Chapter 153: The Netherhound's Reflection

After bidding farewell to Master Xuanzhe and Huang Xianlin, Wei Xiaoping headed directly toward the royal palace. Having walked about half a li, he thought to himself: Since I am going to report to the King about the two Netherworld Hounds I brought back from the underworld, shouldn't I bring them along? Otherwise, what if the King becomes curious and asks to see the two hounds? Would I have to make another trip back?

Wei Xiaoping turned back, instructed Big Yellow to stay at home, and after saying goodbye to Huang Xianlin once more, he mounted the back of Eldest Horse. He told Big Flower to follow closely behind and strictly forbade her from barking randomly, lest she frighten the soldiers and the people along the road. Then, they set off toward the royal palace.

The royal palace of Qingfeng Kingdom was located within Qingfeng City.

Qingfeng City was about twenty li away from Wei Xiaoping's military camp. To get there from the camp, one had to pass through a small town before finally reaching the city. Upon entering Qingfeng City, another twenty li of travel brought one to the royal palace.

Riding the Netherworld Hound Eldest Horse, with Big Flower following behind, Wei Xiaoping made his way toward Qingfeng City.

Since both Netherworld Hounds possessed three canine heads attached to a single body, and because their appearances were ferocious, their bodies sparsely furred, and their skin as pale and bloodless as a corpse's, the passersby along the road had never seen such strange beasts before. Everyone assumed the two hounds were either monsters or ill-omened creatures. Some timid souls ran off as if they had just seen a ghost, while others, though convinced they were demons, preferred to give them a wide berth. However, when they saw General Wei Xiaoping—whom they deeply respected—riding atop one of the hounds, they figured these monsters must have been captured by their beloved general. Knowing that General Wei had the beasts under control, their fear subsided somewhat, and they mustered the courage to follow behind to watch the commotion. Only a few women and children, despite seeing people riding and following the creatures, were so terrified by the terrifying appearance of the strange hounds that their hearts fluttered with dread. They scurried back into their houses, bolted their doors, and closed their eyes, trying their best to banish the thought of the two hounds.

Seeing this, Wei Xiaoping immediately instructed the two Netherworld Hounds to lower their heads as much as possible and quicken their pace.

Realizing that the passersby were avoiding them due to their ugly appearances, which caused panic among the crowd, the two Netherworld Hounds felt somewhat embarrassed. Hearing Wei Xiaoping's instruction to lower their heads, and since their three heads grew from their necks in a triangular arrangement resembling the Chinese character for "product" (品), they lowered their two lower heads while keeping the top head facing forward to watch the road.

With their lower two heads tucked down against their necks so that passersby could hardly see them, the hounds still attracted the curiosity of many bold onlookers who closely followed behind to watch the spectacle.

Some courageous and curious bystanders, seeing that the hounds had tucked their heads beneath their chests, assumed the beasts were afraid of them. Growing bolder, they walked up, patted the hounds' hindquarters with their hands, and even threw stones at them for amusement.

The two Netherworld Hounds, whose rear ends were being patted and slapped by passersby, felt a mixture of shyness and rising anger. Why are these people so devoid of manners? Don't they know that patting someone else's backside is an insult? They are simply utterly lacking in breeding! If not for the sake of our master, we certainly wouldn't let them off so lightly.

As the two Netherworld Hounds thought this, they began to analyze why they were being bullied by passersby in this manner. Aside from their bizarre appearance, what other reasons could there be?

Ah, right! The main reason we are being bullied like this is because we turned from humans into dogs, and dogs are naturally prone to being bullied by human beings!

Walking along, the two Netherworld Hounds continued their introspection: The primary reason we were transformed into dogs was because, in our previous lives, we were extremely unfilial to our parents and disharmonious among brothers, frequently arguing and fighting. We were utterly detested by our neighbors, caused a negative impact on human society, and even provoked the wrath of both heaven and man. Consequently, Heaven punished us and our three sisters-in-law—all six of us—by collapsing our house to crush us to death. Upon arriving in the underworld, King Yama was similarly filled with boundless rage at all our deeds in our mortal lives, and thus turned us into three-headed strange hounds as punishment!

The reason King Yama transformed us into three-headed strange hounds was his belief that even animals like dogs feel gratitude toward their masters or those who treat them kindly. Yet the three of us brothers and our three sisters-in-law, as human beings—as advanced creatures—had treated our own birth parents, who gave us life and raised us, with such extreme unfiliality that we were truly inferior even to dogs. Therefore, King Yama transformed us into dogs to educate us, meaning we should learn from dogs and master the art of gratitude! By growing three dog heads on a single body and sharing that one torso, he meant that we three brothers born of the same parents, who shared blood ties yet failed to cherish or care for one another in the mortal realm, often fighting and tearing at each other without a shred of mutual affection, would no longer dare to bite or tear at each other once fused into a single body. For no matter who won or lost, we would both feel the pain. In this way, over time, we would learn to cherish and care for each other!

King Yama punished us by causing us to be reincarnated into another realm as strange hounds with three heads, where we repaid the parents who had been reincarnated from another world and voluntarily performed a vast amount of unpaid labor for the local villagers, thereby earning their respect. Later, after starving to death while observing mourning, we returned to the underworld.

Because of our good conduct, King Yama has now assigned us to our master, Wei Xiaoping, allowing us to follow General Wei back to the mortal realm to assist him in eradicating the wicked, supporting the good, and maintaining justice for all living creatures. This is what has granted us the chance to return to the mortal world and witness such beautiful scenery once more. Although we have not yet managed to transform back from dogs into humans, this is already more than enough. Furthermore, who knows—if we perform even better for General Wei in the future, King Yama might just transform us back into human beings!

Therefore, even though the people here find us bizarrely shaped, pat our rears to make fun of us, and even throw stones at us for amusement, not only should we not feel angry with them, but we should actually be glad that we can bring them joy.

Thinking this, the two Netherworld Hounds turned their upper heads toward the people who were patting them for amusement, baring their full sets of fangs and wearing self-satisfied, smiling faces.

Little did they know that their faces were already exceptionally ugly; smiling like this only exposed all their teeth. Mistaking this for a sign that the hounds were angry and about to bite, some passersby screamed in fright and fled. The bolder ones, fond of a challenge, saw the two hounds parting their mouths and assumed they were about to launch an attack, prompting them to pat and slap the beasts even more brazenly.

Hearing the commotion, Wei Xiaoping turned his head around, just as he was about to raise a hand to stop the audacious onlookers. He saw Big Flower's top head wearing a smile as she walked and looked at the crowd. He then looked back at Eldest Horse, who was walking forward with complete indifference. A sense of pity inevitably welled up in Wei Xiaoping's heart, and he said, "Eldest Horse, Big Flower, people are probably seeing creatures like you for the first time and find you very strange, which is why they are acting this way. Don't blame them; just bear with it a little longer! We'll be outside the royal palace gates very soon!"

Hearing this, Eldest Horse and Big Flower did not dare to reply to Wei Xiaoping, fearing that the moment they opened their mouths to bark, the passersby would think they were about to bite, causing panic and running away, thereby sparking a disaster. Thus, the two Netherworld Hounds kept their mouths shut and silently walked their path.