Chapter 231

The youth’s words completely ignited the monkey’s emotions. True Lord Li Yuan then bounded and leaped around the temple, performing an authentic monkey show.

Li Zhuiyuan had intentionally provoked it, hoping to deduce the current state of its true form and the other True Lords from the manifestations of its conscious phantom.

This conscious phantom was like a peeled egg, most likely to reveal the true feelings and emotions of the original entity.

The monkey’s irritability, its tendency to explode at the slightest provocation, indicated that its true form had been enduring some extreme pain.

From this perspective, it seemed highly probable that the True Lords who were not in their respective temples were still alive.

After a long while, the monkey finally quieted down.

It panted, looking at the youth: “This Lord can give you another chance.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “I don’t like keeping pets.”

The monkey’s recently calmed emotions flared up again.

“Do you know that Crane Boy is merely a junior to this Lord? If he hadn’t impersonated a Bodhisattva and deceived us, the so-called ‘Official Generals’ would never have appeared!”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Is that so?”

“What else? Do you think this Lord needs to lie to you?”

Li Zhuiyuan shook his head.

The monkey: “So…”

Li Zhuiyuan interrupted it: “On the contrary, I think it’s precisely because you existed that the lineage of ‘Official Generals’ later emerged.”

The monkey tilted its head, seemingly trying to understand the youth’s words, but it clearly couldn’t grasp them.

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

The monkey seemed to have heard a highly amusing question and retorted, “You’re performing the River Journey; who in the martial world doesn’t know about it?”

Li Zhuiyuan nodded: “Indeed.”

The monkey: “With my assistance, your River Journey will be much smoother. Back then, it was because I fought my way through ahead that he was able to ascend to that position.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Are you implying that if I were to take you in, I would end up being betrayed by you, just like him?”

The monkey fell silent.

Li Zhuiyuan looked around and commented, “The environment here is truly excellent, ancient and charming. It’s a shame it’s being used as a zoo.”

The monkey’s eyes turned completely crimson with rage, and dark energy permeated its body: “You… are courting death!”

Suddenly, the monkey froze.

Then, it slowly raised its head, pressed its palms together, and the malevolent aura around its body gradually receded.

A moment later, the monkey smiled: “Heh heh, you are truly very similar to him.”

Li Zhuiyuan felt a tinge of regret. In such a place, encountering someone prone to emotional outbursts was rare.

The youth had originally wanted to extract more intelligence from the monkey, but now, it had calmed down.

What was currently known was that an internal conflict had once erupted here.

From “his” perspective, it was a rebellion;

From the True Lords’ perspective, they were chastising a fraud who had impersonated a Bodhisattva and usurped a high position.

Additionally, there was another point: someone was behind this monkey.

It had previously said that only it possessed partial freedom here; this was clearly not true.

Moreover, that person had a significant influence on the monkey. It must have been that person who acted just now, dispersing the negative emotions from the monkey. This also meant that person was currently here.

Furthermore, it was likely that person who suggested the monkey try to join his team and accompany him on his River Journey.

That person… was very familiar with his situation.

Not many people knew about his River Journey, but there weren't none.

The problem was, how could the few people who knew about this possibly contact someone here?

Having people outside collect karma was the monkey’s doing, meaning the monkey could access external information. Yet, the monkey clearly wasn’t familiar with him.

This was easy to understand. Discarded disciples from family sects, like Xin Jiyue and Wu Qinhai, were not qualified to know the true secrets of the martial world.

But that was precisely where the humor lay.

A monkey capable of external contact didn't know his true situation, yet a person trapped here did, and could even instruct the monkey to join him.

Through what channel did that person come to know about his situation?

Li Zhuiyuan slightly tilted his head, glancing at Lin Shuyou out of the corner of his eye.

The youth considered a possibility.

At this moment, the monkey turned, walked towards the altar, clapped its hands, and the cloud wall opened.

“This Lord will lead you on the next leg of the journey, which will save you a lot of trouble.”

The monkey’s attitude took a sharp turn.

Li Zhuiyuan waved his hand and told his companions, “Let’s go.”

