Chapter 237

The young man's words completely detonated the monkey's emotions. Next, Liyuan Guarding Guarding Zhenjun jumped around in the temple, performing an authentic monkey show.

Li Li Zhuiyuan was deliberately provoking it, hoping to learn about the current state of its main body and the other True Lords from the performance of its conscious phantom.

This kind of conscious phantom is like a shelled egg, most easily presenting the true feelings of the main body.

The monkey's impatience, exploding at a touch, showed that its main body had been enduring some kind of extreme pain.

Looking at it this way, those True Lords who were not in their respective temples were likely still alive.

After a long time, the monkey finally calmed down.

It panted heavily and looked at the young man: "This Lord can give you another chance."

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "I don't like keeping pets."

The monkey's emotions, which had just subsided, became agitated again.

"Do you know that the Crane Boy is just a little junior in front of me!

If it weren't for him impersonating a Bodhisattva and deceiving us, the so-called Official Generals would never have had the possibility of appearing!"

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "Really?"

"Otherwise? Do you think this Lord needs to lie to you?"

Li Li Zhuiyuan shook his head.

Monkey: "So..."

Li Li Zhuiyuan interrupted him: "I actually think it is precisely because you existed that lineages like the Official Generals appeared later."

The monkey tilted its head, as if trying hard to think about the meaning of the young man's words, but clearly, it didn't figure it out.

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "By the way, who told you about my existence?"

The monkey seemed to have heard an extremely ridiculous question and asked back: "You are walking the river, who in the Jianghu doesn't know?"

Li Li Zhuiyuan nodded: "Indeed."

Monkey: "With my help, your river-walking will become even smoother. Back then, it was precisely because I was fighting all the way in front that he was able to sit in that position."

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "Do you mean that if I take you in, I will end up being betrayed by you just like him?"

Monkey: "..."

Li Li Zhuiyuan scanned the surroundings and commented: "The environment here is really good, antique, but it's a pity that it's used as a zoo."

The monkey's eyes turned completely blood-red, and black energy permeated its body: "You are... courting death!"

Suddenly, the monkey froze.

Immediately after, it slowly raised its head, put its hands together, and the hostility on the monkey's body gradually receded.

After a while, the monkey smiled: "Heh, you and him are really alike."

Li Li Zhuiyuan felt some regret. In this kind of place, it was rare to meet a guy who was easily emotionally out of control.

The young man originally wanted to extract more intelligence clues from this monkey, but now, the person had calmed down.

What is currently known is that an internal strife had broken out here.

Standing from "his" perspective, this was a rebellion;

Standing from the True Lords' perspective, they were crusading against a liar who disguised himself as a Bodhisattva and stole a high position.

Besides that, there was one more point, which was that there was someone behind this monkey.

It had said before that here, only it possessed partial freedom; this was clearly not the truth.

And that person had a great influence on the monkey. Just now, it should have been that person who acted to disperse the negative emotions on the monkey, which meant that the person was also here now.

And, it should also be that person who suggested the monkey try to join his team and walk the river with him.

That person... was very familiar with his situation.

There weren't many people who knew he was walking the river, but there were some.

But the problem was, what way could the few people who knew about this have to contact this place?

Developing people outside to collect karma was the monkey's handiwork, which meant the monkey could contact external information, but the monkey clearly wasn't familiar with his true situation.

This was easy to understand. Like the abandoned disciples of family sects like Xin Jiyue and Wu Qinhai, they weren't qualified to understand the real secrets in the Jianghu.

But, the funny part was also here.

A monkey that could contact the outside world didn't know his true situation, but a person trapped here could know about him, and could even point the monkey to join.

That person, through what channel did he know his situation?

Li Li Zhuiyuan tilted his head slightly and scanned Lin Shu with the corner of his eye.

The young man thought of a possibility.

At this time, the monkey turned around, walked to the altar, clapped its hands, and the cloud wall opened.

"For the next leg of the journey, this Lord will lead you. This way, it can save you a lot of trouble."

The monkey's attitude took a sharp turn.

Li Li Zhuiyuan waved his hand and said to his companions: "Let's go."

There was nothing to fear or worry about. This monkey was already classified as a "threat" by Li Li Zhuiyuan. Whether it appeared in front of him or led the way, it actually made no difference.

