The man known as Liu Xiaolian was peculiar; he remembered the events of his previous life with crystal clarity. According to his own account, in his former incarnation, he had been a petty squire whose dissolute conduct led to his death at the age of sixty-two.

Upon arriving in the Underworld, the King of Hell initially treated him with ceremony, offering him a seat and serving tea. Liu stole a glance; the King’s cup held water so clear one could see the bottom, yet his own was murky. He thought, "Is this some kind of soul-confusing brew?" Seizing a moment when the King was distracted, he quietly dumped his tea.

Presently, the King consulted the Book of Life and Death. Seeing the elder Master Liu’s history riddled with misdeeds, he grew furious and commanded his attendants to cast him into the Animal Path, sentencing him to serve as a horse. The minor devils obeyed, dragging Master Liu to a stable where the threshold was so high it seemed impossible to cross. As he hesitated, a devil shoved him hard in the back, eliciting a cry of pain as he tumbled. When he struggled back to his feet, he found himself in a manger. He heard human voices: "The big black mare has foaled; it’s a little colt." He understood instantly, though he could not speak. A sharp hunger clawed at him, and having no choice, he had to seek nourishment at the dam’s flank.

Four or five years passed, and his body grew strong, possessing a magnificent bearing. Yet, he lived in constant fear of the whip, fleeing at the mere sight of one. Being ridden with a proper saddle and padding was tolerable hardship. But when the servants mounted him—without a saddle—kicking him savagely in the belly with their heels—the pain pierced his very soul. Full of bitter resentment, he resolved to starve himself, dying after three days.

Returning to the Netherworld, the King found that his appointed penalty period had not elapsed. He berated Liu for illegally evading punishment and stripped his hide, demoting him to the status of a domestic dog. Master Liu was filled with anguish and refused reincarnation. A horde of ghosts beat him with cudgels until, unable to bear the agony, he fled into the wilderness, thinking, "If this is suffering, I might as well be dead." In a surge of hatred, he leaped from a high cliff.

When he opened his eyes, he was nestled in a dog kennel. The mother dog was looking at him with tender affection, licking him with her tongue. He knew without asking: he had been reborn as a dog.

After some time, his body matured. Seeing filth and excrement, he recognized their foulness, yet their smell seemed strangely alluring, but he vowed never to partake. He spent years as a dog, consumed by bitterness almost unto death. Yet, he feared that dying now would only mean an extension of his penalties, compounding his sins. Fortunately, his master was kind-hearted and kept the dog, refusing to kill him. Desperate for death, Liu finally resorted to provocation, deliberately biting off a chunk of his master’s thigh muscle. Enraged, the master clubbed him to death.

Back in the Yellow Springs, the King, stunned by his arrogance, had him beaten with hundreds of strokes of the cane and condemned him to be a serpent. Imprisoned in a dark cell where daylight never penetrated, Master Liu grew suffocated with despair. He climbed the wall and squeezed through a crack, inspecting his serpentine body. Crouching in the thatch, he had indeed transformed. He silently vowed: from this moment on, he would never harm a living creature, subsisting only on wild berries.

After a year or two, he grew world-weary again. He thought: suicide is forbidden, and being killed through wrongdoing is also barred. How difficult it is to simply perish! One day, lying in the grass, he saw a horse-drawn carriage approach. An idea struck him. He lunged into the road, blocking the passage. The carriage wheels rolled over him, slicing his body in two.

Once again returning to the depths of the Nine Hells, the King was astonished. "How have you returned so quickly?" Master Liu prostrated himself, begging for mercy. Because he had been unjustly killed, the King’s compassion was moved. He pardoned him, granting him leave to complete his sentence and be reborn as a human—the current Liu Xiaolian.

Master Liu could speak from birth, and excelled in his studies, committing entire texts to memory after a single reading. In the Xinyou year, he passed the imperial examination as a Juren. He often advised others: "When riding a horse, you must always use a saddle pad. Kicking the flanks with your heels causes the poor creature pain more unbearable than any lash."