Many thanks first to @Zhongnin for sharing this beautiful scroll depicting Daoist Hell King Fenghuang dadi! I would like to analyse its borrowings from Chinese drama in the following thread @BryanSauvadet @woodsidesusan2 @CraigCnas @AliceBi10893529 @ninedragonspot @mujo_kun

On the lower part of the scroll, one may see several Hellish agents: Wu Erye 吴二爺 (as the無常is called in SW China) with wife and kid, a red-clad netherworld judge 判官 (helped by 3 half-naked demons鬼卒), then the Chicken-leg god雞脚神, an incarnation of the 回煞.

All this point to a SW, likely Sichuan origin of the scroll, such as those the local fashi 法師 Daoists would hang during soul-saving rituals. But the clearer link to the Sichuanese culture is the condemned man, Shi Huaiyu, whose name appear on the sign held by one of the 鬼卒

“Shi Huaiyu catched alive” 活捉石懷玉 is the title of a well-known Sichuan opera. It is a scene from a longer play called “Fengcui mountain”峰翠山, itself inspired by Wu xiaolian 武孝廉, a tale in scroll 5 of Pu Songling’s Liaozhai zhiyi 聊齋志異.

It tells the story of Shi Huaiyu a young literati, who, saved by a fox-spirit, marries her, but later betrays her and even kills her. But she comes back from Hell to have him arrested (“catched alive”) and sent to the Netherworld. Next is a Chinese abstract of the play

石怀玉行船赶考，病卧舟中。狐仙变作美貌女子，吐岀千年仙丹，救了石怀玉，二人结为夫妻。病愈，狐仙送其赶考。石怀玉高中武状元后，另娶妻室。狐仙闻讯找上门来，石怀玉多次加害不成，将其暂留府中。一日狐仙酒后现岀原形，石怀玉将其杀害。一夜，狐仙鬼魂飘然而至，将石怀玉活捉。

Here is a link to a video of the Chuanju play “Shi Huaiyu catched alive” as performed by the Longquan xinglong troup龙泉兴龙剧团演出活捉石怀玉 https://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTEzMDg4NzY1Ng==.html?spm=a2h0c.8166622.PhoneSokuUgc_1.dscreenshot

The other Pictures are from “Shi Huaiyu catched alive” 活捉石懷玉as performed in锦江剧场 2017年7月8日 ; 石怀玉 … 彭欣綦 饰 胡莲娘 … 吴雯婷 饰 ; 拿 鬼 … 余洛州 饰 梅 香 … 李 玉 饰 http://scopera.newssc.org/system/20170718/000079087.html

It was very common for Kings of Hell scrolls in late imperial China, especially in SW, to allude to stories taken from local operas, featuring stories of revenge, but also of salute. Forthcoming paper by @PRiboud and me at the end of this year! @Stevejonesblog