Everyone's Plans

He immediately drew his sword, the Glazed Precept-Breaking Saber descending like a blood moon from the sky, flashing with cold light as it swiftly slashed towards Pan E.

Pan E snorted and fiercely raised his axe to retaliate. He was Monster Race that had mutated from a mountain spirit. As long as he stood on the ground, he could draw on the power of the earth for his own use. Since birth, he had never lost to anyone in terms of strength.

As the sword and axe clashed, Pan E's body sank, feeling the immense force surging towards him, but it was still within his expectations, and he steadily withstood it. He then spoke, "Only this much strength? It seems the Brahma Sea Asura Art is... ugh!"

Pan E's expression changed drastically, as the force opposite him suddenly surged, like Mount Tai pressing down on him, causing his body to lean backward.

Si Ming quipped, "I may not be very strong, but I'm more than capable of bullying cats and dogs."

Pan E face flushed red, feeling humiliated in front of everyone, and he roared, "Don't be too smug! I only used half my strength!"

He hurriedly increased his strength, using up 70% of it at once, but he was still suppressed. This was because his opponent also increased his strength, wave after wave, like a raging sea crashing against him. Moreover, every time he increased his strength, his opponent would increase it by the same amount, always keeping him ahead.

Si Ming, "You used fifty percent of your strength, while I only used five percent. In this respect, I am indeed inferior to you."

If you include the Divine Sight Illusory Observation Art and the Solar Prominence Eruption, five percent of the power isn't an exaggeration, but none of the monsters present believed it, taking it as a deliberate mockery.

"You! Mere human being—"

Pan E's face turned red, and he let out a deep, muffled roar, like a beast driven to the brink of despair, using every ounce of his strength. He drew upon the power of the earth with all his might and circulated it to its full potential. The earth rumbled, as if a giant dragon was rolling underground. Finally, he reversed the situation and gained the upper hand.

However, before he could make his arrogant statement, the force opposite him increased again, still slightly stronger than him, steadily suppressing him. The immense power impacted the earth, causing the newly built Spirit King Hall to shake continuously, testing the quality of the project.

"Not bad, you actually forced me to use a full ten percent of my strength. You have something to be proud of in this achievement."

With a press and a flick of Si Ming's wrist, Pan E sank, causing the floor beneath him to crack. He was then uncontrollably flung into the air, still clinging to a large rock beneath his feet, and flew far away until he crashed into a pillar and was forced to stop.

"Indeed, I also think that the Spirit King's conditions are too lenient, even accepting some nobodies, which is really damaging to our reputation."

"You!"

Pan E pushed away the pillar that was pressing down on him, stood up abruptly, and glared at Si Ming through gritted teeth. However, he had lost a move, and if he continued to linger, others would only think he was a sore loser. So, with a dark face, he looked at the Purple-Pupiled Spirit King and said, "Spirit King, are all your subordinates so ill-mannered? Suddenly attacking a guest, is this your way of treating guests?"

He implied that he was unprepared and was defeated due to a sneak attack.

Si Ming was too lazy to argue with him about these details and went straight to the point. "You seem to have misunderstood something. I am the Spirit King's ally, not his subordinate. Besides, your behavior of complaining to your elders when you can't beat someone is just like those little brats who haven't even grown their hair yet. No wonder you're so weak. Go back and drink milk for a few more years."

Pan'e Vicious Qi his nose almost twisted. It was the first time he had ever been mocked for his lack of strength. He was burning with rage and wanted nothing more than to retaliate immediately, but he was also worried that he was no match for the other man and would be humiliated again. Of course, he had the means to suddenly increase his strength by 50%, but who could guarantee that this Buddha-Slaying Monk did not have a similar secret technique?

In the previous exchange, the Buddha-Slaying Monk gave him the feeling of being unfathomable. No matter how much power he increased, the other party always managed to gain the upper hand. Moreover, it seemed that the other party had not used his full strength at all, and he could not figure out where the upper limit was. The so-called one-tenth of his strength was, rationally speaking, just an infuriating statement. Even if he used seven-tenths of his strength, he was not confident of winning.

Just as the situation reached a stalemate, the Purple-Pupiled Spirit King, the master of the meeting, intervened to defuse the conflict. "Gentlemen, please, for my sake, calm your anger. Otherwise, you will only become a laughingstock to those foolish monks of the Glazed Temple. This meeting is to discuss how to deal with the Glazed Temple, not to fight amongst ourselves to determine who is superior."

In fact, he had long been aware of Pan E's unruly nature and knew that this man would definitely cause trouble. As the host, it was inconvenient for him to intervene, so he was happy to see the Buddha-Slaying Monk kill Pan E and teach him a lesson. That's why he didn't stop him earlier.

Compared to the three divine generals, the monk Buddha-Slaying Monk was a newcomer, but compared to the newly joined Zhu Mei, Pan E, and Ghost Wolf, he was a veteran, which in a sense represented the power and foundation of the Purple-Pupiled Spirit King himself.

Although Pan E was full of resentment, he could only choose to back down at this point. "Since Spirit King has spoken, I am not one to refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit. Let's put this matter aside for now and seek advice from someone else in the future."

