Weird Cultivation, I have a five-organ temple

Chapter 623 The Blood-Weeping Divine Tablet
"We're going to have another war!" the man said rapidly.

As he spoke, his eyes kept darting around, as if afraid that someone might break his remnant spirit and overhear him.

"Another war?" Shang Lu was taken aback and asked, "With whom? The Ba Kingdom? Or are we going to conquer the barbarian tribes in the Hundred Thousand Mountains?"

Shang Lu's first reaction upon hearing that the State of Chu was about to launch another military campaign was that the erratic and insane King of Chu wanted to take revenge on the State of Ba!
No, perhaps what the King of Chu wanted was more than just revenge!

Instead, he seeks to please the evil god he now worships through killing and death, thereby creating a new "rotten and perilous land" and regaining his hope of immortality and godhood!

As Shang Lu was pondering this, he saw the broker shake his head and say, "Wrong! This time, we're not fighting the Ba Kingdom, nor the southern barbarians!"

He glanced around again to make sure no one was watching him before quickly saying, "This time, we're going on a northern expedition!"

"A northern expedition? To attack the Deng Kingdom?" Shang Lu was taken aback.

Although the State of Chu has temporarily ceased hostilities with the State of Ba, both sides still maintain a military presence on the border and are on guard against each other.

Meanwhile, the barbarian tribes in the Ten Thousand Mountains were filled with hostility towards the State of Chu because of the "disappearance" of the high priest and the series of events that the State of Chu had previously wanted to conquer them.

The State of Chu is now facing enemies on all sides.

Under such circumstances, the King of Chu still wanted to open up a new battlefield and create a new enemy for himself...

This King of Chu is truly insane!
"That's right, it's Deng Guo!"

Seeing Shang Lu's surprised expression, the broker knew that his information could definitely be sold for money.

He then added, "I'll give you another piece of news: this time we're joining forces with the Kingdom of Ba to destroy the Kingdom of Deng!"

"To send troops together with the Kingdom of Ba?" Shang Lu was even more surprised.

Previously in Xingshan, the King of Ba had sent envoys to demand that the Dazhu withdraw their troops and return to the territory of Ba, which had already surprised Shang Lu.

Unexpectedly, the King of Ba now intends to form an alliance with the State of Chu, with whom he has just fought a fierce battle, and send troops into battle...

What exactly happened? What benefits did the mad King of Chu promise the King of Ba that made him willing to set aside national and personal grudges and seek a deal with a tiger?
And what about Da Zhu? Didn't he return to Wushan to advise the King of Ba? How could it have turned out like this?

Did Da Zhu's advice fail? Or was he also swayed by the benefits promised by the King of Chu?
Unfortunately, Shang Lu was still in Chu territory. According to the message sent by Zi Shu Xun Shou, their Wu Chang Ling was being monitored by the Chu state. Once a message was sent, it would be locked, leading to a continuous pursuit. This prevented him from sending a message to Zi Shu Xun Shou and the others to find out what had happened.

"This news, in exchange for a bottle of spiritual liquid, isn't it a good deal for you?"

The man with the tooth smiled and reached out to take the spiritual liquid from Shang Lu's hand.

"Wait a minute."

Shang Lu withdrew his hand again and questioned, "Didn't Ba and Chu just have a war? How can they make peace so quickly and even join forces to destroy Deng? You're not making up a fake news story to fool me, are you?"

“I swear to Dongjun that I am not lying.”

The broker panicked and immediately raised his right hand, pointing to the sky and drawing lines on the ground as he swore an oath.

Unfortunately, although he was well-informed, he did not know why the State of Ba wanted to form an alliance with the State of Chu.

National affairs are still too distant for someone like him who works as a broker.

However, with his keen insight, Shang Lu could tell that the broker didn't seem to be lying.

Although he didn't know what had happened on Da Zhu's side, this news was indeed very useful to Shang Lu.

His original plan was to head north, detour through Deng, and return to Ba.

Now that the State of Chu is going to join forces with the State of Ba to attack the State of Deng, heading north is not a good option!
There must be many Discipline Black Witches patrolling to the north, eliminating enemy spies. If he continues north, he might run into these people and expose his whereabouts.

After a moment's thought, Shang Lu immediately made up his mind: "We can't go to Deng State. We'll change course and head east, going back through Jiang State!"

The broker, unaware of Shang Lu's thoughts, continued, "This information is absolutely valuable. If you have connections, you could earn a hundredfold profit based on it."

Shang Lu knew why he said that, so he smiled and tossed the spirit liquid in his hand to him: "It is indeed worth a bottle of spirit liquid."