There was nothing to fear or worry about. This monkey was already categorized as a ‘threat’ by Li Zhuiyuan, so whether it appeared before them or led the way made little difference.

Outside, birds sang and flowers bloomed.

No birds could be seen, no flowers found, yet the birdsong was incessant, and the floral scent was pervasive.

The monkey walked ahead, with Li Zhuiyuan and his companions following behind.

They continued until another temple appeared ahead.

The monkey introduced: “This is the True Lord Master of Records Temple. Let’s go in.”

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

The True Lord Master of Records’ temple had also been damaged, though not severely. True to its title, the temple was filled with various stone tablets and many stone basins.

When you looked at the stone tablets, the text on them would shift, as if countless earthworms were confined within, constantly assembling new characters.

As for the water in the stone basins, when you leaned in to look, your reflection wouldn’t appear. Instead, scenes depicting the past would emerge.

Tan Wenbin, a half-amateur photographer, asked excitedly after seeing these basins, “Brother Xiao Yuan, can we take one of these basins when we leave?”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Aren’t photo albums more convenient than this?”

Tan Wenbin: “But this has a higher aesthetic.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Once you move this stone basin out of here, it’ll just become an ordinary basin, only good for Little Black’s water bowl.”

“Oh, in that case, what a shame.” Tan Wenbin shrugged. “This place really is like a museum.”

The monkey: “The True Lord Master of Records has three main responsibilities: recording merits, recording faults, and recording events. This place chronicles the past here.”

Li Zhuiyuan asked, “Why are all these stone tablets in this row shattered?”

The monkey: “Most of the temples here were damaged because of what happened back then. Is there anything strange about that?”

Li Zhuiyuan: “It is very strange. A total of thirteen stone tablets were destroyed. According to the display and recording logic here, twelve of them should have recorded the stories of you, the twelve True Lords, and your encounters and acquaintances with ‘him.’ The other tablet should have recorded ‘his’ personal experiences before establishing this Ksitigarbha Temple.”

The monkey simply looked at the youth, remaining silent.

Li Zhuiyuan continued: “Look, the fragments of these stone tablets on the ground vary in their degree of breakage and method of destruction. It appears that each True Lord found their own tablet and deliberately destroyed it.”

The monkey pointed to four charred, black stone tablets and said, “Aren’t these four destroyed in the same way? What you just said doesn’t hold water at all.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Your rebuttal is an affirmation.”

The monkey: “Heh, as long as you’re happy.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “You’re right. These four black tablets were burned by one person. One of them should have been his own, another should have recorded ‘that him,’ and of the remaining two, I speculate one belongs to the True Lord Guardian of the Gate.”

The True Lord Guardian of the Gate, due to his unique status, did not participate in the internal conflict.

He merely guarded the outer gates, not the inner affairs.

Furthermore, the monkey was right about one thing: among the True Lords, the True Lord Guardian of the Gate likely held the lowest status and possessed the weakest power. His exclusion did not affect the overall situation, and afterwards… the True Lord Guardian of the Gate was also misled and controlled.

The monkey: “What about the other one?”

Li Zhuiyuan: “I imagine your master, ‘he,’ shouldn’t have been such a failure, with all True Lords under him rebelling except for the True Lord Guardian of the Gate. Surely, there must have been at least one loyal subordinate who still supported him at that time, right?”

The monkey: “You are indeed very clever.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “I thought after you lost everything on the island, you would have understood this already.”

The monkey: “Now, no matter what you say, I won’t get angry.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Why intentionally erase the past events concerning ‘him’?”

The monkey: “Because everything in the past was ‘his’ deception of all of us; it makes me sick just thinking about it. Do you know how many times I called him Bodhisattva since I started following him?”

Li Zhuiyuan: “He enlightened you, adopted you, and allowed you to escape the animal realm. No matter how many times you called him Bodhisattva, it wouldn’t be excessive. I don’t see what’s so disgusting about that.”

The monkey: “When I was just a monkey, calling him Bodhisattva was fine. But later, when I became True Lord Li Yuan, being tricked into calling him Bodhisattva again became unacceptable.”

Runsheng: “Ungrateful monkey.”

