Weird Cultivation, I have a five-organ temple

Chapter 619 The Mountain Spirit's Duty

It is the Ice Crystal Blue Lotus.

Even after being stored in the Impermanence Token, this treasure still retains the smell of blood.

Right now, it's constantly sending out signals that it's hungry and wants to eat.

The essence of a cultivator's blood is not only delicious but also highly nutritious for the Ice Crystal Blue Lotus.

Pokeweed did not mistreat the Ice Crystal Blue Lotus and immediately took it out of the Impermanence Token.

This creature is still weak. Once it has eaten and drunk its fill and regained its full power, it might come in very handy.

Moreover, at this moment, Shang Lu also needs the Ice Crystal Blue Lotus to help "destroy the evidence".

The icy blue lotus floated in mid-air, releasing wisps of eerie light that completely covered the blood spurted out by the three black-clad guards.

The eerie light, like a greedy mouth, instantly devoured all the blood on the ground.

At the same time, the Ice Crystal Blue Lotus excitedly flew to the headless corpses. Countless tiny sharp mouths emerged from the lotus petals, and amidst a series of rustling gnawing sounds, it quickly devoured the three corpses.

While the Ice Crystal Blue Lotus was eating, Shang Lu raised his right hand.

The Earth God's Seal on the back of his hand emitted billowing black energy, which transformed into shackles.

The souls of the three Black-Clad Guards were tightly bound by shackles.

Aside from the Yin-Yang School's Xuan Yi Guard who had gone completely mad and whose very soul was in chaos, the other two Xuan Yi Guards, at the moment their heads were separated from their bodies, had their souls rush out of their flesh along with the blood, attempting to escape.

They also knew that this uninvited guest who arrived late at night would definitely not let their souls escape.

Therefore, at the moment their souls left their bodies, they all used various methods, not only allowing their souls to escape with the help of blood, but also employing supernatural abilities such as the Golden Cicada Shedding its Shell.

But none of these worked!
If they encountered an ordinary cultivator, or even a ghost shaman skilled in controlling ghosts, they would have a chance to escape and survive with the help of these methods and supernatural powers.

But they happened to encounter pokeweed.

Shang Lu held up the Yin Messenger token in his left hand and activated the Earth Lord Seal with his right.

All their methods and supernatural abilities were rendered futile in the face of these two things.

Terrified, they could only shout helplessly:

"Do you know who we are? How dare you kill us and then try to imprison our souls?"

"Release us immediately, and you may live. Otherwise, even if you flee to the ends of the earth, you will be relentlessly hunted down!"

The two ghosts tried to scare Shang Lu, but their blustering performance was laughable to him.

"Then do you know who I am?" Shang Lu retorted.

The two guards in black robes genuinely didn't know who they were, and they shouted in unison, "Who are you?!"

Shang Lu laughed: "Would I tell you? You don't even know who I am, so what are you threatening me for!"

With a wave of his hand, the ghostly shackles immediately dragged the three spirits of the Black-Clad Guards into Third Sister's banner, where they were subjected to severe torture.

"Third Sister, release the Greedy Beast and see if there are any other treasures in this place."

Shang Lu gave the order before striding into the main hall where the Lord of the East was enshrined.

Inside the main hall, the heart, kidneys, and essence of the child that the three black-clad guards had obtained through the evil spirits were still there.

Looking at the several still-beating, still-active hearts contained in the bone vessel, Shang Lu's face darkened, and he cursed, "Beast!"
He then walked to the statue of Dongjun, lit an incense stick, and spoke with a hint of accusation: "Dongjun, are you just going to watch them defile your temple? Or did you give your permission to do this from beginning to end?"

"You think too much."

A voice came from outside the palace gate.

Shang Lu quickly turned his head and saw a black fox climb over the courtyard wall and enter the witch temple.

The fox's size and appearance looked very familiar to Shang Lu.

It was the same one that had been possessed by the mountain spirit in Xingshan Military Town.

But shouldn't that black fox be in Xingshan? How did it end up here?
Was it the mountain spirit that made the black fox follow him all the way?
Or is this black fox actually the incarnation of a mountain spirit?

Shang Lu was very curious, but that did not stop him from bowing respectfully and very considerately taking out incense and candles to offer.

The mountain spirit, controlling the black fox, squatted in front of the incense, took a deep breath, and sighed with satisfaction, "Not bad, this is still the best taste."

Then, continuing from where she left off, she told Shang Lu, "Dongjun is the sun god, and nighttime is when his power is weak. Unfortunately, those three people were very cunning. Once inside this temple, they used tricks to blindfold and block the statue's ears, preventing it from noticing what was happening here..."

