I felt that the computer addressed the condemned soul: “Is your name XXX?” As the female soul was about to reply and opened her mouth, the nails flew into her mouth to draw her tongue outward. In agony, she tried to pull the nails out with her hands. Strangely, the nails turned soft and did not injure her hands, so she let go and fled left and right. Yet with every step she took, her tongue got stretched by the five nails. The stretched portion was sliced off by the nails’ tail‑blades and fell to the ground. Tormented by such agony, she struggled desperately to get out of the computer’s range. At last she lifted her head and fled toward the left.
Alas! The ferocious yakshas on both sides never let her escape. On the left stood hammer‑wielding yakshas who vented their wrath upon condemned souls. One enraged hammer‑yaksha swung his hammer and struck the female soul upon her head, knocking her unconscious. The yaksha would not permit her to remain unconscious. He rudely hooked her mouth with an iron nail and then slapped her across the face. Blood flowed again from the soul, and she regained consciousness in a dazed state. She scrambled to her feet and fled toward the right. Yakshas also stood on the right; these were the dusky‑green icy yakshas. They instantly released frigid gas and battering chunks of ice. The female soul’s legs failed her, and terror drove her backward toward the computer to undergo this torment all over again. The sight made my own head spin. The condemned souls endured suffering with nowhere to flee.
I looked toward the yaksha and asked, “Hammer‑Yaksha, can you show some mercy? This female soul’s old wounds have not yet healed, yet you have struck her again. She has already suffered terribly and is given not even a moment’s respite.”
The Hammer‑Yaksha said, “This condemned soul was greatly given to double‑tongue in her earthly life. Whatever news came to her knowledge, she embellished and exaggerated it into incidents that harmed both parties. Her interpersonal relations were terrible; wherever she went she stirred up enmity and displeased others. Worst of all, she harmed her mother‑in‑law.
Before marrying her, her husband Mister A showed great filial piety toward his mother. His mother became a widow when Mister A was three years old and raised him alone. Mother and son relied upon one another and lived in peace. After this condemned soul married into the household, she grew jealous of her mother‑in‑law. She repeatedly committed double tongue, maliciously ruining the bond between mother and son. She even deliberately slandered her mother‑in‑law, falsely accusing her of an illicit relationship with a man. Overburdened with work, Mister A believed the slanderous whispers spoken by his wife. The bond between mother and son broke apart, and the grief‑stricken mother passed away in sorrow.
The mother‑in‑law’s soul arrived in the nether realm and brought charges against this female condemned soul for double-tongue defamation. For the double tongue she committed among mortals, she must now suffer punishment here within the Left‑Right‑Rushing Hell, the hell for those guilty of double tongue, and receive our blows. This is only her first station of karmic retribution. Once her term here ends, she will proceed to other hells for further torments.”
At this moment, a ferocious dusky‑green yaksha cast a glance in our direction.
The Magistrate said, “Hammer‑Yaksha, attend to your duties. The Soul‑Summoning Demon‑King has urgent matters awaiting attention.”
Bowing to the Magistrate, the Hammer‑Yaksha said, “Magistrate, please continue your inspection. I take my leave.”
The Magistrate said, “Ayù, we must hasten to deal with several earthly‑world calamitous incidents today, so all of us are heavily occupied. You are welcome to return and continue your observation another day.”