King Song Di (Third Court)

King Song Di Yu presides over the Third Court of the Underworld, adjudicating souls who committed grave offenses in life—including disrespect and disobedience toward parents and elders, inciting lawsuits, and exploiting the weak through brute force or authority. He administers the Black Rope Great Hell and its subsidiary hells. In traditional Chinese ethics, filial piety is revered as the foremost of all virtues, and the existence of King Song Di’s court underscores the paramount importance accorded to filial conduct within the cosmic moral order of the afterlife. According to the Jade Calendar Scripture (Yuli Baochao), he also permits reduction of punishment for those who sincerely repent and reform. Folk tradition observes his birthday on the 8th day of the 2nd lunar month, invoking this underworld deity to instill in descendants the Confucian virtues of filial devotion and fraternal respect.