In our minds, the eighteen-story underworld is a very mysterious place, because the fate of life and death of all people is in the hands of it. In the era when feudal superstition was particularly serious in ancient times, many people were terrified as if they had lost the name of Hades when they heard the name of Hades. And when Sun Wukong was making trouble in the underworld, he was not only fearless, but also scared the king of Hades to the point of urine, and all the ghost soldiers in the underworld surrendered. This has to make everyone wonder, why is Hades, as the ruler of the underworld, so weak, why is he so badly abused by monkeys? This is not at all in line with the image of the mortal world who is frightened and trembling when he hears the name of Hades.
In fact, this is entirely because the mortal world only knows that Hades is in charge of the book of life and death, so everyone thinks that Hades is the biggest official in the underworld. And Sun Wukong dared to treat Hades like this because he knew that Hades was just one of the ten palace Hades in the underworld, equivalent to a department manager, and had no real power. Some people will definitely say that it is the Bodhisattva of the King of the Earth, because when the King of Yama went to the Heavenly Court to complain to the Jade Emperor, he was acting at the will of the King of the Earth, so everyone assumed that the King of the Earth was the real ruler of the Bodhisattva, but in fact this statement is not accurate. In terms of ability, the Bodhisattva of the King of the Earth is indeed more powerful than the King of Hades, but he does not have the right to manage the underworld, and there is someone else in charge of the real power of the underworld.
When Liu Bei's three brothers bowed, they swore that "the emperor and the queen of heaven and earth, learn from this heart, betray righteousness and ingratitude, and kill heaven and man together!" We all know that the emperor is the Jade Emperor, so what is the origin of the earth? In fact, she is the mother of the earth who is as famous as the Jade Emperor and holds the yin and yang to nurture all things, that is, the controller of the underworld. The ancient society was a matriarchal society and respected women, so Hou Tu Niang Niang was in charge of the harmony of yin and yang, and was also the god of reproduction. Based on the worship of gods and women, Houtu Niangniang has always been worshipped by people in the world.
Hou Tu Niang Niang and the Jade Emperor are both one of the four emperors, belonging to the same level relationship, and are the gods admired by the Taoist people. And the Buddha with mana is just the five elders of the five directions under the four emperors, which means that even Rulai does not dare to offend Hou Tu Niangniang. The Ten Palaces Yama and the King of Dizo who work in the underworld, they only assist and cooperate with the work of Hou Tu Niangniang, in short, they are the subordinates of Hou Tu Niangniang.
Since ancient times, it has been rumored that Houtu is the mother of the earth, and the ancients paid attention to entering the earth for peace, so the soul of people after death is under the jurisdiction of Houtu. In order to reincarnate people after death, Hou Tu Niang Niang built six reincarnations to benefit the common people. Therefore, she is the real ruler of the underworld, and the king of Jizo is just her little minion.