"Sorry, but who are you; and where am I?"
Apparently, whilst his anger might have vanished, his frustrations was still at an all-time high.
"I'm referred to as the 'First Supreme Judge' or 'First Yama King' but you can just call me - King Yama."
He introduced himself as he carefully closed the green-and-grey covered book he was reading and gently placed it on the table.
"As for where you are, this is the Netherworld; my abode, and a place where all souls return to upon dying." Yama replied with another disarming smile that calmed Daniel to his lowest.
"Netherworld? Oh, I see; so does that mean heaven and hell does not exist?" Daniel asked after heaving a calming sigh.
"He-he he!" Yama laughed in amusement, before responding; "This never gets old… Heaven and Hell does exist, Little One." King Yama added.
"All souls return to this realm upon death, and this is where they are judged and sent to heaven or hell based on their past deeds."
"So, am I going to be judged now?"
Daniel caught onto the explanation quicker than normal, despite being oblivious to this. However, the knowing smile on King Yama's face depicted that he was well aware of what was happening, or rather, what had changed.
"I was just reading through your past lives." King Yama smiled softly as he stood to his feet.
Daniel on the other hand was simply stunned speechless.
"Reading through my past life?!" He asked in a disbelieving tone.
"Well, based on the accounts of your short life, there was little to nothing to actually judge you on, hence the reason you are here and not before the other judges of the ten courts." Yama responded, pointing to the green and grey book on his table.
With piqued curiosity, Daniel traced his gaze towards what King Yama was pointing at and his total disbelief swiftly became half shock and half confusion.
From his current position and angle, he could clearly see the words written on the cover of the book as clear as day;
[Book of Life and Death.]
Daniel's expression paled considerably; the moment he laid eyes on the book, an overwhelming sense of taboo suddenly washed over every fiber of his body.
He was absolutely terrified!
"The book of Life and Death?!"
Even saying the title of the book out loud made his soul tremble and ache, it was almost like he was blaspheming a divine being in their very presence.
"Your first life had been full of enacting justice and saving countless lives from the conspiracies of the greedy."
"For one to be willing to sacrifice himself for the good of others is an extremely rare act nowadays." King Yama sighed as he walked over and sat on the edge of the table just a few feet across Daniel.
"King Yama praises me too much, if I had another life, I might have decided not to join the military." Daniel gave an honest reply.
"But if I may ask; I'd like to know exactly why I have been summoned here?"
Hearing this, King Yama nodded slightly before adjusting his posture as his face turned serious.
"I summoned you here because I need your help."
King Yama revealed whilst Daniel simply nodded along for a moment.
"Wait... what?!"
Daniel blurted when his brain finally registered what the information it had just received.
"Yes, you heard right; I need your help." King Yama reaffirmed his words.
"But why me? I mean... there are definitely others out there who are better and have done even much better deeds than me?"
"Because… you and I are from the same realm" King Yama replied simply.
"From the same realm?!" Daniel recoiled, looking adorably lost.
"Oh right! According to the mundane world; I also came from Earth, but that was over billions of eons ago" King Yama explained.
"Billions of eons?" Daniel was getting even more muddle-headed.
Earth isn't even a trillion years old yet, and this man was telling him he had come from there from a time more than a billion times before that?
However, noticing that he would simply end up hurting his brain for no reason thinking about it, Daniel threw the matter to the back of his mind before asking some other questions he was very much interested in.
"All these souls; aren't they also from earth?!" He curiously asked.
"Not everyone in the Netherworld comes from Earth." Yama replied.
"In the infinite universe, there are three major planes of existence; the Heaven, the Netherworld and the Mortal realms.
The Heaven refers to the Celestial or Divine realms of which there are nine levels, the Netherworld refers to the Underworld within which the nine levels of hell are situated, and lastly the Mortal realm where there are billions of Major Worlds and countless Minor Worlds." King Yama explained further.
"Earth is only one of the minor worlds; the nine planets including their respective moons and the Sun makes up a Major World.
Earth has only a couple billion people. Every moment, people die in all the billions of major worlds and countless minor worlds, their souls descends here, into the Netherworld!
So can you imagine how many souls are present in this Kingdom?"
Daniel felt like his brain was in overdrive and his throat sealed shut.
"So, what do you say; are you willing to help me?" King Yama asked with a slight smile.
"Sure, what do I need to do?" Daniel replied in a heartbeat.
Though he wasn't sure what the help entailed, his instincts kept telling him it involved him leaving the netherworld, and based on the fact that only the heavens and mortal worlds existed outside it, it became a no-brainer as to what his response would be.
As long as his task took him away from this place, far away from the demons and their soul shredding whips, he was good with it.
"Actually, for some reasons, I cannot give you any details on what exactly your mission entails. If I did, we might end up complicating the already complicated outcome.
However what I can do is lock up the details within your consciousness, so at appropriate times, your sixth sense can relay them to you; just like a gut feeling or intuition."
