Weird Cultivation, I have a five-organ temple

Chapter 683 Dispute over the spoils
"A demon core was actually growing inside this shark demon's belly?"

Shang Lu felt the surging water-based demonic energy contained within the demon core and couldn't help but marvel.

A demon that can nurture a demon core must have at least the cultivation level of the Inner Palace Realm. But that shark demon was killed by him in one blow without even being able to fight back. It was also at the Inner Palace Realm.
Shang Lu looked down at the sea and saw all sorts of strange and bizarre changes appearing on the shark demon's split flesh. He immediately understood that this shark demon, as well as the demons and ghosts hiding in this sea area, had probably been corrupted and changed during the changes on Sea Spirit Island.

Therefore, even though this shark demon had the cultivation of the Inner Palace Realm, it could not unleash its full power. It was not surprising that Shang Lu used the shark's own methods against it and killed it with a water blade.

At that moment, after the shark demon's blood spread, the demons and ghosts hidden in the sea came out one after another, frantically devouring its corpse.

Even though this shark demon was undergoing strange changes, the sea monsters didn't mind at all.

For these demons and ghosts, killing and devouring are among their methods of cultivation.

The more skilled the user, the better the effect of consuming their flesh and blood.

Shang Lu wasn't interested in the shark demon's flesh and blood, especially since it had already mutated and was therefore useless. What interested him, however, was the demon core in his hand.

Under normal circumstances, demon cores need to be purified and refined by a physician before they can be consumed.

Otherwise, humans are likely to be corrupted by demonic energy, either mentally or physically, undergoing various changes, becoming neither human nor demon, and eventually going astray.

But for pokeweed, these dangers do not exist at all.

He possesses the Five Internal Organs Temple: the Liver God can detoxify, the Spleen God can refine, and even the blood mist that drove the gods mad and mutated can be transformed and absorbed after he swallows it.

An unrefined demon core is essentially a small karami; there won't be any problems at all.

However, just as Shang Lu opened his mouth to swallow the demon core, he suddenly sensed three other thoughts of "wanting to eat".

Two of them came from the Ice Crystal Blue Lotus and the Calamity Heart Lamp, respectively.

These two had clearly realized how good the demon core was, and were frantically releasing messages of "wanting to eat" and "loving to eat," trying to get Shang Lu to share the demon core with them.

Another thought came from the little black fox—this little beast was lying on the witch gourd, staring longingly at the demon core in Shang Lu's hand, humming and whimpering so loudly that it almost made its throat burn.

"You all have good eyes, knowing this is a good thing." Shang Lu chuckled, not in a hurry to decide how to divide the demon core, but instead lowered his head again to look at the sea below, while activating the spiritual eye between his brows.

With the help of his spiritual insight, he immediately saw through the cultivation levels of all the demons and ghosts in the sea.

The demons and ghosts frantically devouring the shark demon's corpse were all of low cultivation level. As for the sea monster that had cultivated a demon core, it had fled far away without hesitation long after Shang Lu killed the shark demon and seized its demon core.

Fearing that they would be spotted by Shang Lu if they moved too slowly, they also cleaved them in two and seized their demon cores.

These sea monsters fled very quickly, and Shang Lu didn't have time to chase them down, so he had to give up.

After a moment's thought, he exhaled a breath of lung metal energy, which transformed into a Qi sword, dividing the demon core into four parts.

He ate the largest portion himself.

Of the remaining three portions, the smallest one was given to the little black fox, while the Ice Crystal Blue Lotus and the Calamity Lamp took the two slightly larger portions.

Both the Ice Crystal Blue Lotus and the Calamity Heart Lamp had no objection to this division and immediately swallowed the demon cores assigned to them, beginning to digest them.

The little black fox had no objections either. It was already overjoyed to receive a demon core, so it naturally wouldn't complain about getting the smallest portion. Moreover, it knew that with its meager cultivation level, even if it received more demon cores, it wouldn't be able to refine them.

In the end, the loss of demonic energy from the demon core is a minor issue. It is even highly likely that it will become "too weak to be nourished," and its internal organs and meridians will be damaged and collapse because they cannot withstand the pressure.

After dividing the spoils, seeing that the demons in the sea dared not provoke him again, Shang Lu continued to practice his skills.

Although the temple of the five internal organs was shrouded in a strange mist, the effect of the statues of the five internal organs was not diminished.

The moment the demon core was swallowed, it was sent to the stomach and placed on the offering table.

The three statues of the liver, spleen, and kidney immediately began to flash with divine light of blue, yellow, and black.

The Liver God statue is responsible for detoxification, the Kidney God statue is in charge of refining, and as for the Kidney God statue... it just keeps "eating".