Outside, birds were singing and flowers were fragrant.

You couldn't see birds or find flowers, but the bird calls were endless, and the fragrance of flowers was refreshing.

The monkey walked in front, and Li Li Zhuiyuan and the others followed behind.

Until another temple appeared in front.

The monkey introduced: "This is the Guarding Guarding Zhenjun Registrar temple, let's go in."

Tan Tan Wenbin whispered: "This monkey, why does it feel like a tour guide now?"

The Guarding Guarding Zhenjun Registrar's temple had also been destroyed, but the degree wasn't high, and it really lived up to its title. The temple was filled with various stone slabs and many stone basins.

When your gaze looked at the stone slabs, the text on them would change, like countless earthworms being imprisoned inside, constantly piecing together new text.

As for the water in the stone basins, when you leaned your head over to look, your reflection wouldn't appear inside, but scenes recording the past would appear.

Tan Tan Wenbin was half a photography enthusiast. Seeing this kind of basin, he asked excitedly: "Brother Xiao Yuan, can we move a basin back when we leave?"

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "Aren't photo albums more convenient than this?"

Tan Tan Wenbin: "But this style is high."

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "After you move this stone basin out of here, it becomes an ordinary basin, only fit to be a water bowl for Xiao Hei."

"Oh, is that so? Then it's a pity." Tan Tan Wenbin shrugged. "This place is really like a museum."

Monkey: "Guarding Guarding Zhenjun Registrar has three major responsibilities: recording merit, recording faults, and recording events. Here, the past of this place is recorded."

Li Li Zhuiyuan asked: "How come this row of stone tablets is all broken."

Monkey: "Most of the temples here were destroyed because of what happened back then. Is there anything strange about that?"

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "Very strange. A total of thirteen stone slabs were destroyed. According to the display logic here, twelve of the stone slabs should record the stories of you twelve True Lords meeting and getting to know 'him'."

"And there should be one more, which should record 'his' personal experience before creating this Dizang Nunnery."

The monkey just looked at the young man and remained silent.

Li Li Zhuiyuan continued: "Look, the stone slab residues on the ground, the degree of fragmentation is different, the destruction methods are different. It should be that one person destroyed one, found their own stone slab, and deliberately destroyed it."

The monkey pointed to four black, charred stone slabs and said: "Aren't these four destroyed in the same way? What you just said doesn't hold water at all."

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "Your refuting me is an admission."

Monkey: "Heh, as long as you are happy."

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "That's right, these four black stone slabs were burned by one person. One of them should be his own, one should record 'that him', and the remaining two, I guess one of them should be the Gatekeeper Guarding Guarding Zhenjun's."

Because of the special nature of his status, the Gatekeeper Guarding Guarding Zhenjun didn't participate in that internal strife.

He only guarded the gate to the outside, not the inside.

Furthermore, the monkey was right about one thing: the Gatekeeper Guarding Guarding Zhenjun should have had the lowest status and lowest strength among the True Lords. Being excluded didn't affect the overall situation, and afterwards... the Gatekeeper Guarding Guarding Zhenjun was also bewitched and controlled.

Monkey: "What about the other one?"

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "I think your master, that 'him', shouldn't be such a failure. Except for the Gatekeeper Guarding Guarding Zhenjun, all the True Lords rebelled. How could there not be one loyal subordinate who supported him at that time?"

Monkey: "You are indeed very smart."

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "I thought that on the island, after you lost both your wife and your army, you should have figured this out long ago."

Monkey: "Now, say whatever you want, I won't be angry anymore."

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "Why did you deliberately eliminate the past events with 'him'?"

Monkey: "Because everything in the past was 'his' deception to all of us. Thinking about it makes me feel sick. Do you know how many times I called him Bodhisattva after following him?"

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "He guided you, adopted you, and let you escape the beast path. No matter how many times you called him Bodhisattva, it wouldn't be too much. I don't know what you have to be sick about."

Monkey: "When I was a monkey before, calling him Bodhisattva didn't matter; but later, I became Liyuan Guarding Guarding Zhenjun, and being deceived into calling him Bodhisattva again, that is not allowed."

Lu Runsheng: "White-eyed monkey."

The monkey wasn't angry, just asked: "Everyone, have you finished visiting?"

Lin Shu raised his hand: "Not yet!"

