The Housebound Bone's Wound

But he continued, "Until I can defeat you, I will obey your orders."

The Purple-Pupiled Spirit King remained unperturbed upon hearing this, displaying remarkable composure, and replied, "Very well, I never care whether my subordinates are loyal or not. As long as they diligently follow instructions, I will not mistreat them, regardless of their status."

Then, turning to the four divine generals, he said, "I don't care what others think, I only care what they do. Even if someone is plotting rebellion, as long as they realize their mistake in time, I will forgive and forget."

The four divine generals understood the meaning behind the words and hurriedly declared that they were utterly loyal to the Spirit King and had never harbored any disloyalty, as Heaven could attest to.

The Purple-Pupiled Spirit King smiled and didn't delve into the matter, saying, "From this day forward, the Buddha-Slaying Monk is an ally of our race, holding a rank equivalent to a divine general. No one is allowed to show him any disrespect, nor to use unfounded accusations to question or damage our friendship. Violators will be severely punished."

In other words, you can question something if you have solid evidence.

Of course, Si Ming was quite satisfied with the result. At least he had kept away a lot of flies, which made his hard work worthwhile. In a sense, he had been officially accepted. Perhaps the other party had the intention of discarding him after the fact, but it made no difference to him. If the plan of Glazed Temple succeeded, the Purple-Pupiled Spirit King would have no chance to take revenge. On the contrary, if it failed, he would definitely run away and would not stay to be a lone hero.

The Purple-Pupiled Spirit King said, "Recently, the Buddhist School sect has been making frequent moves, repeatedly invading our territory. It seems they have sharpened their claws and are eager to show off their power. In that case, I cannot remain silent. Our army's next strategic move is to attack the Western Martial World, seal the Azure Mysterious Corpse King, and incorporate her forces."

Upon hearing this, Si Ming was surprised but also applauded the Purple-Eyed Spirit Purple-Pupiled Spirit King's move. Firstly, the Western Martial World was not under the jurisdiction of the Glazed Temple, so even if the Glazed Temple received the news, it would likely be too far away to intervene. Secondly, the Purple-Pupiled Spirit King was attacking the Monster Race of the Western Martial World, and the martial artists would only see it as infighting among the Monster Race, not only failing to stop him but also cheering him on. Thirdly, due to the long-term slumber of the Azure Mysterious Corpse King, the Monster Race of the Western Martial World had been leaderless and disorganized, making them no match for the Spirit King Army's army. Once these Monster Race were incorporated into the army, the Spirit King Army's army would undoubtedly become even stronger, and both the Southern Martial World and Western Martial World would be in grave danger.

The Purple-Pupiled Spirit King disregarded others' opinions, tossing out five scrolls and saying, "Everything is proceeding according to plan. I don't care what methods you use; I only care about the final result."

Everyone took their scrolls and left. Si Ming also wanted to see the contents of the scroll as soon as possible, so he walked very fast, but was intercepted by Henzhen halfway there.

Who exactly are you?

"Ha?"

"Are you someone else in disguise? Or was the Buddha-Slaying Monk someone else in disguise? Your speech and behavior are completely different from three days ago; it's as if you've become a different person. I don't believe that a person's temperament can change so drastically in just a few days."

Holy crap, is it really possible for women to have this special sixth sense?

Or perhaps, this handsome monk from the Xilai broke the rules of monastic discipline and secretly flirted with this female Monster Race?

While inwardly scoffing, Si Ming remained outwardly calm and sneered, "How long have we known each other? How many times have we talked? Don't act like you know me so well. That's not how you build a relationship. To be honest, we know each other very little. How do you know that what I showed before was my true nature, and not just a mask I wore because I was new here and found myself in a dangerous situation?"

"I trust my gut feeling."

"Even your intuition didn't tell you the truth back then, and you were kept in the dark for decades. That shows this thing isn't very effective."

