True to their words, Ruan Ye and Wei Yaling returned as the sun was nearing the horizon.  The sun set early in November, so Ma Qianle was only able to get a few hours of sleep, but he was already feeling much better than he had been.  Ruan Ye was the first to arrive.  He knocked politely on the door as Ma Qianle was setting out the items he needed for the ritual.  Ma Qianle opened it and let him in without a word.  He didn't like being around Ruan Ye, but he accepted that for the time being there wasn't a better option.

Wei Yaling arrived shortly after, simply appearing in the apartment as though it was hers, as she had that first weekend of training. She surveyed the items laid out on the coffee table.  Sure enough, the pill Ruan Ye had left for Ma Qianle was missing.

"Are you feeling any better?" she asked, and leaned against the wall separating the entryway from the living room.  Ruan Ye took a seat on the couch.

"A bit," Ma Qianle replied.  He finished with his setup and then looked up at Wei Yaling.  "Are you ready?"  He directed the question at Wei Yaling, pointedly ignoring Ruan Ye's presence.

She nodded.  "It's just about sunset," she said.  "We should get started.”

There was a reason they had chosen this time to meet back up and perform the ritual that allowed Ma Qianle to enter Diyu.  It was impossible for mortals to bodily enter the underworld.  In order to travel there, Ma Qianle would need to separate his immortal soul from his body, allowing it to cross the boundary between worlds while his mortal soul stayed behind with his body.  This was not the first time Ma Qianle had done so, but this time he was weakened by the plague demon's attack.  Sunset and sunrise, being neither properly day nor properly night, ruled neither by yin nor by yang, were the easiest times of day to do things like soul separation or ghost summoning.

Naturally, a thing like soul separation was not without risks.  While the immortal soul was away, the body was vulnerable to attack and possession by any evil being that was nearby.  Also, if the connection between the body and the immortal soul was severed while they were apart, it was next to impossible to find the way back without assistance.

As Ma Qianle prepared to cast the wards that would protect his body while he was away in the underworld, Ruan Ye leaned forward to interrupt him.

"Allow me.  I can cast the wards more strongly than you can," Ruan Ye said, wanting to help.

Ma Qianle brushed him off.  "I'll do it myself," he said, and proceeded to do so before Ruan Ye had a chance to argue.  Wei Yaling, watching, rolled her eyes, but said nothing.

Then, it was time for the ritual itself.  'I hate this part,' Ma Qianle thought.  He lit three sticks of a special incense that one of the Impermanents had provided to him and bowed before setting them in a bowl of ashes on the coffee table.  He had always thought that it felt uncomfortably like he was offering incense at his own memorial, and it made him uneasy.

This uneasiness did not last long, however, as seated himself neatly on the floor, closed his eyes, and fell into a trance.  When he opened them again, he was no longer in his living room but on the road into the underworld.  Wei Yaling, being an Impermanent, and Ruan Ye, a guardian spirit appointed by the heavens, did not need to perform any rituals to cross the boundaries between worlds, and soon appeared beside him.

The entrance to the hells was a sight to behold.  Before them and behind them, a bluestone road stretched out endlessly.  Down the center of the road, a line of people stood, so long the end could not be seen.  These were the souls of the dead, waiting their turn to enter and be judged for the sins and virtues of their lifetimes.  Some looked completely normal, where others were battered and covered in blood, even missing limbs.  Some were not even human — mixed into the line were animals, demons with strange eyes or furred ears and many furry tails, even strange beings with enormous mouths but throats so narrow not even a drop of water could pass through.  All manner of beings, from the most lowly to the highest, were here, equal in the face of death.

To either side of the road were fields of bright red spider lilies.  Tiny lights, like fireflies, floated among the blossoms, casting eerie lights in the dimness.  Not far ahead of where the trio stood, there was a gate in an impossibly long, impossibly high wall.  The gate was magnificent.  Multiple levels of gabled roof protruded out from the wall, fantastic beasts dancing along the crests. The lintels were brightly painted and gilded, and a plaque with an inscription in an ancient script Ma Qianle could not read hung above the central portal.

As the three approached the portal on the right, a guard stepped in their path and extended his trident to block their path.  He was heavily armored, and had the head of an ox rather than a human.  Accustomed to this, the three showed their tablets, and he withdrew, allowing them to pass.  

Beyond the wall was a vast palace compound,  built in the ancient style.  The line of dead souls continued ahead, into the main hall.  Officials hurried between the many buildings, piles of scrolls or other items in their hands.