The records here didn't mean much to others, but Lin Shu read them with great interest.

The history of the Official Generals wasn't long. He saw another longer and more perfect "Official Generals" development here.

For him, who took revitalizing the Official Generals as his life goal, he wished he could record all of this so that he could take fewer detours in future development and construction.

Tan Tan Wenbin reached out and poked Lin Shu: "Alright, let's go. You'll remember everything after one look."

Lin Shu scratched his head: "Brother Bin, if I had the ability to never forget, I wouldn't have only been admitted to Haihe University."

Tan Tan Wenbin: "It's okay, Brother Xiao Yuan has the ability to never forget, isn't he also your schoolmate?"

Lin Shu understood. Brother Bin meant that he didn't need to work hard to remember and look here; Brother Xiao Yuan must have memorized it long ago.

The monkey opened the cloud wall here. It seemed they were leaving.

Li Li Zhuiyuan glanced at the monkey's back. In the Guarding Guarding Zhenjun Registrar's temple, there was a lost formation that even Li Li Zhuiyuan had to marvel at.

Previously, the young man had been on guard, worried about when the monkey would suddenly launch it to trap them here, but the monkey not only didn't do so, but when it entered first, it took the initiative to remove the automatic activation of the formation.

Monkey: "Let's go, if I don't lead you here, it will be very difficult for you to pass."

After going out, the birds and flowers were gone, presenting a desolate and murderous scene.

And soon, everyone knew why the monkey said that.

Before even entering the next temple, outside, they saw a headless corpse kneeling there.

The death of this one person affected the entire environment of this area, which showed how powerful he was when he was alive.

This feeling was something the Gatekeeper Guarding Guarding Zhenjun didn't have.

There were many terrifying wounds on the corpse. From the presentation of the injuries, he should have died in a siege.

Lu Runsheng looked at the broken head and said: "It wasn't cut off, it was smashed."

Lu Runsheng liked to use a Yellow River shovel to smash other people's heads, so he had a lot of say in this.

Monkey: "His head was blown up by me with a stick."

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "Is his title Guarding Guarding Zhenjun Fa'e?"

The monkey turned its head to look at the young man in surprise. Clearly, the young man had guessed the answer correctly again.

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "From the records in the Guarding Guarding Zhenjun Registrar temple earlier, it can be seen that Guarding Guarding Zhenjun Fa'e had the worst relationship with 'him' and repeatedly refuted 'his' will."

This appeared extremely abrupt in front of the attitude of other True Lords who worshipped "him" as a Bodhisattva.

The recording style of most things was like this:

A certain Guarding Guarding Zhenjun had a conflict with a certain Guarding Guarding Zhenjun, and after "he" came forward to mediate, the two True Lords were convinced.

A certain Guarding Guarding Zhenjun made a mistake or had doubts about something, and after "he" came forward to enlighten, the Guarding Guarding Zhenjun gained enlightenment.

Only Guarding Guarding Zhenjun Fa'e dared to contradict "him" many times and put forward different opinions.

Monkey: "According to what you said, shouldn't Guarding Guarding Zhenjun Fa'e have been the first to oppose and crusade against 'him'? How could he support 'him' instead?"

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "This is a question you don't understand either, right?"

The monkey let its gaze fall on Guarding Guarding Zhenjun Fa'e's headless corpse:

"That's right, he was one of the strongest among all the True Lords, and also the Guarding Guarding Zhenjun who had the worst relationship with 'him'.

When he came out with an axe to block us, all of us were very surprised."

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "Because Guarding Guarding Zhenjun Fa'e was the only one who treated 'him' as a Bodhisattva."

Monkey: "But 'he' is not a Bodhisattva, this is a fact. We were all deceived by 'him'. According to what you said, Guarding Guarding Zhenjun Fa'e should have been the most furious after learning the truth!"

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "He is different from you."

Monkey: "How is he different?"

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "You only admire the strong."

The monkey's fists clenched, loosened, clenched again, and loosened again.

Li Li Zhuiyuan didn't want to deliberately provoke its emotions this time, but the knife of truth made it easier for the monkey to break its defense.

The "comfort" it had just experienced was about to run out.

Li Li Zhuiyuan also noticed that when the monkey clenched and loosened its fists, Guarding Guarding Zhenjun Fa'e's headless corpse's fists also trembled slightly, as if doing the same movement.

