Transcending the Nine Heavens

The one who was paddled two hundred times by Minister Chu’s order hated him even more with all the forced cultivation. Yet, somehow that hatred gradually disappeared and in its place was appreciation… (TLN: Now that’s Stockholm syndrome.)

Minister Chu might be a little cruel and a little strict… but he is leading us to a bright future.

During this time, the performance of the three brigades greatly improved. A small piece of paper, with more than ten fifth rank officials’ names written on it, was brought out from Minister Chu’s room. This caused a great commotion because they were all Great Zhao Nation’s spies.

After this was confirmed, Prince Tie Bu Tian was extremely shocked. He immediately went to check for himself to avoid any wrongful killings. In the end everything was verified with evidence and witnesses piling up like a mountain. This made the prince livid. The execution ground of Iron Cloud Citadel was once again covered in blood.

Currently, all the nobles of Iron Cloud Citadel were feeling very insecure!

The notices posted on the walls of Iron Cloud Citadel seemed to have some new information every day. Each detail was usually about some high ranking official who had been found guilty with a crime so atrocious that the punishment was execution and seizure of properties.

Moreover, these cases were carefully judged by Minister Chu; the evidence was abundant and clear. Everything was ironclad and did not leave room for a shadow of a doubt.

Presently, the name Bu Tian Pavilion was shining as brightly as a midday sun in Iron Cloud Citadel. The people praised them endlessly, while the officials were all feeling restless. Even though they were just hunting down spies and traitors right now, who knew when this legendary minister would start chopping down greedy officials who took bribes?

This was something no one could predict.

With us officials, who could say that their butt is completely clean? Who had never wiped their butts with their hands? Impartiality, integrity… Motherf*, are there any good officials like that in this world?

The result was, all the officials started to straighten up without any orders or coordination. They just wanted to show a good front so that if the Minister’s judgement came down on them, they could at least say, “This little official had seen the error of his ways, and, since then, had not dared to… Please have mercy…”

There was something nobody knew about: all the valuables, rare elixirs, precious gems… mysteriously disappeared after they were seized. No one knew where they were sent to…

The three brigades of Bu Tian Pavilion, comprising of Iron Blood, Fierce Blood, and Heavenly Secret slowly changed their names to Iron Blood Hall, Fierce Blood Hall, and Heavenly Secret Hall. This was because under the temptations of gold and silver as well as high ranking positions, Bu Tian Pavilion had grown more crowded. It was like a rolling snowball growing in size.

It had been a little over half a month and the number of members in Bu Tian Pavilion had increased from eighty to one hundred thirty people, almost a half more than the number from before the cleansing.

Meanwhile, Minister Chu became more and more mysterious. In the beginning, with just the original members of Bu Tian Pavilion, Minister Chu would come out of his room for a stroll every now and then. But since new members started coming in, only Wu Qian Qian came out of that room to give orders.

The old members of Bu Tian Pavilion were given orders to not say anything about Minister Chu to anyone… The new members did not even know what Minister Chu looked like.

What they did know about him were vague little details based on word of mouth. Apparently, Minister Chu was very young, and seemed frail and scholarly in appearance. He did not know any martial arts, but had wisdom beyond compare. There was nothing that could escape his keen observation… In all of Bu Tian Pavilion, there were none that did not respect him…

These were all rumors without one shred of evidence for verification… The whole thing helped the enigmatic Minister Chu put on another layer of mystery.

On the other hand, the great families and the officials of Iron Cloud Nation had started to call Minister Chu, “King of Hell Chu.” Whenever “King of Hell Chu” gave the order, his little demons went and took the souls. If King of Hell Chu gave the order, there was absolutely no escape!

At the time, all of Iron Cloud Citadel had a saying, “If the King of Hell wants you dead at midnight, who would dare to keep you till four in the morning?” These words were about none other than Minister Chu.

As the word spread, everyone who heard them nodded in agreement. It was as if these words were an actual reflection of how they felt…

King of Hell Chu… Was the King of Hell! Even more so, if the actual King of Hell called a soul, a doctor might be able to help keep that person alive for a few more days. But if King of Hell Chu gave the order… you could not even drag it out 15 minutes more.

King of Hell Chu was even more powerful than the King of Hell…

The rumors spread quickly. And when the people of Bu Tian Pavilion heard this moniker, they immediately said to themselves, “Oh god! Who was the genius that came up with such a perfect title?”

Minister Chu stayed in his room every day. From time to time, he gave out an order for some souls. The ones with their names written down were essentially dead. The King of Hell only asked for one soul at a time, but Minister Chu always gave orders for the whole family to be executed and the entire estate to be seized. In addition, there were others who were implicated in relation to the case as well…

That door… seemed gloomy to everyone, even in broad daylight. Some people even said this about Minister Chu’s room: “Outside that door is the world of the living; one step in and you are in the netherworld.” Those who heard this nodded in agreement…

Minister Chu’s office was the mysterious palace of the King of Hell!

Since then, everyone in Bu Tian Pavilion referred to Minister Chu as “King of Hell.” They all believed that he was worthy of this title. In fact, if anything, he made it more glorious…

“Hey, have you seen the King of Hell today?”

“No, the King of Hell rarely makes an appearance.”

“There, the King of Hell just sent out another order for souls…”

“One already went out this morning. The Soul Demoness brought it out and gave it to the Dark Reaper…”

The Dark Reaper was actually former Pavilion Lord of Bu Tian Pavilion, former leader of Fierce Blood Brigade, and current Lord of Fierce Blood Hall – Official Cheng Zi Ang!

Even a stunning beauty like Wu Qian Qian was given the moniker “Soul Demoness” because of her task as the bearer of Chu Yang’s orders… Wu Qian Qian was always gentle, but as talks of King of Hell Chu grew, causing fear in the hearts of those who heard it, wherever the Soul Demoness went, people naturally became worried…

“Motherf*, the King of Hell didn’t kill enough yet?”

“How could the King of Hell ever get enough? Are you joking?”

… (walkthejianghu.com)

“Ahh… what does the King of Hell look like?”

“The King of Hell… You want me to die with you? Just shut your mouth…”

“Just a little introduction…”

“In short, if an ordinary person sees the King of Hell, he would be scared breathless in the best case…” the speaker, himself, had never seen “King of Hell Chu,” but did not hesitate to spin his own tale.

“Scared breathless… in the best case? In the worst case… then what?”

“Worst case… their souls would fly right out on the spot. They might not ever be able to reincarnate. That happens very often…”

“Motherf*! That terrifying?”

“Yes, he is the King of Hell…”

As a result, the rumors spread far and wide. The further they went, the more erroneous they became. The King of Hell became more and more fierce. In less than a month… the name King of Hell Chu had established a reputation in Iron Cloud Citadel!

With regards to these rumors, our King of Hell Chu could not just sit idly by and not pay any mind to them… The moment those rumors started spreading fiercely, Chu Yang immediately gave an order, “Send people out to pour more oil on the fire, and quickly spread this rumor further; make it even fiercer… Let the people know more, the more ominous the better…”

After that, King of Hell Chu made himself a horrifying mask, and appeared a few times in Bu Tian Pavilion. Blue face with yellow fangs and filled with demonic aura, even in broad daylight, it made people almost pee in their pants…

Over time, with the exception of the people he knew, even the older members who had seen Chu Yang were confused. They gradually forgot what Chu Yang used to look like and only recognized the coldblooded, ruthless, bloodthirsty King of Hell Chu…