The water energy within the demon core was entirely absorbed into the kidney god statue, becoming part of the pokeweed kidney water.

In the blink of an eye, several days have passed.

During these past few days, Shang Lu and the little black fox both entered a meditative state, cultivating themselves wholeheartedly on the witch gourd.

Although there were still many demons and monsters in the ocean along the way, they only dared to watch them from afar and dared not attack them again.

It seems the news of the shark demon's death spread quickly. All the demons and ghosts in the sea know that the person riding the giant gourd in the sky is a powerful dragon crossing the river, and cannot be easily offended.

This left Shang Lu feeling quite regretful.

He was even planning to use himself as bait to lure unsuspecting demons into a sneak attack, kill them, and then obtain new demon cores.

As it turned out, these sea monsters were all incredibly cunning.

Sure enough, for anglers, "short-soldier" is the norm.

That afternoon, Shanglu, riding on the gourd of witchcraft, saw land in the distance.

After several days of flying, we finally returned to the mainland.

He was worried that he would encounter people from Tai Mo Academy in the next few days and wanted to come up with a solution.

But this expected thing never happened.

Shang Lu guessed that because the changes on Hailing Island happened so suddenly, Yin Shu and the others did not have time to send a message to warn them. Therefore, Tai Mo Academy was unaware that their Great Nuo, Holy Land, and many academic officials had disappeared or perished.

It was a good thing that he didn't encounter anyone from the Tai Mo Academy, as it allowed Shang Lu to concentrate on his cultivation over the next few days, consolidating his newly achieved breakthrough.

At the same time, Shang Lu also discovered that in addition to refining the demon core, the Five Internal Organs Temple had also refined and absorbed a portion of the strange blood mist and unknown divine power that it had inhaled.

The power that was refined and absorbed was all channeled into the Lung God statue to refine the Lung Metal Qi.

Although it has only been a few days, Shang Lu's lung metal energy has grown rapidly. Now, when he spews out a breath of lung metal energy, it is truly powerful and its power is no weaker than the flying sword techniques of many sword cultivators.

After returning to land, Shang Lu found a city and wanted to inquire about his location and what had happened recently.

At the same time, he used the Impermanence Decree to send messages to Zishu Xunshou, Lü Yang, Gongshu Ling, and others, inquiring about their recent situations.

There was still no news or response. This time, Shang Lu did not descend the witch gourd dozens of miles away from the city, but instead flew all the way to the city gate in the witch gourd.

Upon landing, facing the wary and tense city gate guards, Shang Lu took out an official's waist token.

He found this among the belongings of those academic officials.

Most of the academic officials at Tai Mo Academy hold positions in the Jiang Kingdom's court, and many are officials in the Nine Ministers' Offices. Even if it's a sinecure, their official rank is not low.

Therefore, when the city gate guards saw the waist token that Shang Lu presented, and saw that he dared to swagger to the city gate on his magic gourd before landing, they immediately assumed that he was a high-ranking official. They didn't dare to do any further verification or inspection. After respectfully returning the waist token, they hurriedly let him pass.

Once inside the city, Shang Lu used his persuasive skills to inquire about the situation and quickly found out that he was currently in Ling'an City on the southeast coast of Jiang Kingdom, far away from Qinglin Prefecture, where Taimo Academy was located, which was in the northeast of Jiang Kingdom.

When Shang Lu was at sea, he had difficulty finding his way. After escaping the range of the Spirit Gathering Array, he simply headed west, but unexpectedly, he ended up in the south of the Jiang Kingdom.

After buying a map in the city and studying it, Shang Lu planned to head west and detour back to the Kingdom of Ba.

It was at this moment that he, with his exceptional hearing, overheard some cultivators discussing their plans to go to the Tai Mo Academy in Qinglin Prefecture to attend a lecture on "The Truth of the Great Cataclysm".

Shang Lu was taken aback for a moment, then turned and walked towards the cultivators. With a cupped-hand salute and a few words, he dispelled their wariness and became familiar with them. Only then did he say, "Just now I overheard you brothers discussing that you were going to Tai Mo Academy to listen to a lesson on 'The Truth of the Great Cataclysm'?"

"Yes."

"Brother, you have excellent hearing."

The cultivators were completely bewitched and were not angry at all because Shang Lu had overheard their conversation. Instead, they all smiled and nodded.

Shang Lu continued to use his silver tongue, asking, "As far as I know, wasn't this lesson already over?"

The cultivators answered one after another:
"Brother, you may not know this, but many cultivators were unable to arrive on time for the last class and missed it. After careful consideration, Tai Mo Academy has decided to hold a class every few months to explain the truth of the Great Cataclysm."

"If anyone can glean anything from this, and even join Da Nuo in comprehending the truths of the Heavenly Dao, and learn the supreme method to become a god!"

