. Immediately, his right hand raised his judge's pen and lightly touched the cover; the book began to flip open on its own. Before long, Judge Cui closed the Judge's Book, looked up, dumbfounded, and with a bitter smile said, "It seems Hell only has you and Houtu who are more at leisure."

"Oh?" Xie Fei also had some surprise. He looked at Houtu, raised his eyebrows, and said, "Then Houtu—"

"Dizang, from jiejie's perspective, it's more suitable if you go," Houtu cut Xie Fei off with a coy laugh, glancing at him.

"For what reason?" Xie Fei said, looking at Houtu.

"You think the previous Dizang reached great success through closed-door cultivation? You've already stayed in Hell for tens of thousands of years, but you don't go traveling to mountains and rivers or experience the human world. How can you promise without an empty Hell, not to become Buddha? How can you see through everything in the world, and become one with the Tao?" said Houtu faintly, pursing her lips.

Muttering to himself in an instant, Xie Fei indifferently said, "You said it well."

"Then let's decide it this way." Houtu domineeringly faced Judge Cui and waved. In a good mood, she said, "Xiao Cui11, next to that underworld bridge by Hell's entrance, get people to make a mountain dwelling, called—"

Houtu raised her head, thought for a moment, then hooked her lips in a smile, saying, "Called the 'Soul Pawn Shop'! Let Ox Head and Horse Face12 send Hell's malicious spirits over, then contact the Black and White Impermanence13. If there's any malicious spirits in the future, they can bring them all over there."

"Yes, Houtu-daren14." Judge Cui glanced at the not-protesting Xie Fei and nodded, readily accepting the advice.

From then on, the underworld bridge from the human world to Hell had a mountain dwelling. This mountain dwelling's owner was a handsome and cold teenager. If you have love problems, resentment, something you can't get, or regrets15, then you could come to trade.

The price for a trade— your soul.

And this is the Soul Pawn Shop.

T/N: Translating the prologue made me realize exactly how slow of a reader I am :') I really wanted to get ch1 and ch2 out by the end of the week but I have to write an essay for orientation… I'll do my best to get least ch1 posted by the end of the week. Please don't post any spoilers!

(are there too many footnotes? thanks for any suggestions!!)

1↩: A bodhisattva regarded as a savior figure who wants to save all souls trapped in hell. Dizang (地藏) is his Chinese name. In this story, Ksitigarbha/Dizang is a title synonymous with being King of Hell (the original text says 地藏王, Dizang King). Read more about Ksitigarbha here.

2↩: Hell was divided by Yama (the king of the underworld) into ten parts with each court being managed by a sovereign ruler, a Yama King. They're referred to as the Ten Courts of Hell.

3↩: 孟婆湯, literally Old Lady Meng's soup, is a soup souls drink before reincarnation. It washes away all your memories so you don't remember your past life or time in Hell.

4↩: The Bridge of Helplessness (奈何橋, Naihe Bridge) is the bridge you cross before reincarnation.

5↩: Traditional robes for men

6↩: 華服 is literally Chinese clothing. According to Chinese Wikipedia, there's no specific definition of it, so it (presumably) could be Chinese clothes from any era.

7↩: Not sure if this is right. Original text says 微微福了福身.

8↩: The six realms of life you can be reborn into in Buddhism: the god, human, demi-god, animal, hungry ghost, or hell realm. Read more here.

9↩: Eyes shaped like the petal of a peach blossom.

10↩: Older sister, but also used as a general term for close older females. Houtu is referring to herself in third-person.

11↩: Xiao (小) is an affectionate prefix. Xiao Cui is a nickname for Judge Cui.

12↩: Ox Head and Horse Face are the demons souls meet in Hell.

13↩: 黑白無常, literally the Black and White Impermanence, are two black and white deities who escort souls into Hell.

14↩: 大人 is an honorific showing respect, similar to –sama in Japanese. I didn't include it, but when they addressed Xie Fei, they also used –daren (地藏王大人).

15↩: 愛別離、怨長久、求不得、放不下. It looks so ugly after translating, but the full meaning is something like "Love that won't leave, hate that lasts a long time, can't woo (who/what I want), can't let go (of worries, etc.)".

Chapter end