Shang Lu thought to himself, "The eyes and ears of the statue are covered and plugged, so Dong Jun doesn't know what's going on here? It seems that you gods aren't omniscient after all."

At the same time, he was also wondering why Dongjun didn't come to explain the matter himself, but instead sent the mountain spirit... Was he perhaps feeling guilty?
The mountain spirit saw through Shang Lu's thoughts and chuckled, "There are omniscient and omnipotent gods, but not us. Since that great calamity, our strength has greatly diminished. Although we have recovered somewhat over the years, we are still not as strong as before. Not to mention, except for the hours of Zi and Chou, we are in a state of chaos and disorder for most of the time."

The black fox controlled by the mountain spirit took a deep breath and completely absorbed the incense offered by Shang Lu.

He then leaped down to the bone vessels, peered inside, and ordered, "You'll have to work hard tonight to return these hearts and kidneys, along with their essence and blood, to those innocent children."

Shang Lu was taken aback upon hearing this and couldn't help but ask, "Can the heart and kidneys that were dug out, along with the stolen essence and blood, be returned? If they are returned, can the person live?"

"If you can be resurrected, how can they not live?" the mountain spirit said. Then Shang Lu saw a graceful figure appear behind the black fox and exhale a breath toward the heart and kidney essence blood contained in the white bone vessel.

Seeing this, what else could Shang Lu question? He immediately clasped his hands and accepted the order.

The mountain spirit turned around and exhaled another breath at the pokeweed.

The energy condensed into a new divine rune on the back of Shang Lu's left hand.

"After returning the essence of the heart and kidneys to the infant, use this divine rune to reactivate their vitality." After giving the instructions, the phantom of the mountain spirit vanished before Shang Lu's eyes.

The black fox regained its self-awareness and found itself inexplicably in a temple. It was startled, but when it saw Shang Lu, it recognized him at a glance.

Every time I inexplicably appear in a strange place, it is inextricably linked to this human being.

Black Fox was very unhappy, baring its teeth at Shang Lu and grumbling as if it were cursing.

But it dared not do anything to the pokeweed, because everything here made it feel dangerous and terrifying.

So after cursing a few times, the black fox tucked its tail between its legs and quickly fled from the witch temple.

Although the place was filled with the smell of blood, it dared not stop for a moment, for fear that if it stopped, it would become food for that "meat-eating" lotus flower.

After the black fox left, Shang Lu put away the white bone artifacts. At this time, the paper figures released by Shang Lu and the rampant ghosts released by San Niang, led by the greedy beast, also found some treasures.

It wasn't very good; it mostly contained gold and silver items, along with a few remnants of spirits and witchcraft talismans.

Shang Lu gave all the gold and silver to the greedy beast, while the remnant spirit and the witch talisman were put into the Impermanence Decree for slow study.

At this moment, the Ice Crystal Blue Lotus had almost completely devoured the corpses of the three Black-Clad Guards, leaving only bones and skin.

This thing is quite picky about food.

Fortunately, Shang Lu was well prepared. He immediately took out a small bottle of powder from the Impermanence Token and sprinkled it on the three withered bones and stinking skins. In an instant, they turned into ashes.

The Third Sister blew a gust of cold wind, and the ashes immediately scattered in all directions.

"Do you know where these heart, lungs, essence, and blood were plundered from?" Shang Lu asked San Niang, waving the white bone vessel in his hand.

Third Sister really knew.

The souls of the three Xuanyi Guards were immediately refined after being collected into the bamboo banner.

Although she hasn't subdued them yet, she has extracted many useful memories from their souls—San Niang is becoming more and more skilled and powerful in refining ghosts and searching souls.

San Niang not only told Shang Lu about the origin of these heart, kidney, and essence blood, but also let Shang Lu find several scrolls of ghost paintings among the spoils of war.

Each ghost picture contains a hideous demon.

Tonight, these evil spirits will steal the baby's heart, kidneys, essence, and blood.

Following the instructions of the Third Sister, Shang Lu performed hand seals and chanted incantations, releasing the evil spirits sealed within the ghost painting.

With the underworld messenger token in hand, plus the Earth God's seal, these evil spirits dared not cause trouble in front of Shang Lu and obediently led the way.

Before leaving the temple, Shang Lu also had San Niang release the souls of the Yin Yang School's Xuan Yi Guards.

This man went mad before he died, and his soul remained in a state of frenzy after death. This made it easy for Third Sister to refine his soul into a vengeful ghost.

After becoming a vengeful ghost, although he had escaped madness, he dared not show any dissatisfaction when he saw Shang Lu again. He had to obediently bow and reveal his name from his previous life—Yin Ling.