"It is said that in the last class, several people gained some insights and were able to cultivate with Da Nuo, which is truly enviable!"

Shang Lu thought to himself, "If you knew their outcome, you probably wouldn't be so envious!" The Tai Mo Academy offered such courses not to teach the Dharma, but to find suitable experimental subjects and pioneers.

As for those who failed the "assessment," they will not have a good ending either.

These cultivators, after their minds are bewitched, will not only become tools for the Tai Mo Academy's "killing," but over time, they will also suffer from qi deviation and transform into monsters.

Regardless of whether these cultivators are ultimately captured for killing innocents or become monsters due to cultivation deviation, they will all become offerings for the Tai Mo Academy to sacrifice to the God of Madness. Or perhaps, they will be refined into human pills for the Tai Mo Academy members to consume for cultivation.

Shang Lu did not directly persuade these cultivators not to go to Tai Mo Academy. They were all eager to go, and even if he used his eloquence, he could not convince them. On the contrary, it would only create enmity between them.

Shang Lu pondered to himself, "The people from Tai Mo Academy really don't know what happened on Hai Ling Island."

"In that case, let me lend you a hand!" Shang Lu quickly made up his mind after a few quick thoughts.

With the help of San Niang, Shang Lu quickly found a secluded spot in the city. San Niang set up a magic array, while Shang Lu used the Ice Crystal Blue Lotus to create an illusion, making it impossible for anyone to find the place. Even if someone accidentally wandered in, they would leave after wandering around for a while, without any suspicion or doubt.

Having made all the arrangements, Shang Lu took out a paintbrush, talisman paper, and witch ink from the Wuchang Token.

This Wu Mo was found among the relics of those people from the Tai Mo Academy.

Along with Wu Mo, there was also a puppeteer's technique, which allowed one to draw incantations to create puppets that could move according to one's will.

These paper puppets are different from painted ghosts and paper figures; they are much weaker in power. However, they have one advantage: people cannot trace the spellcaster through the paper puppet. Therefore, they are often used by strategists, military strategists, and other practitioners for spreading rumors and prophecies.

Today, Shang Lu will use these paper puppets to spread the truth about the Tai Mo Academy's madness and their true intentions.

Soon, Shang Lu drew a large stack of paper puppets and successfully refined them.

As he left the city, Shang Lu quietly placed more than ten paper puppets behind.

After he flew away on his gourd, all the paper puppets activated simultaneously, shouting in various tones throughout the marketplace:

"The lectures at Tai Mo Academy are a pretense; their true intention is to harm cultivators!"

"The Tai Mo Academy has discovered an ancient evil technique in a dangerous place and intends to sacrifice others to aid their own cultivation."

"Those who went to Tai Mo Academy to listen to lectures before were either bewitched into becoming tools for their killings, or became sacrifices for them!"

"The cruel methods of the Tai Mo Academy have provoked divine wrath and divine punishment. The Grand Master Nuo of Jiang Kingdom and Grand Master Yin Shu, among others, have all perished..."

The officials in the city were shocked when they heard these words and hurriedly sent people to search everywhere.

However, the paper puppets were extremely well hidden, and ordinary officials and soldiers could not find them at all. In the end, it was only through the efforts of the cultivators that they were found and destroyed.

However, at this moment, the paper puppet's clamor had become known throughout the entire city.

In the following days, Shang Lu continuously released paper puppets on his westward journey to reveal the true intentions of the Tai Mo Academy.

These words sparked uproar and discussion in various places.

Some people scoffed, while others had doubts.

The local government along the way did its best to suppress the matter, forbidding the cultivators and common people from discussing it.

It's not that the officials knew the true situation at Tai Mo Academy. They did this to prevent these words from reaching the ears of Tai Mo Academy and causing them trouble.

However, their crude and simplistic approach triggered a series of negative consequences.

As the saying goes, "It is easier to prevent people from speaking than to prevent a river from overflowing." Simple and crude measures will only cause the "river to burst its banks." Therefore, the more the government tries to prohibit it, the more curiosity and suspicion arise. These rumors not only fail to be suppressed but spread wider and more widely, becoming increasingly exaggerated and sensational.

As a result, in the following days, Shang Lu did not need to release the paper puppets; many people spread these messages openly or covertly in various ways.

Of course, at this moment, most people are still skeptical of these rumors.

Tai Mo Academy has a long-standing reputation, and it cannot be shaken by a few rumors.

However, several events soon occurred that caused everyone's attitude to change drastically, and they began to doubt the authenticity of the rumors. Furthermore, some powerful families and sects from the Jiang Kingdom secretly made contact, intending to go to Qinglin Prefecture to demand an explanation from the Tai Mo Academy...

(End of this chapter)