Tan Wenbin is a photography enthusiast. Seeing these basins, he excitedly asked, "Brother Xiao Yuan, can we take one of these basins back when we leave?"
Li Zhiyuan: "Isn't a photo album more convenient than this?"
Tan Wenbin: "But this has a higher style."
Li Zhiyuan: "Once you take this stone basin out of here, it becos an ordinary basin, only good for Xiao Hei as a water dish."
"Oh, is that so? What a pity," Tan Wenbin shrugged. "This place really feels like a museum."
Monkey: "True Monarch Chief Clerk has three main duties: record achievents, record transgressions, and record events. This place chronicles the past here."
Li Zhiyuan asked, "Why are all these steles broken?"
Monkey: "Most of the temples here suffered damage due to events from the past. What's so strange about that?"
Li Zhiyuan: "It's very peculiar. Thirteen stone slabs are destroyed in total. Based on the logical arrangent of records here, twelve of the slabs should record the stories of the twelve True Monarchs eting and getting to know 'him'.
And another one should record the personal experiences of 'him' before establishing this Ksitigarbha Temple."
The monkey just looked at the young man, silent.
Li Zhiyuan continued, "Look, the debris of these slabs on the ground varies in how they're fractured, destroyed in different ways. It seems soone deliberately destroyed each one, picking out and smashing their own slab."
Monkey pointed at four slabs that were burned, saying, "Aren't these four slabs destroyed in the sa way? What you just said doesn't hold any water."
Li Zhiyuan: "By arguing with , you are acknowledging it."
Monkey: "Hah, whatever makes you happy."
Li Zhiyuan: "Yes, it's true soone burned these four black slabs. One should be his own, another should record 'that him', and one among the remaining slabs I guess could be the Gatekeeper True Monarch's."
Gatekeeper True Monarch didn't participate in that internal strife due to his special status.
He only guarded the gate externally, not internally.
Moreover, Monkey was sowhat correct; among the True Monarchs, the Gatekeeper True Monarch held the lowest position and power, being excluded did not affect the bigger picture, and afterwards... the Gatekeeper True Monarch was also manipulated.
Monkey: "Then what about the other slab?"
Li Zhiyuan: "I think your master, that 'him', shouldn't have been such a failure, right? Aside from the Gatekeeper True Monarch, all his subordinates rebelled against him. There should be at least one loyal subordinate supporting him at that ti, shouldn't there?"
Monkey: "You really are clever."
Li Zhiyuan: "I thought after you lost both n and assets on the island, you would have realized this by now."
Monkey: "Now, no matter what you say, I won't get angry."
Li Zhiyuan: "Why deliberately erase the past and the events with 'him'?"
Monkey: "Because the past events were all 'his' deception towards all of us, it's sickening just thinking about it. You know, since following him, do you know how many tis I called him Bodhisattva?"
Li Zhiyuan: "He enlightened you, adopted you, and helped you escape the animal realm. It's not too much no matter how many tis you call him Bodhisattva. I don't see what there is to be disgusted about."
Monkey: "When I was just a monkey, calling him Bodhisattva was no issue; but later, when I beca Li Yuan True Monarch and still got tricked into calling him Bodhisattva, that wasn't acceptable."
Run Sheng: "Ungrateful monkey."
Monkey didn't get upset, just asked, "Everyone, finished your tour?"
Lin Shuyou raised his hand: "Not yet!"
The records here didn't an much to others, but Lin Shuyou found them quite fascinating.
The official's history isn't long, yet here he saw another longer and more complete developnt of the "official".
For soone who set rejuvenating the official as his life goal, he'd love to write all of this down to avoid many detours in future developnt.
Tan Wenbin nudged Lin Shuyou: "Co on, let's go. You can rember everything just by looking, right?"
Lin Shuyou scratched his head: "Brother Bin, if I had such a photographic mory, I wouldn't only have been accepted to Haihe University."
Tan Wenbin: "No worries, Brother Xiao Yuan has a photographic mory too, and he's your schoolmate right?"
Lin Shuyou understood, Brother Bin ant he needn't bother to rember and look here, since Brother Xiao Yuan had probably morized it all.
The monkey opened the cloud wall here, seemingly ready to leave.
Li Zhiyuan glanced at the monkey's figure. Inside True Monarch Chief Clerk's temple, there was a disorienting array that even Li Zhiyuan marveled at.
Previously, the young man had been cautious, worried about when the monkey might suddenly trap them all here, yet the monkey not only didn't do such a thing, but it also voluntarily disabled the automatic activation of the array when it first entered.
Monkey: "Let's go. Without leading you, you'd have a hard ti passing through here."
Once outside, the chirping birds and fragrant flowers disappeared, replaced by a desolate scene.
Soon, everyone understood why the monkey said that.
They hadn't even entered the next temple when they saw a headless corpse kneeling outside.
The death of this one person affected the entire environnt of this area, which shows how powerful he must have been when alive.
Such a presence was not found in the body of the Gatekeeper True Monarch.
The corpse bore many horrific wounds; from the nature of the injuries, it looked like it died from being besieged.
Run Sheng, looking at the other's severed neck, remarked, "It wasn't cut off, it was smashed."
Run Sheng often liked using a Yellow River Shovel to smash people's heads, so he spoke with authority on such matters.
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