Weird Cultivation, I have a five-organ temple

What is Chapter 271 hiding?
"There was no great immortal. Those bandits were just driven away by the officials."

The old man spoke before the villager could, slapped the villager across the face, and scolded him:

"You good-for-nothing Niu Er, isn't it just that when the officials came to suppress the bandits, they made us pay a sum of money for their departure? You've held a grudge until now, and you even made up some kind of immortal to claim credit for the officials' work."

If this gets back to the officials who led the suppression of the bandits, wouldn't it bring trouble to our Xipinggou?!

Niu Er was slapped across the face, and his expression was somewhat bewildered and confused.

It wasn't until he heard the old man's reprimand that he came to his senses.

He didn't know if he was afraid the officials from before would come back to cause trouble, or if he remembered something else, but he suddenly trembled and repeatedly echoed:

"Yes, yes, there's no divine being involved, I just made it all up." He raised his hand and slapped himself. "It's my fault, I shouldn't have made it up. Please, sirs, don't take it to heart..."

"Useless idiot, stop embarrassing yourself here and get out!"

Amid the old man's scolding, Niu Er squeezed through the crowd and ran away into the distance.

Shang Lu watched their act with cold eyes, and secretly gave Shen Tu a wink.

Shentu immediately gave a request for theft, secretly making a hand gesture.

Upon seeing this, the thief handed his horse over to someone else. Taking advantage of the fact that everyone's attention in Xipinggou was diverted by the phoenix, he used a clever movement technique to quickly and silently slip out of the crowd to chase after Niu Er, who had been scolded and driven away.

The villagers of Xipinggou were completely unaware of what was happening.

"Those who can get into the Bureau of Thieves are indeed quite capable."

Shang Lu sighed inwardly, but continued to use his silver tongue to probe the group in Xipinggou.

After a few words, not only Shang Lu, but even Shen Tu was certain that there was something strange about the group of people in Xipinggou.

They are trying their best to hide some secrets.

I wonder if these secrets are related to the "great immortal" that Niu Er mentioned.

At the same time, Shang Lu also discovered that there were several strange people in Xipinggou.

For example, the old man accompanying him claimed to be the village chief of Xipinggou.

He was able to break free from the influence of his silver tongue and interrupt Niu Er.

However, Shang Lu did not see any blood energy, witch energy, or other such power in him.

This shows that the old man was just an ordinary person.

But how could an ordinary old man from a mountain village resist being swayed by smooth talk? He probably harbors a secret as well.

At this moment, Shen Tu cast an inquiring glance at Chao Shanglu.

Although Shen Tu did not speak, Shang Lu understood his meaning.

This is asking whether or not to take direct action.

Shang Lu shook his head slightly, indicating that they should not act rashly and should first see what these people in Xipinggou were up to.

At the same time, Shang Lu lowered his hand and, taking advantage of the cover of the dark clouds, released several paper figures.

The people in Xipinggou were all ordinary villagers who were completely unaware of Shang Lu's actions.

Shentu and a thief saw it.

The two worked together seamlessly, each drawing the attention of the villagers in Xipinggou, allowing the paper figures released by Shang Lu to silently slip out of the crowd, disperse, and begin their investigation around the village.

After Shang Lu and his group entered Xipinggou, they were surrounded by villagers.

They seemed enthusiastic, but in reality, they were surrounding them to prevent them from wandering around.

Soon, led by these people, Shang Lu and his group arrived at the outside of a farmhouse.

From a distance, someone ran into the courtyard ahead of time and called out a thin man in his thirties.

Shang Lu had never seen Liang Jihu before, but this man's appearance was five or six parts similar to the shaman of Luoshui County, so it should be Liang Jihu.

However, Liang Jihu's physique was thinner than Shang Lu had expected.

And it's not normal thinness.

He appeared sickly and emaciated. His energy and spirit were also off, clearly indicating excessive depletion.

As Liang Jihu approached, Shang Lu could still smell a faint odor of blood and decay on him.

"I am Liang Jihu. May I ask who you gentlemen are?"

The man approached, cupped his hands in greeting, and introduced himself; he was indeed Liang Jihu.

Shang Lu did not rush to reveal his identity, but instead looked at the old man beside him and questioned him:
"Didn't you just say that Clerk Liang wasn't home and had gone into the mountains to gather herbs?"

"I made a mistake."

The hunter who had previously said that Liang Jihu wasn't in the village quickly said, "I thought Brother Liang had gone into the mountains, but he's still at home. It's my fault."

Liang Jihu was unaware of what had happened before and instinctively tried to excuse his fellow villagers.

“I did go into the mountains this morning. He probably saw me, but he didn’t see me come back.”

The hunter immediately replied, "Yes, yes, that's it, that's it."

Shang Lu sneered inwardly, not believing the hunter's words, but refraining from calling him out for the time being.

Shen Tu stepped forward and introduced, "We are from the Thieves Bureau. This is our Thieves Bureau clerk, Lord Shang Lu."

"This humble official has met with Cao, the merchant thief."

Liang Jihu bowed to Shang Lu, but he was quite surprised.

He was not familiar with the people in the Thieves' Office, and he didn't know this so-called Thieves' Office.

I heard from the villagers that this group of thieves from the Cao Bureau came to deliver a message to me?
What kind of letter is this?

Shang Lu noticed his confusion and said with a smile, "I used to work in Luoshui County and I was acquainted with your aunt. I was asked by her to bring you a letter from home."

Liang Jihu suddenly realized and cupped his hands in greeting again: "So that's how it is. Thank you for your hard work, Merchant Cao."

"It wasn't hard work, it was just along the way."

Shang Lu took out the letter and handed it to Liang Jihu, asking, "Brother Liang, you look very haggard. Has something happened?"

"It's nothing," Liang Jihu shook his head. "It's probably from taking care of my sick mother and getting tired."

"It's good that you're alright." Shang Lu nodded.

The villagers of Xipinggou around him breathed a sigh of relief when they saw him nod.

Shang Lu then said, "Is your mother's illness any better? Your colleagues in the prefectural government asked me to send their regards. If there's anything you can help with, just let me know. Back in Luoshui County, your aunt took great care of me, so you don't need to stand on ceremony with me."

Liang Jihu shook his head and said, "Thank you for your concern, Merchant Cao. My mother's illness has improved a lot. She will recover in a few more days. There is nothing for Merchant Cao to trouble you with."

"That's good."

Shang Lu nodded repeatedly, looking happy that Liang Jihu's mother's condition had improved.

But the next moment, the tone shifted abruptly.

"I smell blood on you. Are you injured?"

Upon hearing this, Liang Jihu's expression became somewhat unnatural, and he mumbled, "Ah...yes, I got a little injured when I went up the mountain to collect herbs, but it's nothing serious."

At this moment, Qiu Dao, who had previously squeezed out of the crowd, returned.

He once again used his movement technique to silently squeeze into the crowd, came to Shen Tu's side, and whispered a few words in his ear.

No one else could hear what he said to Shen Tu, but Shang Lu, with his keen hearing, heard the request to steal.

He had just followed Niu Er, trying to get information out of him.

It turned out that Niu Er had been taken to the village ancestral hall by several villagers, who also assigned people to guard him.

Unable to get close, he had no choice but to give up.

Although they couldn't get any new information out of Niu Er, judging from this series of reactions, there was definitely a secret hidden in Xipinggou that they were afraid of finding out.

But where is this secret hidden? And what is it?
Shang Lu's mind raced, and he said, "Liang, we rarely come to your house, won't you invite us in for a seat and a drink of water?"

(End of this chapter)