Daniel was slightly stunned by what he had just heard; however, he didn't mind it one bit, as long as the message came to him, all will be well and good.
"However, there are other information that I can give you that won't affect the outcome too much."
Hearing this, Daniel's ears perked up as he stared at King Yama's face, intending to latch onto every word that came out of his mouth.
"Firstly, since you're going to reincarnating, it is best you understand what the six paths of reincarnation is all about.
The six paths of reincarnation refers to: Sovereigns (Devas and Asuras), Humans, Beasts, Herbs, Vengeful Ghosts and Hell beings.
The Devas and Asuras are called; The Sovereigns and are also known as beings born directly out of immense power.
They are regarded as the architects of all worlds and dimensions, since they were the ones who create them.
The Humans and Beasts are called; The Mundane, and are also considered as beings of the Mortal Realm, since they are born in the billion major worlds and countless minor worlds.
The Vengeful Ghosts and Hell beings are called; The Supremes, and are also considered as beings of the netherworld as they exist in the underworld or hells.
You're going to reincarnate into one of the minor worlds of a major world where its inhabitants cultivate spiritual energy.
It would be a place extremely off grid; that way, you will be able to grow quickly in a relatively harmless environment.
But be warned, the world of cultivation is a place where the strong eat the weak, a place where power reigns supreme. This means that, it would do you a great deal of favor, if you cultivate quietly and subtly until you have enough strength to protect yourself.
You will have some lucky encounters with divine treasures and beings. However, if some experts in that world came to know that you're in possession of such items, it might bring doom to you and all that you will care about."
King Yama explained in details before wrapping everything up with a stern warning.
Realizing that King Yama had finished his explanations, Daniel couldn't help but feel like something was amiss.
"What preparations am I supposed to make?" Daniel asked upon realizing that he didn't have anything to work with.
"Worry not, the major things you need are already awaiting you, as for the rest, like I said, your instincts would naturally drive you towards them."
"Now, go!"
King Yama added as he waved his hand, causing a golden glow to shoot into Daniel's soul, before he vanished out of sight.
The golden glow brought Daniel to the torrential yellow river he saw on his way over to King Yama's palace; helping him bypass the many souls along the way, before taking him to Grandma Meng; an old lady who was all bones and skin.
Behind her were three tunnels in which several souls were already filing into.
Grandma Meng looked at Sam and with another blink, a brand appeared on his chest.
The old woman saw the brand and for a moment, shock flashed across her face before she gave the awkward looking Daniel a mysterious pitch black cup that had blood red runes etched onto it.
There was also a yellow liquid within this cup, and just by looking at it, Daniel could tell that if a single drop of the yellow liquid were to drop onto his soul, then a portion of everything he knew would be forever washed away.
He knew that, to forget everything about his past up until the present moment, all he had to do was drink the entire content of that cup.
After giving him the cup, the old lady then waved her arm, causing an invincible force to grab hold of Daniel and usher him into the middle tunnel which he felt led to the mortal realm.
Hua!
Daniel felt a bone-piercing cold wash all over him, as the energy in his immediate surroundings warped all around.
However, just as he began to feel uncomfortable, a golden light shot out of his soul and wrapped around his body, forming some sort of barrier around him as he sped through the mystical tunnel.
About five minutes later, Daniel's immediate surrounding suddenly contracted before he felt an invisible force push and eject him into an entirely new and utterly different atmosphere.
However, just as he emerged, a familiarly terrifying sensation suddenly gripped him from head to toe.
Scanning his surroundings, Daniel suddenly realized that he was falling at a blinding speed, with everything in his sight magnifying rapidly.
"Please, anything but a water surface or bare ground!"
Daniel chanted his prayers repeatedly as he finally pierced through the cloud and saw the visage of what seemed to be the body of a handsome little kid lying on the ground with a bleeding forehead.
But just as he was about to fall into this little kid, a purple colored soul suddenly came out of nowhere, heading toward the same kid.
Even though, he had no idea about mystical arts, Daniel; for some strange reasons, was very certain that two different consciousness should not exist within the same body.
But before he could say or do anything, he heard the soul actually curse King Yama who had just blessed him with an opportunity to reincarnate, and all the fury and frustrations he thought had vanished earlier suddenly came back with incensed tyranny.
He somehow found that action offensive and he instinctively responded by cursing the purple soul in King Yama's defense;
"Fuck you too!" Daniel blurted with vigor.
"Unh? Who the fuck are you?" The purple soul retorted in fury.
However, when he looked closely and saw Daniel's trajectory, his face turned purple in hatred.
"Hmph, if you think you can snatch such a treasure trove from me, then you've got another thing coming!"
Daniel heard the man retort with a snort. However, shortly afterwards, the man suddenly began to form some mysterious hand seals, and before Daniel could even register what was happening, the purple colored soul attacked him with the intent to kill.
"You dare!"