Hell: Also known as the underworld, it is believed by some to be the place where the souls of the dead will go. The concept of Hell is widely spread in religious beliefs around the world, such as Buddhism, Hinduism, certain sects of modern Judaism and Christianity, Islam, etc. However, fundamentalist Jewish sects do not recognize the existence of Hell, regarding it as a heretical concept influenced by pagan beliefs. Hell specifically refers to the place imprisoning and punishing the souls of those who committed grave sins during their lifetime; it could be considered the prison and execution ground of the underworld.

Eight Cold Hells

The Eight Cold Hells are divided into: Blisters Hell, Pao Lie Hell, Tight Teeth Hell, Ajiujiu Hell, Hu Hu Hell, Split Like Green Lotus Hell, Crack like Red Lotus Hell, Crack Like Big Red Lotus Hell

The sufferings of the Eight Cold Hells differ from each other; hence, they are established with eight names and referred to as the Eight Cold Hells. The beings here cannot seek life nor death, and their lifespan is not merely one or two hundred years. As a metaphor: a large vat of two hundred Zang Shengs filled with sesame seeds, from which one seed is taken every hundred years; only when all the sesame seeds are taken out will the lifespan of beings in the Blisters Hell end. The lifespan in the remaining seven Cold Hells increases twentyfold sequentially from the Blisters Hell. From the Blisters Hell to the Crack like Red Lotus Hell, the lifespan becomes longer, the environment becomes increasingly miserable, and the suffering intensifies; this is also the case for the lifespan in the Eight Hot Hells. Beings in the Human World cannot endure even a moment of exposure to the chilly winds outside during winter, let alone being born in the Eight Cold Hells.

1. Blisters Hell: The suffering in the Blisters Hell, though the least severe among the Eight Cold Hells, is still unbearably painful. The ice, frozen solid through many ages, is as hard as iron and sharp as a knife, with fierce winds, raging hail, and abusive snow everywhere; there is no clothing to cover one's body nor shelter from the cold. The beings within are frozen stiff like corpses, unable to move or bend. Their bodily fluid, including blood, expands into horrific blisters covering their entire body after freezing, making their faces unrecognizable and unbearable to behold.

2. Pao Lie Hell: This hell is similar to the former, but more abominable. The bodies of the beings here, covered with blisters, continue to blister layer upon layer, so that the sores are crushed and burst open, the entire body becomes like a massive wound, and the meat sores are indistinguishable with red and white interlaced. The above two hells are described based on the external changes of the beings.

3. Tight Teeth Hell: This hell is described based on the changes in the voices of the beings. The beings here tremble and huddle up tightly due to the cold, their teeth emit a tightly clenching sound, at which point the pain is beyond what words can express.

4. Ajiujiu Hell: Due to the even more intense frigid pain piercing to the core, unbearable, the beings here are compelled by karmic force to wail mournfully without any self-control, with the heart-rending screams and sobs echoing throughout the hell incessantly.

5. Hu Hu Hell: The beings, in the more intense cold, are gasping for life, already powerless to scream; in despair and agony, they can only utter intermittent, suffocating, sobbing lamentation.

6. Split Like Green Lotus Hell: This hell is described based on the entire body's transformation of the beings in hell. In the first five hells, the body is stuck tightly with the hard ice, and in this hell, the beings have become one with the icy ground. In an even more severe cold environment, the entire body of a being, with skin and bones together, deforms and bursts into five or six lobes of varying sizes, blue-green in color and no longer human in shape.

7. Crack like Red Lotus Hell: Similar to the former hell but more appalling, the lobes of the beings' bodies rupture more profoundly and extensively, causing the entire body to invert and peel inside out. More viscera and frozen flesh burst into dozens of lobes, blue-red in color, with no distinction between the body, head, and limbs on the meat chunk.

8. Crack Like Big Red Lotus Hell: The cold suffering of beings in this hell reaches its ultimate degree. The inversely peeled bodies fracture into hundreds of segments, resembling meat sores' bodies like petals blooming, colored in red and purple.

