第 10 回

Emperor Taizong and Wei Zheng were playing chess, and it reached noon.

Wei Zheng was very tired and fell asleep.

Emperor Taizong was very happy, and he thought: With Wei Zheng here, the Dragon King is safe.

At this time, it was very noisy outside.

Qin Shubao and Xu Maogong walked in, and they were holding a dragon head.

They said: This dragon head fell from the sky and landed on the street.

Wei Zheng woke up, and he said: This dragon head, I killed it in my dream.

Emperor Taizong was very surprised, and he asked: You have been here all along, how could you kill a dragon?

Wei Zheng said: When I was dreaming, my soul left my body.

The Jade Emperor called me to a place and ordered me to kill the dragon.

Emperor Taizong listened, feeling both happy and sad in his heart.

What made him happy was that Wei Zheng could talk to gods.

What made him sad was that he had promised to save the Dragon King, but the Dragon King still died.

That night, Emperor Taizong had a dream.

He dreamed that the Dragon King, holding a dragon head and covered in blood, came to find him.

Emperor Taizong was very scared.

At this moment, Guanyin Bodhisattva arrived and scolded the Dragon King away.

Emperor Taizong let out a loud cry and woke up.

From then on, he fell ill and could not get out of bed.

Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong heard about it, so they put on armor and stood guard outside Emperor Taizong's door every night.

Emperor Taizong did not want them to be too tired, so he had people paint their portraits and paste them on the door.

This is the origin of the door gods.

However, Emperor Taizong's illness became increasingly severe.

He called the ministers to his bedside, preparing to discuss his final affairs.

Wei Zheng stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, do not be afraid, I have a way to bring you back."

Emperor Taizong did not believe it.

Wei Zheng took out a letter and said: "Cui Jue, the old minister of the previous emperor, is now an official in the underworld."

Take this letter to him, and he will help you.

Emperor Taizong kept the letter safe and soon passed away.

Emperor Taizong's soul left his body and arrived in the underworld.

Someone called him: Great Tang Emperor, please come over.

Taizong looked and saw it was Cui Jue.

Taizong immediately gave the letter to him.

Wei Zheng asked Cui Jue for help in the letter.

Cui Jue finished reading the letter, smiled and said: "I am an old minister of the former emperor, and I am a friend of Wei Zheng, I will definitely help."

He took Taizong to see the Ten Halls of Yama.

Yama was very polite to Taizong, then told Cui Jue to bring the Book of Life and Death to look at.

Cui Jue brought the Book of Life and Death and secretly looked at it.

He saw that under Taizong's name it was written the thirteenth year of Zhenguan, which is this year.

Cui Jue did not speak, he picked up a pen, added two horizontal strokes above the character "one", making it become thirty-three years.

Then, he showed the register to the King of Hell.

The King of Hell saw that Taizong's lifespan had not yet ended, so he ordered to send him back.

Cui Jue took Taizong and left.

On the way, they passed through a city of wrongful deaths.

Many ghosts surged over.

These ghosts were all enemies that Taizong had killed during battles.

Now, they pestered Taizong, demanding money from him.

Taizong had no money, so he asked Cui Jue what to do.

Cui Jue said: "In the mortal world, there is a good person named Xiang Liang, who has saved a lot of money in the underworld."

We can borrow it first and give it to these ghosts.

Your Majesty, after returning, will repay it to him.

Taizong agreed, he borrowed money and distributed it to the ghosts.

Taizong also said to them: after I return, I will definitely hold a grand Buddhist ceremony to help you reincarnate.

The ghosts received the money and heard the promise, then slowly left.

Finally, Cui Jue brought Taizong back to the mortal world, and Taizong came back to life.