The man with the tooth was startled, fearing that the bottle of spiritual liquid would fall to the ground and shatter, so he hurriedly caught it.

He was about to tuck it into his clothes when he suddenly remembered something. He uncorked the bottle, took a deep sniff, squinted his eyes, and said with a look of rapture, "What a wonderful spirit liquid! So pure! It's at least mid-grade or higher."

Immediately, he quickly stuffed the spiritual liquid into his pocket, fearing that Shang Lu might change his mind.

At the same time, he said with a smile, "Since you are so generous, I will give you another piece of news. You know that rumors are rampant right now, but do you know that His Majesty has dispatched the Black-Clad Guards, along with soldiers from various counties and prefectures, to hunt down and kill those who spread rumors?"

"Is that so?" Shang Lu shook his head. "I didn't know that."

He genuinely didn't know; after all, it was his departure from a place that triggered the rumors and gossip there.

Even when the Black-Clad Guards launched a massive manhunt, they were still running after him.

However, this news also reminded Shang Lu that the King of Chu had already taken countermeasures, and he had to be very careful when spreading rumors and prophecies... lest the Black-Clad Guards find any clues and track him down.

“I didn’t know, Ru Ke, you wouldn’t know, but in this Immortal Spirit Market, besides me, there are very few people who know this news.”

The broker boasted a few words of self-satisfaction, and then said, "Originally, quite a few people were skeptical about the fact that the King had turned into a monster, but after the Black-Clad Guards carried out large-scale hunting and suppression, many people believed it."

"Why is that?" Shang Lu feigned curiosity and, with his silver tongue, quickly managed to get the clerk to reveal the truth.

The broker snorted and said, "Is there any need to ask? Given our king's temperament, anything he tries his best to cover up must be true!"

Shang Lu was speechless... What he said made a lot of sense.

Soon, the broker led Shang Lu to find people who sold materials such as Chiyang Stone and Biyu Bamboo.

The prices of these materials are almost fixed, with only minor fluctuations. After a simple bargaining session, Shang Lu managed to buy all the spiritual materials.

"Scholar, are you really not planning to buy any other treasures?"

Seeing that Shang Lu had bought the materials, the broker came over again to make a recommendation, but Shang Lu waved his hand to interrupt him: "Thank you for your kindness, but I have already bought everything I needed."

“Scholar, don’t be so quick to refuse. I see you’ve bought these materials to make Nuo masks? Don’t be surprised. I’ve worked here for many years. Although I don’t have much cultivation, I’m quite knowledgeable.”

The broker boasted smugly before adding, "A few days ago, a man came to the market saying he wanted to sell a divine tablet."

"Selling divine tablets?" Shang Lu was taken aback, thinking to himself, "How can someone sell these things? And who would buy them?"
But soon, he realized, "That divine tablet contains divinity and divine power?" "Scholar, you are indeed knowledgeable. I didn't even say anything, and you guessed it." The broker gave him a thumbs up and praised him.

Unfortunately, Shang Lu was almost immune to flattery, and only asked, "Which deity's tablet is it?"

The man with the tooth shook his head and said, "I don't know about that. I only know that it is a divine tablet of a star lord."

Shang Lu glanced at him and teased, "You don't even know which star lord the divine tablet belongs to, and you're already helping to introduce business? How much referral fee did that person promise you?"

The broker, whose scheme had been exposed, wasn't embarrassed at all. He laughed and said, "Scholar, you're joking. We in this line of work make a living by doing this. Besides, that divine tablet is said to be a bit strange. Not only me, but even the person who sold it doesn't know which deity it belongs to."

"Oh?"

Pokeweed has always been interested in things that retain divinity and divine power.

To others, these treasures may simply be a channel for communicating with the gods.

However, for Shang Lu, he could not only use this treasure to communicate with the gods, but also refine the divinity and divine power contained within it, thus advancing his cultivation and gaining new supernatural abilities.

However, from the broker's evasive introduction, Shang Lu keenly judged that the divinity and power contained within that divine tablet were probably strange and abnormal.

It's hard to say, but it's extremely polluting.

Otherwise, why would the person selling this treasure need brokers to help him promote it everywhere? He could probably sell it easily as soon as he put it out. The Li family might even find him and buy it ahead of time.

Although he had deduced that there was something strange about the divine tablet, Shang Lu still decided to go and take a look.

What if he can purify the strangeness of the divine tablet?

"Take me to see it." Shang Lu took out ten knife coins from his pocket and tossed them to the broker.