Eight Hot Hells

The Eight Hot Hells are divided into: Equal-life Hell, Black Rope Hell, Crowded Hell, Calling Hell, Great Calling Hell, Scorching Hell, Great Scorching Hell, Avici Hell

The blazing flames of the Eight Hot Hells cover the sky, burning the iron as the ground, while countless searing magma hailstones fall continuously from above. From all over the surface rise roaring flames, and countless prison guards pursue and slay with fearsome torture devices, inflicting harm in various cruel ways.

1. Equal-life Hell: The scorching intensity of ordinary fire, sandalwood forest fire, solar fire, and fire of the end-life tribulation increases sequentially sevenfold. Thus, the entire realm of the Equal-life Hell is seven times hotter than the fire of the end-life tribulation. Within it, beings torment each other amid burning while being hacked, cut, and sliced by the prison guards. After death, they are resurrected by the power of karma, dying and reviving countless times in a moment. The sentence is 500 years of the Equal-life Hell, equivalent to 1 trillion 665.3 billion years in the Human World.

2. Black Rope Hell: The bodies of beings within are marked with eight, sixteen, or thirty-two black lines, along which the prison guards use fiery saws and axes to saw and cut, causing blood and intestines to flow profusely in cries of anguish and repeated deaths and resurrections. The sentence of Black Rope Hell is 1,000 years, equivalent to 13 trillion years in the Human World. The degree of suffering is ten times that of the Equal-life Hell.

3. Crowded Hell: The beings here are smashed and ground between two mountains like sheep's heads or hammered on enormous iron anvils, or milled to mud in iron mortars, their bones and flesh are utterly crushed and blood flows in rivers, after which they are blown back to life by winds of karma. The sentence is 2,000 years of the Crowded Hell, equivalent to 106 trillion 580 billion years in the Human World. The degree of suffering is ten times that of the Black Rope Hell.

4. Calling Hell: In this realm, beings are burned by fierce flames, and even when they are near the edge, the prison guards throw them back into the fire with terrifying weapons, causing them to cry out loudly in pain and fear. The sentence duration is 4000 years in Calling Hell, equivalent to 852 trillion 640 billion years in the Human World. The degree of suffering is ten times that of Crowded Hell.

5. Great Calling Hell: The situation is similar to Calling Hell, but the intensity is even greater. Everywhere is a burning iron house, and the beings inside widen their terrifying eyes, endure extreme pain, scream hysterically, and run wild, but there is no way out from any direction, leading to desperate and painful cries. The sentence duration is 8000 years in Great Calling Hell, equivalent to 6821 trillion 1200 billion years in the Human World. The degree of suffering is ten times that of Calling Hell.

6. Scorching Hell: In this realm, beings are not only roasted and burned, stabbed, sliced, and cut, but the prison guards also pour scorching molten copper into their mouths, which burns and melts their throat and internal organs, with the mixture of blood and flesh flowing out from nine apertures; subsequently, a trident pierces through their bodies from the anus to the top of the head and shoulders, and then into the wounds, boiling hot liquid is poured, a scene beyond suffering. The sentence duration is 16000 years in Scorching Hell, equivalent to 500 quadrillion 3084 trillion 1600 billion years in the Human World. The degree of suffering is ten times the combined total of the previous five hells.

7. Great Scorching Hell: The scenario is similar to Scorching Hell, but the horror is greater, beings are stabbed and stirred by prison guards with wolf fang clubs through the anus, and the sharp spikes pierce through various parts of their bodies like a porcupine, leaving blood and flesh in a tragic state. The sentence duration is Half Medium Tribulation. The degree of suffering is ten times the combined total of the previous six hells.

8. Avici Hell: In a vast iron house two thousand yojanas tall and wide, a relentless fire constantly burns. Numerous massive copper pots are filled with boiling molten iron, copper, and fierce flames burn on every side. In this realm, beings are tormented, cooked, and stirred relentlessly. The suffering in the previous hells does not permeate the entire body, allowing for moments of respite, but here, beings are utterly mixed and fused with magma and scorching fire on every part from the inside out, with extreme suffering that doesn't cease until the end of the tribulation, thus called Avici. The sentence duration is one Medium Tribulation. The degree of suffering is a thousand times the combined total of the previous seven hells.