Clearly, the monkey had the ability to control this headless corpse.

Just like it had bewitched the Gatekeeper Guarding Guarding Zhenjun to attack them earlier, it could have let Guarding Guarding Zhenjun Fa'e launch an attack on them here.

Even if he was dead and his head was gone, Li Li Zhuiyuan also believed that he could cause greater trouble for them than the Gatekeeper Guarding Guarding Zhenjun.

Why did the monkey suddenly change its attitude?

What could be confirmed was that before he passed through the Gatekeeper Guarding Guarding Zhenjun temple, the monkey still had another attitude toward them. It wanted to kill them here, otherwise, it wouldn't have bewitched the Gatekeeper Guarding Guarding Zhenjun.

Therefore, the change in the monkey's attitude, or rather, the change in the attitude of the person behind the monkey, happened when they were fighting the Gatekeeper Guarding Guarding Zhenjun.

Li Li Zhuiyuan quickly went through the combat capabilities of his companions in his mind. Finally, the young man felt that if there was anything that could cause a change in that person's attitude... it should be his control of the eight Yao family corpses to collectively perform a ritual.

Performing a ritual himself and being able to control puppets to perform a ritual were two different things, which meant that he had mastered a more profound and comprehensive formula, such as—the "Dizang Bodhisattva Sutra."

Because of this, the person behind the monkey changed his arrangements for him, from stopping and killing him to actively receiving him.

This monkey was really obedient to that person.

The monkey finally controlled itself and didn't let Guarding Guarding Zhenjun Fa'e's corpse stand up.

Next, it led everyone through several more temples.

No more True Lords were seen, but there were two dangers along the way, both of which were resolved by the monkey in advance.

On the way, Tan Tan Wenbin gently hooked the young man's right hand with his finger. Li Li Zhuiyuan understood and released the red thread to connect with him.

"Brother Xiao Yuan, do you know what medicine this monkey is selling in its gourd?"

"I know."

Tan Tan Wenbin's face relaxed, and he waited silently in his heart.

But after waiting for a long time, he still couldn't wait for Brother Xiao Yuan's voice to sound in his heart.

"Brother Xiao Yuan?"

"Brother Brother Binbin, for now, I cannot tell you."

"Oh, okay, understood!"

The connection was interrupted. Tan Tan Wenbin smiled at Li Li Zhuiyuan. He wouldn't think that Brother Xiao Yuan would hide things; he knew that this was Brother Xiao Yuan intending to bear some things alone.

Everyone entered the last Guarding Guarding Zhenjun temple.

The furnishings inside were like new, protected very well. Further inside, it was the main temple where the Bodhisattva was.

Being able to live next to the Bodhisattva showed that this Guarding Guarding Zhenjun's status was second only to the Bodhisattva here.

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "Was it he who launched the rebellion?"

Monkey: "It was a crusade."

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "Guarding Guarding Zhenjun Pudu?"

Monkey: "Heh, I'm starting to suspect that you are the reincarnation of that guy Fa'e and have opened your past wisdom."

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "Because in the Guarding Guarding Zhenjun Registrar temple, there are the fewest records about Guarding Guarding Zhenjun Pudu."

Monkey: "So what?"

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "Your master criticized and educated him the least, which shows his high status. In general rebellions, aren't they all launched by the second-in-command?"

Monkey: "It was Guarding Guarding Zhenjun Pudu who revealed the truth that 'he' was not a Bodhisattva and led us to overthrow 'him'."

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "How to be sure..."

The monkey's tone rose sharply: "'He' finally admitted himself that he was a fake Bodhisattva, squeak squeak squeak!"

It seemed that being close to "him," the monkey's emotions were out of control again.

It walked to the last cloud wall and said: "Do you know why I call this place 'Wu Xin Island'?"

Li Li Zhuiyuan: "Because the heart is fake."

"Then do you know why I call the inside here Qiu Zhuang?"

Without waiting for Li Li Zhuiyuan to answer, the monkey pushed open the cloud wall with all its might and roared:

"Because after 'his' identity was exposed, 'he' imprisoned all of us here. This is the... prison village of all our True Lords!"

——

It took some time to sort out this plot. I will make up the missing word count tomorrow. Don't panic!

(End of chapter)