What was hell like? There were many theories about it.
Some theories described hell, the place where the cruel and evil Satan resided, as a space filled with fire. In this clearly fanciful theory, hell was located in the depths of the earth and sinners would be sent there after their death to be burned by the fire of the core of the world.
Other theories described it as a dark place filled with suffering separated by 18 levels called the eighteen levels of hell and the deeper one fell the more suffering one would experience as punishment.
Bai Zemin was not a particularly religious person. However, even though he was not a religious person in the past this did not mean that he rejected religion in general. He simply kept his mind open to all kinds of ideas and religions, without denying or accepting any of them as his faith.