The monkey didn’t get angry, merely asking, “Gentlemen, have you finished your tour?”

Lin Shuyou raised his hand: “Not yet!”

The records here weren’t of much interest to others, but Lin Shuyou found them fascinating.

The history of the Official Generals wasn’t long, but here he saw another, more extensive and developed period of “Official Generals.”

For him, whose life goal was to revitalize the Official Generals in the future, he wished he could record everything here to avoid many detours in future development and construction.

Tan Wenbin poked Lin Shuyou with his hand: “Alright, let’s go. Haven’t you memorized it all just by looking?”

Lin Shuyou scratched his head: “Brother Bin, if I had such a photographic memory, I wouldn’t have only gotten into Haihe University.”

Tan Wenbin: “It’s alright. Brother Xiao Yuan has a photographic memory, and isn’t he also your schoolmate?”

Lin Shuyou understood. Brother Bin meant that he didn’t need to struggle to memorize and look here, as Brother Xiao Yuan must have already memorized it all.

The monkey opened the cloud wall here, indicating they were about to leave.

Li Zhuiyuan glanced at the monkey’s back. The True Lord Master of Records’ temple contained a confounding formation that even Li Zhuiyuan found astonishing.

Earlier, the youth had been on guard, worried that the monkey might suddenly activate the formation and trap them there. However, not only did the monkey not do so, but when it entered first, it even proactively deactivated the formation’s automatic activation.

The monkey: “Let’s go. Without me leading you, it would be difficult for you to pass through here.”

After stepping out, the birdsong and floral scents were gone, replaced by a bleak and desolate atmosphere.

And soon, everyone understood why the monkey had said that.

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

The death of this single entity had affected the entire environment of this area, demonstrating just how powerful it had been in life.

This kind of aura was not present in the True Lord Guardian of the Gate.

The corpse bore multiple horrific wounds. From the appearance of the injuries, it seemed to have died in an encirclement.

Runsheng looked at the severed neck and said, “It wasn’t cut off; it was smashed.”

Runsheng, who enjoyed smashing people’s heads with his Yellow River Shovel, was quite an authority on the matter.

The monkey: “His head was smashed by a single strike from my staff.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Is his title the True Lord Punisher of Evil?”

The monkey turned its head to look at the youth with surprise. Clearly, the youth had guessed correctly once again.

Li Zhuiyuan: “From the previous records in the True Lord Master of Records Temple, it’s clear that the True Lord Punisher of Evil had the worst relationship with ‘him,’ repeatedly refuting ‘his’ decrees.”

This stood out starkly against the attitude of the other True Lords, who all revered “him” as a Bodhisattva.

The style of recording most events was as follows:

When a certain True Lord had a conflict with another True Lord, ‘he’ would intervene to mediate, and both True Lords would be completely convinced.

When a certain True Lord made a mistake or had doubts about something, ‘he’ would offer guidance, and that True Lord would achieve enlightenment.

Only the True Lord Punisher of Evil dared to repeatedly contradict ‘him’ and propose differing opinions.

The monkey: “According to you, shouldn’t the True Lord Punisher of Evil have been the first to oppose and chastise ‘him’? Why would he, on the contrary, support ‘him’?”

Li Zhuiyuan: “This is a question you don’t understand either, isn’t it?”

The monkey’s gaze fell upon the headless corpse of the True Lord Punisher of Evil:

“That’s right. He was one of the strongest among all the True Lords, and also the one with the worst relationship with ‘him.’ When he came out, wielding his axe, to block us, all of us were very surprised.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Because the True Lord Punisher of Evil was the only one who truly regarded ‘him’ as a Bodhisattva.”

The monkey: “But ‘he’ wasn’t a Bodhisattva; that’s a fact! We were all deceived by ‘him.’ According to you, the True Lord Punisher of Evil should have been the most enraged upon learning the truth!”

Li Zhuiyuan: “He was different from all of you.”

The monkey: “How different?”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Your regard for ‘him’ was merely admiration for power.”

The monkey clenched its fists, released them, clenched them again, then released them once more.