To avoid giving himself away, Xilai naturally relayed his conversation with Divine General Li, which he had when he impersonated the Buddha-Slaying Monk killed the Buddha, to Si Ming. This was so that when Divine General Li brought up the matter again, Si Ming would know how to respond, rather than revealing his true identity in a muddled report. Xilai indeed cautious enough to do so.

"The truth of this matter has not yet been investigated, so don't jump to conclusions. If it is later proven that you were deliberately sowing discord, I will definitely report you to the King of Heaven and make you regret it!"

"When it comes to matters concerning oneself, one 'cannot jump to conclusions,' but when it comes to matters concerning me, one can draw conclusions based on intuition. Divine General Li played this double standard brilliantly. Unfortunately, the Spirit King has already acknowledged my identity and forbade others to doubt me based on mere rumors. Now, are you going to disobey the Spirit King's orders?"

Si Ming retorted without hesitation, showing no mercy whatsoever. He knew that doing so would make Henzhen even more suspicious, but it didn't matter. Until Henzhen had solid evidence, his situation was safe; the Spirit King was his talisman.

Of course, there's another downside: it's probably hopeless to unlock the Henzhen storyline, raise her favorability, and turn her into your harem.

In terms of looks alone, this woman wasn't any more attractive than the female companions around Si Ming, but she had the added bonus of exotic charm. Although she wasn't the cute type with animal ears and tails, but rather more of a realistic and mythological type, she still had her own unique allure.

Fortunately, Si Ming had a high resistance to beauty. After all, he was born with a good-looking face, and looking in the mirror every day could increase his resistance. Therefore, although he regretted that he had cut off a possibility, he did not care. He smiled coldly, pushed the other person's shoulder away, and walked back to his room.

After releasing his inspiration and confirming that there were no surveillance devices, Si Ming opened the scroll and read its contents. It contained many detailed arrangements for the attack on the Western Martial World, including the time, place, and the tasks assigned to him.

"This is troublesome. Logically speaking, this matter is of great importance, and I must inform the Glazed Temple. However, the Purple-Pupiled Spirit King's move is clearly an attempt to lure out an internal traitor. I've seen this kind of plot many times in spy dramas. If I'm not mistaken, the mission arrangements on each scroll are slightly different. If I reveal the known information to the Glazed Temple, then when the monks of the Glazed Temple appear, the Purple-Pupiled Spirit King will immediately know who leaked the information."

Si Ming was somewhat troubled. Informing Glazed Temple would expose him, but not informing Glazed Temple and waiting for the Spirit King's plan to succeed and absorb the Monster Race forces of the Western Martial World would also be very disadvantageous. Although the Purple-Pupiled Spirit King's move was a conspiracy, it also had the characteristics of an open scheme. Even if Si Ming saw through his plan, he would be helpless for the time being.

"Inquiring about other people's mission details... No, given my sensitive nature, if I did such a thing, I would immediately be suspected. Even if I framed someone afterward based on their mission details, as long as they claim that I had inquired about their mission details, the Purple-Pupiled Spirit King would still suspect me."

Neither left nor right worked. The result of testing the Purple-Pupiled Spirit King was the worst possible outcome. The opponent's Foundation was unfathomable, far surpassing any Spirit Transformation expert Si Ming had ever encountered. He had undoubtedly reached the Void Returning Realm. Even if he wore the Vermilion Bird Profound Armor, his chances of winning were less than 10%.

The Purple-Pupiled Spirit King's Foundation was too deep. Even though Si Ming was confident that he could suppress him in terms of strength and skill, once the opponent used his ultimate move, he would definitely be defeated. The difference in Foundation was enough to make up for everything. Even with the double protection of the Bodhi Indestructible Body and the Jade-Clad Dharma Body, he could only take a few more moves before being killed.

Frustrated Si Ming wanted to pull his hair out, but when he reached out and touched it, he found that only his scalp was left, so he had to reluctantly withdraw his hand.