Rather than turning off the main path to the side building where captured ghosts taken into custody by the Impermanents were handed over, as Ma Qianle had done on his previous visits, they continued straight on ahead to the main hall.  Just as at the gate, they were stopped before entering, this time by a neatly attired official.

"Halt!  What business do you have?" the official said.

Wei Yaling stepped forward and bowed politely.  "Keeper of Dongqiu City Ruan Ye, Mortal Agent of Dongqiu City Ma Qianle, and Senior Impermanent Wei Yaling request an audience with the ten Yama Kings on a matter of great importance," she said formally.

The official put on a dissatisfied face but said "Please wait here" and went inside.  Ma Qianle had the impression that the official had had to deal with Wei Yaling's antics in the past.  It was always difficult to measure the passage of time in the hells, but after what Ma Qianle thought was about ten minutes had passed, the official returned.  

"Follow me," he said, and led them away.  Rather than lead them into the main room, he turned along the front of the building and led them to a slightly smaller but no less grand hall on the side.  He entered briefly, then came back out and formally summoned Ma Qianle, Ruan Ye, and Wei Yaling into the hall and closed the doors behind them.

The interior of the hall reminded Ma Qianle of one of the imperial halls he had seen in the old palace during a visit to the capital as a student, but where that had held only one throne, this one had ten.  Wei Yaling and Ruan Ye, who had been to this hall before, both knelt on the floor in a kowtow.  Ma Qianle, a modern man here for the first time, imitated them a beat later.

"Rise," the man seated on the most central of the thrones said.  After waiting for Ma Qianle, Ruan Ye, and Wei Yaling to get back to their feet, he spoke again.  "Wei Yaling, you know the consequences if you've asked to meet us for a trivial matter again."

Wei Yaling stepped forward and bowed placatingly.  "Your Majesties, this official truly does have a matter of importance this time.  It is concerning this morning's ghost practitioner in Dongqiu City."

Another of the kings, a white-haired woman this time, spoke.  "I do not see why Keeper Ruan's presence is necessary for a ghost practitioner.

Ruan Ye also stepped forward.  "The ghost practitioner was one of this official's charges, a member of the plague demon clan."

The white-haired woman cocked an eyebrow, irritated.  "Did you come before us to solve a matter of jurisdiction?  You are not children.  Surely you can resolve such a thing yourselves."

Wei Yaling opened her mouth to retort but Ruan Ye cut her off.  "There is a dispute over jurisdiction, but that is the less important matter.  The ghost practitioner this morning was able to block the perception of the hells.  This official believes that she did this with the assistance of one of the Zudang Jades.”  Impermanent Wei concurs.

"Preposterous!" a thin, reedy king with a long straggly beard exclaimed.  "You should know better than any that the Zudang Jades were all sealed away centuries ago, Keeper Ruan."

Ma Qianle was completely lost.  Knowing that they intended to seek out the Yama Kings, he had worn some slacks and a button down shirt that were his normal work clothing, but he still felt underdressed and extremely out of place.  The other two clearly had a history with the Yama Kings, and had given him little information in preparation.  And what on earth were the Zudang Jades?

"Does Your Majesty think this official is blind?"  Wei Yaling asked, a bit more bluntly than she ought to.  "This official has seen the Zudang Jades before."

"Enough, Wei Yaling," the first king to speak said.  "Keeper Ruan, you are a reliable official of the heavens.  I do not think you would make such an assertion without evidence."

"Your Majesty is correct," Ruan Ye replied.  "I have the jade with me."  He brought out the pendant Ma Qianle had taken from the woman that morning and proffered it with two hands.  A tiny crimson and yellow talisman was stuck to it.

The court erupted in noise.  There were exclamations of "Impossible!" and "It can't be!".  Others gasped and even the attendants, schooled in impassivity, couldn't hide their shock. The first king glared to either side and soon quiet returned.

"Bring it to me," he said, and gestured at an attendant.  The attendant took the pendant from Ruan Ye and respectfully presented it to the king.  He took it and examined it for a few minutes, then handed it back to the attendant and indicated it should be passed around.

He took a deep breath and let it out.  "Impermanent Wei, you did well to bring this matter to our attention.  The Zudang Jades appearing in the mortal realm again is a matter of dire importance, even more so if they are appearing in the hands of non-mortals.  You, Ma Qianle, may have a great deal of work to do."

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Thanks to valiantxvillainous and ML Peregrine for editing and beta reading help!