[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-ascending-to-divinity":3,"chapter-ascending-to-divinity-ascending-to-divinity-chapter-280":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Ascending to Divinity",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2280830,4461,"Chapter 280: Hell","ascending-to-divinity-chapter-280",280,"\u003Cp>“Proceed to Mount Ling Shan and the Great Thunderous Temple to study Mahayana Buddhist teachings.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Go to the Ksitigarbha Hall and inspect the Book of Life and Death.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Remain behind Yinshan to listen to the Sutra of the Ten Wheels of Ksitigarbha.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ten pieces of information, each with different content.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Jian understood at once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These trials were originally meant for the Ten Kings of Hell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The other nine gradually withdrew.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only I remained to participate in the trial.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter the outcome of the trial, whether I performed well or poorly,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I am the sole victor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Venerable Bodhisattva.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Jian scanned the ten pieces of information; in an instant, he had made his decision: “I wish to go to the Hell of Yama, recite the sutras, and liberate the evil spirits.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Bodhisattva nodded and said: “With compassion in your heart, merit will arise naturally.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He made no visible movement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Around Jiang Jian, space shifted instantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he regained his senses and looked around, he realized he had arrived at the Hell of Yama.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His vision was filled with a suffocating crimson; countless yakshas and ghostly guards moved through it, while damned souls suffered endless torment, their pitiful wails echoing without cease.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Hell of Yama consists of two hells.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They are the Mountain of Blades and the Hell of Unnatural Death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The hell before him was the Mountain of Blades.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sharp, icy blades covered the ground, their points upward, piled into a mountain, glowing with a blinding crimson light.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Countless damned souls, naked and bare, screamed in agony as they climbed the blade mountain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As they walked, their bodies were pierced through, organs impaled by the blades, entrails torn open, yet they still limped forward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“According to the rules of this story world,”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Those who kill out of idle thought are cast into the Mountain of Blades after death.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he pondered,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Jian walked forward and stopped beside a damned soul, observing closely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was a man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His expression was numb, his face ashen; even as the blades pierced his soles, he merely clenched his features, making no sound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Jian thought for a moment and called out to him: “Stop.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The authority of Wang Dian—his word became law.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As golden light spread,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man was forced to halt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Jian began reciting the Sutra of the Ten Wheels of Ksitigarbha, as prescribed by the rules.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Streams of golden light surged forth, clearly illuminating the man’s inner being.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His remaining sins rapidly diminished.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within mere seconds,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man’s evil karma vanished, his karmic debt dissolved, and he returned to the form of an ordinary man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stretched out his hands, examining himself, unable to hide his astonishment!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thank you, Wang Dian! Thank you, Venerable Bodhisattva!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The man knelt on the ground and bowed reverently to Jiang Jian, his expression deeply devout.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His karmic burden gone,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could now be reborn, to live another life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More and more damned souls gathered from all around, huddling beyond the golden light, emitting twisted screams but daring not approach too closely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wang Dian!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Please forgive my sins, Wang Dian!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Please recite the sutra for me, Wang Dian!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>……\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A yaksha stepped forward and whispered: “Wang Dian, shall I drive them away?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Jian waved gently, his brow slightly furrowed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After his earlier attempt,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He realized that reciting the Sutra of the Ten Wheels of Ksitigarbha once could liberate only one evil spirit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet now,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The number of damned souls remaining in the Mountain of Blades numbered in the hundreds of trillions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Worse still,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every moment,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>New evil spirits were cast into the Mountain of Blades.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he continued in this methodical way, reciting sutras for each soul, even until the end of time, he could liberate only a handful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If things continued like this,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His trial result would be abysmal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for Buddhist teachings,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Jian had no deep understanding.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had chosen to come to the Hell of Yama and liberate evil spirits\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only because he knew the narrative arc of the Sutra of the Ten Wheels of Ksitigarbha.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, the realm he was in was the Yinshan Marvel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among the ten different trials,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liberating evil spirits most aligned with the heart of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the story world,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva had once made a great vow:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I will not attain Buddhahood until the hells are empty.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet all knew that the eighteen layers of hell would never be empty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even until the end of the story, never achieved Buddhahood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Emptying the hells need not mean reciting sutras.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jiang Jian raised his gaze, looking at the dense throng of damned souls before him, his expression calm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If we are to prevent new damned souls from entering,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There is another way.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That is to abandon the eighteen layers of hell forever.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His idea was simple.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He intended to use special means within the story world\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To help Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva fulfill the rule’s great vow, enabling him to attain Buddhahood!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If this came to pass,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This virtual story world would, within its bounded limits, truly reach its ultimate state.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And his final reward would be immeasurably vast!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",874,"2026-06-20T01:21:35.424Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","c770f2451183e124812808ae1958b68894850dbda988590d21c3b5437a120127","ascending-to-divinity-chapter-281","ascending-to-divinity-chapter-279",306,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fascending-to-divinity-cover.jpg"]