"I shouldn't have given Divine General Li the cold shoulder earlier. I should have been more enthusiastic and flirted with her. I could have used her as a starting point to get a lot of information. Unfortunately, I cut off that path... Sigh, it seems that the unspoken rule in this world is to actively cultivate goodwill towards beautiful women, otherwise you'll run into bad luck and obstacles at every turn."

After some wild thoughts, Si Ming finally made a decision. He picked up a pen and wrote a letter using a coded message, secretly hiding it in a hidden lining inside his clothes, intending to send it out when the opportunity arose.

Chapter 384 The Wounds of the House

Western Martial World, Merry Forest.

Si Ming carried the Glazed Precept-Breaking Saber at the front, followed by a Monster Race. They walked in twos and threes, their military discipline lax and without any formation, clearly a ragtag bunch.

This is not because Siming does not have enough control over his subordinates, but it is the same for all monster teams. In terms of discipline, they are not as good as that group of gangsters. At least they can understand human speech and can cooperate when fighting in a small area. However, this group of monsters can only understand the commands of "surround the enemy" and "kill, kill, kill, kill."

Perhaps the Imperial Army directly under the Purple-Pupiled Spirit King would be better off, but the situation of the other divine generals' armies was not much different. They had never thought of implementing military discipline because the individual differences among the Monster Race were too great, and their abilities were also different, so it was impossible to set a unified standard. Therefore, it was more realistic for them to fight independently.

"Lord Buddha Slayer, the Great King Silver Bone's lair is just ahead."

The messenger was a female Monster Race, tall and athletic, with a commanding presence. Her emerald green leather hunting attire accentuated her perfect figure, and she carried two sandalwood war bows, one short and one long, at her waist. Two quivers hung diagonally on her back, their colorful fletchings Peacock Spreads Its Tail. Her skin was a reddish-copper color, her hair and eyes were deep black, and her long, symmetrical, copper-colored legs were simply breathtaking.

This strange creature is named Hualiu, after one of the Eight Steeds. Her origins are self-evident. Apart from her eyes, hair, and a black horse tail that slips down from her battle skirt, the rest of her body is bronze-red.

Hualiu was originally a subordinate of the Barbarian Divine General. He was exceptionally strong and belonged to the level of a top expert. Generally, each God General had two or three capable subordinates of this level. For example, the Wild Boar King who was ambushed on the way and killed by Si Ming, who had been turned into Wutian, was also like that.

However, Hualiu was not Barbarian Divine General. One reason was her personality; she was too honest and loyal, and would only do what she was asked to do. Moreover, she was stubborn and inflexible, once she got into something, she couldn't get it out of her head. To put it nicely, she was loyal and unwavering; to put it bluntly, she was inflexible and didn't know how to adapt.

She was saved by a chivalrous knight in her childhood, so she has no hatred for Human Race. Of course, based on her position, she has also taken many lives. Her view is that on the battlefield, everyone serves their own master and their life and death are up to fate, and no one can blame anyone else. However, outside the battlefield, there should be no wanton killing. She opposes killing humans for fun, so she is not well-liked by most of the Monster Race.

On the other hand, the Barbarian Divine General heard from somewhere that "the Hualiu is a jinx to its master," meaning that whoever it is with will suffer misfortune, and that female Hualiu is even suspected of bringing bad luck to their husbands. So he gave her the cold shoulder.

Paranoia is a common trait among the Monster Race.

If someone insists on being kind to the point of repaying evil with good, turning the other cheek after being slapped, it is actually a kind of distortion of human nature, and also meets the conditions for the birth of Monster Race.

Si Ming spent a few days under the command of the Purple-Pupiled Spirit King, where he encountered many strange and eccentric Monster Race. For example, some Monster Race advocated peaceful coexistence with Human Race, putting aside hatred and resolving conflicts through negotiation. Monster Race were masochists, becoming more excited the more they were beaten, and with their extraordinary regenerative abilities, they reached a point where even Monster Race were devout Buddhism, spreading Buddhist teachings among their Monster Race and calling on everyone to practice Buddhism, resolve their inner resentment, and attain enlightenment.