"Write a letter in your own voice, saying that you have urgent business to attend to and are leaving overnight," Shang Lu instructed.

"Yes." The ghost Yin Ling dared not disobey Shang Lu's orders. He obediently wrote a letter, showed it to Shang Lu, and only after Shang Lu had seen that there were no problems did he sign it and stamp it with his own Xuan Yi Token. Although he was dead, his soul was not destroyed, so the Xuan Yi Token was still there.

This couldn't be better for pokeweed.

After leaving the letter in Dongjun's temple, Shang Lu looked around again, used his wind-summoning technique to blow away his aura and traces, and then left the witch temple under the guidance of the evil spirit in the painting.

Before leaving the city, Shang Lu specially took out his paintbrush, urged Wu Mo to paint three black-clad guards.

Although his drawing skills are terrible, these three people don't need to show their faces; they only need an image—with the Ice Crystal Blue Lotus, even if Shang Lu's drawing is not very realistic, it can still make people feel that it is the real person.

At the same time, Shang Lu also summoned Liu Quan and had him seal the various rumors and prophecies he had prepared into a talisman.

This is a special talisman drawn by the spirit seal. It can not only record audio but also play it back. Although it doesn't have the high-pitched, sharp, and penetrating sound of the echoing insect, it is still very useful.

Yin Ling not only offered up the witch talisman, but also helped Liu Quan seal the rumors and prophecies, which can be considered as a pledge of loyalty.

Soon, the evil spirits released by Third Sister hid these talismans throughout the city.

As Shang Lu led the three figures from the painting out of the city in a swaggering manner, none of the soldiers guarding the city noticed anything amiss.

They didn't even dare to raise their heads and look directly at the three masters of the black-clad guards.

These city gate guards, along with the letter left by Shang Lu, are strong evidence that the three Black-Clad Guards left this place overnight.

No one would doubt that they were dead.

This matter will not be exposed, at least in the short term.

Once outside the city, Shang Lu released the witch gourd, letting the evil spirit in the painting lead the way.

With Yin Ling and his Xuan Yi Token, Shang Lu was no longer afraid of encountering patrolling witch beasts or rampant ghosts.

Not to mention, the witch beasts and rampant ghosts patrolling this county were all released by Yin Ling and his two companions, and the remnants of the witch artifacts they used to control the witch beasts and rampant ghosts were all seized by Shang Lu.

However, Shang Lu knew very well that he had no talent for controlling beasts and ghosts, so he simply handed over these remnant spirit artifacts to San Niang so that she could activate them and recall all the patrolling spirit beasts and ghosts.

Pokeweed, on the other hand, rode the gourd of witchcraft, flying around and returning the hearts, kidneys, and essence of each infant to their bodies.

With the demon in the painting leading the way, there's no fear of making mistakes, like mistaking the heart or kidneys.

These infants, whose hearts, kidneys, essence, and blood have been stolen, appear outwardly unharmed, but everything inside them has been taken away.

When Shang Lu first saw these children, he had a headache—there were no wounds, so how could he return their heart, kidneys, essence, and blood?

He soon discovered that there was no need to worry about this at all. As soon as he took out the bone vessel, the essence of the heart and kidneys inside flew out on its own, turned into a red light, and entered the infant's body.

All Shang Lu needs to do is activate the Mountain Spirit Seal on the back of the left hand with his essence and energy, so that these infants can regain their vibrant life.

Hearing the baby's heartbeat and breathing return, and feeling their gradual return to life, Shang Lu breathed a sigh of relief.

After returning the hearts, kidneys, and essence of the infants to their original location, Shang Lu rode the witch gourd back to the village where he had previously stayed.

It was already getting light, but the villagers were still fast asleep under the influence of the Sleeping Gu.

Shang Lu was in no hurry to wake the villagers. He went straight back to the woodshed where he had stayed, sat cross-legged, and began to cultivate the Five Organs Elixir Offering Technique.

About half an hour later, Shang Lu heard the sounds of roosters crowing and dogs barking from inside the village.

The chickens and dogs in the village awoke.

Immediately afterwards, Shang Lu heard people talking.

The villagers were surprised and incredulous that they had slept until dawn. Some urged others to get up quickly, while others scolded their chickens and dogs for being lazy and not crowing or barking, causing them to oversleep as well.

Shang Lu also heard the sounds of Chun Sheng and his wife frantically taking care of Chang Sheng in the next room.

Exhaling a breath of stale air, Shang Lu finished his practice and ended his cultivation.

But when he opened his eyes and saw the scene before him, he was utterly astonished…

(End of this chapter)