Li Zhuiyuan wasn’t trying to deliberately provoke its emotions at this moment, but the blunt force of truth more easily broke through the monkey’s defenses.

The ‘calming’ effect it had just experienced was about to wear off.

Li Zhuiyuan also noticed that as the monkey clenched and unclenched its fists, the headless corpse of the True Lord Punisher of Evil also lightly trembled its fists, as if performing the same actions.

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

Just as it had previously misled the True Lord Guardian of the Gate into attacking them, it could have, right here, made the True Lord Punisher of Evil attack them.

Even though he was dead and headless, Li Zhuiyuan believed he could cause them more trouble than the True Lord Guardian of the Gate.

Why had the monkey suddenly changed its attitude?

It could be confirmed that before they passed through the True Lord Guardian of the Gate’s temple, the monkey had a different attitude towards them. It had wanted to kill them there, otherwise it wouldn’t have misled the True Lord Guardian of the Gate.

Therefore, the monkey’s change in attitude, or rather, the change in attitude of the person behind the monkey, occurred during their battle with the True Lord Guardian of the Gate.

Li Zhuiyuan quickly reviewed his companions’ abilities in his mind. Ultimately, the youth felt that if anything could have caused that person’s change in attitude… it would have been his manipulation of the eight Yao family corpses, making them collectively enter a state of spirit possession.

Entering a state of spirit possession himself and being able to control puppets to enter it were two different matters. This meant he had mastered a more profound and comprehensive core technique, such as the *Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Sutra*.

Because of this, the person behind the monkey altered their plans for him, changing from obstructing and eliminating him to actively guiding him.

This monkey truly was very obedient to that person.

The monkey ultimately controlled itself and did not make the True Lord Punisher of Evil’s corpse stand up.

Next, it led the group past several more temples.

They didn’t encounter any more True Lords, but two dangerous spots were disarmed by the monkey in advance.

Along the way, Tan Wenbin lightly hooked the youth’s right hand with his finger. Li Zhuiyuan understood, released the red thread, and connected with him.

“Brother Xiao Yuan, do you know what this monkey is really up to?”

“I know.”

Tan Wenbin’s expression relaxed, and he silently waited in his mind.

But after a long wait, he still didn’t hear Brother Xiao Yuan’s voice in his mind.

“Brother Xiao Yuan?”

“Brother Binbin, I cannot tell you now.”

“Oh, alright, I understand!”

The connection broke. Tan Wenbin smiled at Li Zhuiyuan. He didn’t think Brother Xiao Yuan would be secretive; he knew that Brother Xiao Yuan intended to bear some burden alone.

The group entered the last True Lord’s temple.

The interior furnishings were like new, extremely well preserved. Further inside was the main temple where the Bodhisattva resided.

Being able to reside next to the Bodhisattva indicated that this True Lord’s status here was second only to the Bodhisattva’s.

Li Zhuiyuan: “Was it he who initiated the rebellion?”

The monkey: “It was a chastisement.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “The True Lord Pudu?”

The monkey: “Heh, I’m starting to wonder if you’re the reincarnation of that Punisher of Evil guy, with your past-life memories awakened.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Because the records of the True Lord Pudu in the True Lord Master of Records Temple are the fewest.”

The monkey: “So what?”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Your master criticized and instructed him the least, which indicates his high status. Aren’t rebellions usually initiated by the second-in-command?”

The monkey: “It was the True Lord Pudu who exposed the truth that ‘he’ was not a Bodhisattva and led us to overthrow ‘him.’”

Li Zhuiyuan: “How are you certain…”

The monkey’s tone suddenly sharpened: “He finally admitted he was a fake himself! *Squeak, squeak, squeak!*”

Perhaps being closer to ‘him,’ the monkey’s emotions spiraled out of control again.

It walked to the last cloud wall and said, “Do you know why I call this place ‘Heartless Island’?”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Because the heart is fake.”

“Then do you know why I call this place ‘Qiuzhuang’?”

Without waiting for Li Zhuiyuan’s answer, the monkey forcefully pushed open the cloud wall and roared:

“Because after his true identity was exposed, ‘he’ imprisoned all of us here! This is the… Prison Estate… of all us True Lords!”