Near Hell

Near Hell is divided into: Roasting Pit Hell, Corpse Dung Mud Hell, Sharp Blade Field Hell, Sword Leaf Forest Hell, Iron Pillar Mountain Hell

On each side of Avici Hell are four other hells: Roasting Pit Hell, Corpse Dung Mud Hell, Sharp Blade Field Hell, and Sword Leaf Forest Hell.

There are four in the Eastern, four in the Southern, four in the Western, and four in the Northern directions, totaling sixteen. Southeast has one Iron Pillar Mountain, similarly southwest, northwest, and northeast each have one Iron Pillar Mountain. They are affiliated hells of Avici Hell.

1. Roasting Pit Hell: Due to the decrease in karma of Avici crime, beings are freed from Avici Hell and see a distant black cool shade, happily approaching, only to fall into a pit of fiercely burning coals (Roasting Pit), where blood and flesh are roasted, an unbearable pain.

2. Corpse Dung Mud Hell: Freed from the previous hell (referring to Roasting Pit Hell) and seeing a river in the distance, having suffered constantly on a heap of flames before the destruction of a major tribulation, beings are extremely thirsty and delight in approaching the water to drink. But what water? They fall into mud filled with decomposing corpses, horse corpses, dog corpses, and many tiny insects emitting a strong stench, finally immersing their heads in the mud, pecked and consumed by numerous insects with sharp iron snouts, experiencing infinite pain.

3. Sharp Blade Field Hell: After escaping the previous hell, they see an agreeable green meadow and joyfully approach, only to find a field of sharp blades, with the entire ground covered in iron thorns like grasses burning with fire. If the right foot steps on it, the right foot is pierced, the left foot steps down, and the left foot is pierced, when the foot is lifted, it recovers, and stepping again, it is pierced like before, unbearable pain.

4. Sword Leaf Forest Hell: Beings just freed from hell see an agreeable forest and run excitedly towards it, but what agreeable forest? They encounter a Sword Leaf Forest, iron trees growing many sword-like leaves, swaying with the wind, chopping their bodies into pieces, revived and chopped again, feeling the cutting pain repeatedly.

5. Iron Pillar Mountain Hell: Monastics who destroy pure conduct or break precepts, or beings committing adultery, reincarnate in this hell due to karma's guidance, encountering the terrifying Iron Pillar Mountain. Hearing their beloved from earlier days call from the mountain peak, they climb towards it, only to be pierced by iron tree leaves growing downward, and when reaching the summit, are pecked by crows and vultures, suffering as their eye oils are consumed. Simultaneously, they hear a call from the foot of the mountain, rushing down as before, pierced from the front chest to the back by upward-pointing leaves, arriving at the mountain's base to be embraced by terrifying Iron Man and Iron Woman, who devour their heads, brain pulp flowing from the corners of their mouths, extreme suffering.

Additionally, in some Near Hell and Short Life Hell, bodies and tongues are pulled out to lengths of dozens or hundreds of kilometers, ferocious prison guards nailed long iron spikes through tongues and bodies into burning hot iron boards, plowing them with plows, suffering endlessly without bounds, relief far beyond expectation!

Lonely Hell

Unlike the Eight Cold and Eight Hot Hells, Lonely Hell does not have fixed locations, but varies according to individual karma, isolated in the void or wild mountains. Here, one suffers hellish pain alone. Lonely Hell's location is uncertain, and so is the degree of suffering. Some are squeezed between cliff walls, some sealed within rock, some frozen stiff in ice, some boiling in hot springs, burning in fire... or burned in fire… or hidden inside trees, limbs and bones are cut with the original tree as it is chopped and sectioned, suffering great pain. Others are reborn onto ordinary objects like mortar and pestles, brooms, clay pots, doors, pillars, stove stones, and ropes, forced to suffer distress. Some experience life and death once daily, others a hundred times daily, even countless times, enduring the pain of life and death for long periods. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations or monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com for reading.)

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