Si Ming and said indifferently, "I'm looking forward to that day. I hope you can force me to use 30% of my strength then, otherwise it won't even be a warm-up, which would be too boring."

"Alright, that's the end of that matter. Anyone who brings it up again will be punished with three cups of wine. The strategy for annihilating Glazed Temple has been drafted and is scheduled for ten days from now. At that time, we will first send a detachment to raid the towns near Glazed Temple, luring them to distribute their forces to protect various places. Then, we will concentrate our forces to strike directly at the lair and take down Glazed Temple in one fell swoop!"

"It sounds too simple," said the Zhu Mei.

Since she had joined their ranks and become their subordinate, she phrased her words rather tactfully, avoiding the direct criticism that she was brainless.

"The overall strategy should be as simple as possible, while the details of tactics need to take all aspects into account. This is the task assigned to you all; please take it back and read it carefully to prepare for the decisive battle in ten days."

The Purple-Pupiled Spirit King distributed another batch of scrolls to everyone present, then summarized. "Most importantly, our strength already surpasses that of the Glazed Temple. There's no need for any underhanded tactics. As the saying goes, 'Do not attack a well-organized battle formation without a righteous banner; this is the way to manage change.' In war, strength is not the sole measure of victory, but it is certainly a crucial factor that can influence the outcome. If our strength is sufficient, we can achieve victory by attacking with a righteous army. As the saying goes, 'Win with the orthodox and win with the unorthodox.' The prerequisite for using unorthodox strategies is to maintain an undefeated record on the main battlefield. If the gap is too large, even the most brilliant mind cannot cook without rice."

Upon hearing this, the monsters found it to be very reasonable and expressed their agreement. They were sincerely impressed by the wisdom of the Spirit King and said that the Glazed Temple was already like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. No matter what kind of conspiracy it had, it would be crushed into mincemeat by the wheels of the chariot.

Only Si Ming disagreed. He said, "All this talk is because you Monster Race are brainless and don't understand tactics and coordination. Any complex strategy you come up with will probably turn into a complete mess. It's better for fools to use simple tricks. Like the last time we besieged the Seven Stars Palace, it was all very grand and serious, but if you think about it carefully, the actual tactic was just to split up into five groups and advance, then meet up at the Seven Stars Palace for a final battle. There was absolutely no coordination. We just attacked any disobedient ones we encountered along the way."

However, given Great Snake's example, even if there's another insider deliberately leaking information this time, Glazed Temple probably won't believe it easily.

The Monster Race didn't have the usual human formalities. After explaining the main points, the Spirit King announced the meeting was over and everyone went back to prepare. The monsters were too lazy to maintain camaraderie, so they just gave a few perfunctory words, said goodbye, and then went back to their respective tasks.

Ignoring Pan E's "Laozi 'll definitely get my revenge" look, Si Ming returned to his room alone, opened the scroll to review the mission details, and found it was similar to the last one. The Purple-Pupiled Spirit King had drawn a map and a route on it, telling him which direction to attack from, but not much else. As for the specific strategies to take along the way, and whether to engage or fight the enemy, each general was to "act according to the situation."

He thought maliciously that this was probably because the intelligence levels of everyone varied too much, making it difficult to arrange, or perhaps the Spirit King trusted his intelligence, so he wrote "act according to circumstances." If it were changed to the Ghost Chariot's mission, perhaps even his eating, drinking, and relieving himself schedule would be packed full, leaving him no room for free improvisation.

As Si Ming was pondering this, a long-lost yet familiar voice suddenly rang in his mind.

"Is this what you look like when you're disguised as the Buddha-Slaying Monk? Neither refined nor fierce enough, just a mediocre half-baked guy. If you really look like this, I'd have to consider divorcing you."

The speaker was none other than Si Jingyu. Si Ming looked around but saw no one and sensed no presence. He immediately realized, "You're using Aniruddha Heavenly Eye."

"Yes, this is the only way to contact you without being detected by the enemy. Those monks at Glazed Temple are a bunch of fools. They have a treasure like Aniruddha Heavenly Eye, but they don't know how to use it properly, thus missing many opportunities."

"So, you're at Glazed Temple now? And you've taken over their territory, helping them devise a strategy?"

It's obvious that he saved someone at the fake Seven Stars Palace last time and got in touch with Glazed Temple.

"Of course, the key to this battle is my younger brother... My husband, I dare not let you act according to those fools' plans. You could see from their performance in the Southern Martial World last time that those monks are extremely unreliable, so I have rejected all their plans. From today onwards, I will take over the reins."

So what's your strategy?

"Naturally, it is so, and so forth."

Chapter 391 Planning by All Parties

"What kind of code are you using?" Si Ming asked, completely bewildered.

"Huh, don't you understand? Logically, shouldn't you be able to understand everything immediately after I say these eight words? What happened to our supposed telepathic connection?"

"When was this agreed upon? I have absolutely no recollection of it! Who knows what 'such and such' means! I don't have Mind-Reading Technique superpowers, you've got the wrong person!"