The broker accepted the gift with a smile and bowed to lead the way: "Please follow me, sir."

A moment later, the broker led Shang Lu to an inn in the Fairy Spirit Market and knocked on one of the room doors.

Inside the room lived two people, and Shang Lu sensed a chaotic spiritual energy emanating from them.

This spiritual energy carried a chilling and murderous aura, like a sharp blade, yet it was also extremely chaotic, making it difficult for them to control. They could only suppress it by relying on their witchcraft tattoos—these two people were covered in witchcraft tattoos, even on their faces.

The broker pointed at Shang Lu and introduced him with a smile: "Gentlemen, I've brought you a buyer..."

Shang Lu shook his head, interrupting the broker: "I can't be considered a buyer. I need to see the divine tablet before I can say whether I want to buy it or not."

The broker wasn't embarrassed at all, and said with a smile, "What the scholar said is true, that's indeed the point." Then, he looked at the two people in the room, and although he didn't say anything, he made his attitude clear.

Without a word, the two men inside took out ten knife coins and tossed them to the broker.

The broker was self-aware enough to know that although facilitating a sale would earn him a 10% commission, with his limited abilities, he was likely to be corrupted and driven mad by the seller's divine artifact.

Compared to making money, staying alive is more important.

"You two continue your conversation, I'll take my leave now." The broker bowed to both sides, then left the room, carefully closing the door behind him.

After the broker left, Shang Lu cupped his hands in greeting to the two people inside the room and asked, "Brothers, could you please take out the divine tablets so I can take a look?"

The older of the two men, after sizing up Shang Lu a few times, did not rush to take out his divine token, but instead said directly:
"We won't hide it from you. Although that divine tablet contains divinity and power, it's quite chaotic. You can probably tell by looking at our auras. After we take it out, you'll also be affected by the contamination. Do you still want to see it?"

Shang Lu laughed and said, "You two are quite frank, but I still want to see."

Seeing him say that, the older man said no more, but turned his head and ordered, "Second brother, take out the ancestral tablet and let him see it."

With the Li family acting as guarantors in this Fairy Market, they weren't afraid that Shang Lu would forcibly seize their treasures after they brought them out.

The second brother remained silent, nodded, and then extended his right hand. As the witch's seal was activated, points of eerie light shone in his palm, and in an instant, a divine tablet appeared in his hand.

The talisman was wrapped in layers upon layers of shamanic runes. Strands of crimson blood seeped from the talisman, soaking it and dripping down.

Even without unsealing the magic talisman, Shang Lu could sense a chaotic pollution emanating from the divine tablet.

At the same time, a sharp and murderous aura also emanated from it!

This aura is very similar to that of the two people who are about to sell the divine tokens.

"Is your cultivation related to this divine tablet?" Shang Lu asked. At this moment, the mental image within his body spewed out its heart fire with all its might, working together with the Heart Sutra to protect his consciousness from contamination.

The two people inside the room exchanged a glance, seeing that Shang Lu did not become disordered or filled with killing intent like the previous cultivators after they took out their divine tablets. They both felt that they had seen a glimmer of hope.

Then, the older person nodded in agreement, "That's right."

"Then why sell it?" Shang Lu asked again.

"Two reasons."

Older people, influenced by the persuasive words of pokeweed, did not hide the reasons and told the truth:

"Firstly, my brother and I are about to succumb to the corruption of this divine tablet."

You should have sensed it too; it's very chaotic.

We used it to cultivate, and although our progress was rapid, our aura became polluted and increasingly chaotic. At the same time, the killing intent in our hearts grew stronger and stronger.

At first, we would only have murderous thoughts when we were angry. Now, we'll have murderous thoughts and want to kill any living thing we see!
To suppress our murderous intent, we had to tattoo our bodies with witchcraft marks, but even that was almost too much for us!
If we continue to cultivate using this divine tablet, it won't be long before we completely degenerate into monsters who only know how to kill!

The older person sighed softly as they spoke.

Shang Lu keenly sensed that this person was hiding something, and that they must have accidentally killed someone they shouldn't have before they were covered in witch runes to suppress their killing intent.

It's highly likely that they were close relatives. That's why they wanted to get rid of the divine artifact and sell it.

Soon, the older man adjusted his mindset and said, "As for the second reason, it is that my brother and I are facing a breakthrough and urgently need the corresponding residual spiritual roots or spiritual materials."

At this point, he glanced at Shang Lu, his gaze scrutinizing him: "Scholar, although this treasure is chaotic, it is still a divine object. Our asking price is not cheap!"

(End of this chapter)