Weird Cultivation, I have a five-organ temple

Chapter 694 Good Brothers, Old Crew

After a moment of excitement, Shang Mingqiu and Wu Guizhi finally calmed down.

While asking Shang Lu if he had eaten, Wu Guizhi waved her hand, telling the servants to hurry up and prepare hot food and not to stand there like idiots.

After all the servants had left, she asked in a low voice, "Where is Third Sister? Did she come back with you?"

Shang Lu nodded, about to reply, when Third Sister, dressed in a red wedding gown, appeared out of thin air in the room and said softly, "Father, Mother, I'm here."

Shang Mingqiu and Wu Guizhi were startled when they were surprised that Third Sister could reveal herself. Fortunately, Shang Lu calmed them down with his clever words.

The red veil of the Third Sister had already been lifted by Shang Lu. The figure that was revealed at this moment, in the eyes of Shang Mingqiu and Wu Guizhi, was a graceful figure and a fair and beautiful face.

The two elders were so shocked that their mouths dropped open.

Although they had long since accepted Third Sister as their "ghost daughter-in-law," in Shang Mingqiu and Wu Guizhi's minds, Third Sister was either a terrifying figure with a face covered in blood, or a face so dark it could scare people to death.

After all, the ghosts in folk tales and storybooks all look the same.

They never expected that Third Sister would be so beautiful.

This isn't some kind of female ghost, she's clearly a fairy from heaven!

In an instant, the thought arose in the minds of Shang Mingqiu and Wu Guizhi: "Our own pig has stumbled upon a fine cabbage."

Wu Guizhi reached out and grabbed San Niang's hand, clearly delighted.

And this pull led her to a new discovery.

She had held Third Sister's hand before, when she couldn't see her. Back then, Third Sister's hand, though delicate, had a chilling quality. But now, Third Sister's hand was no longer chilling; it had a warm, smooth feel to it.

It's like a living person's hand.

This surprised Wu Guizhi greatly.

He hurriedly pulled Third Sister aside to ask her the reason. Although he didn't say it aloud, he couldn't help but think in his heart: Could it be that Third Sister is about to "come back to life"? That would be wonderful!
Shang Mingqiu also had a lot of questions, but his wife pulled his daughter-in-law aside to whisper something, so he couldn't join in. He could only ask about Shang Lu's experiences during this time.

Shang Lu naturally wouldn't mention that during this time he was out there, he was either being hunted down or almost sacrificed by a group of lunatics. He only picked out the things he could talk about and even embellished them, a typical case of reporting only good news and not bad.

After giving his father a few perfunctory answers, Shang Lu asked, "How has everything been in our village while I was gone? Have any unfamiliar strangers appeared recently?"

As the saying goes, no one knows a son better than his father. Upon hearing this, Shang Mingqiu immediately lowered his voice, afraid that his wife would hear, and asked seriously, "Have you gotten into trouble outside?"

Shang Lu shook his head: "No, I was just asking casually."

Shang Mingqiu didn't believe it: "You might fool your mother with this, but you can't fool me."

Despite saying that, he didn't press further, and snorted, "I didn't see any strangers, but several of your men came to the village a few days ago. They've been staying at my house for the time being."

"Subordinates?" Shang Lu raised an eyebrow. Although his expression remained unchanged, a murderous intent surged within him.

His men were either with Zishu Xunshou and others, or stayed in the Xingshan area.

Who are these henchmen who came to his house?

Shang Lu immediately asked, "Where are they?"

Shang Mingqiu, unsuspecting, glanced at the sky outside the window and said, "He left early this morning, saying he was going to the county town to inquire about you... Judging by the time, he should be back soon."

Just as Shang Lu was about to ask what his "subordinates" looked like, he suddenly heard a horse neighing from outside the house.

The horse's neighing was far away, and no one else in the house could hear it, but Shang Lu's hearing was far beyond that of ordinary people. He not only caught the horse's neighing instantly, but also immediately recognized it.

"It's a dark cloud!"

The murderous intent in Shang Lu's heart vanished instantly, replaced by surprise.

With his exceptional hearing, he not only heard the excited howl of the black cloud, but also the voices of Uncle Huai, Du Feng, and Zhu Quan.

These people must have received news of Shang Lu's return; they were all very excited and were rushing to Shang Lu's house.

Shang Lu looked at San Niang. Given the relationship between San Niang and Uncle Huai, even if she didn't know Uncle Huai was there before, she must have found out after returning to Shuang Gui Village.

Perhaps Uncle Huai and the others rushed back from the county town because of the message from Third Sister.

"Is this a surprise for me?" Shang Lu shook his head and chuckled.

But at the same time, he was also puzzled: it was understandable that Uncle Huai and Hei Yun had left the group and returned to Shuanggui Village after fleeing back to Ba Kingdom with Zi Shu during their hunt. But weren't Du Feng and Zhu Quan with the Xingshan Border Army? How did they also end up in Shuanggui Village?
A moment later, Uncle Huai, along with Hei Yun, Du Feng, and the others, hurriedly returned to the merchant's residence.

During this time, they had been living in the Shang family estate and were very familiar with everyone there. Fortunately, after Shang Lu became an official, he gave his parents a lot of money and expanded their house. Otherwise, the few small rooms they had before would not have been able to accommodate so many people.

The group of men and their horse went directly to the hall without being led by servants. Upon seeing Shang Lu, they all excitedly bowed in greeting.
"Owner!"

"grown ups!"

"Sima!"

Black Cloud also joined in the fun, opening its mouth like a horse and neighing loudly. But after only a few neighs, it saw the little black fox following Shang Lu's feet, paused for a moment, then its gaze instantly turned sharp, and its neighing became urgent.

In other words, it can't speak human language yet, otherwise Hei Yun would most likely question Shang Lu: What's wrong with this vixen? Where did she come from?

The little black fox was startled by the black cloud's hiss, but being clever, it quickly understood why the black cloud was angry.

Its little eyes darted around, and instead of distancing itself from Shang Lu, it deliberately moved even closer, putting on a pitiful act, almost as if to say: "Brother, who is it? So rude and scary. Unlike me, I only feel sorry for my brother."

Shang Lu witnessed the interaction between the two little beasts, which made him both amused and annoyed.

What kind of harem drama are you two spirit pets staging here?
Shang Lu kicked the little black fox, then raised his hand and slapped Hei Yun hard on the head, striking a pose as if he were giving everyone equal treatment. Afterwards, he led Uncle Huai and Du Feng to a side room to talk.

There were some things he couldn't ask in front of Shang Mingqiu and Wu Guizhi.

Shang Mingqiu saw through it but didn't say anything, but the worry on his face was very obvious.

Shang Lu gently patted his hand and whispered, "Father, don't worry."

This sentence uses eloquence. Ordinary people like Shang Mingqiu are powerless against eloquence. His worries were instantly soothed, and even the wrinkles on his forehead were smoothed out.

Upon reaching the side room, Shang Lu first took out the remnant spirit "Unlistenable," activated it to block eavesdropping from the outside, and then spoke.

He first asked Du Feng, Zhu Quan, and the others, "Weren't you with the border troops in Xingshan? Why did you run back to Luoshui County? Where are your brothers from the same battalion?" Du Feng, upon hearing Shang Lu's question, was furious and immediately transformed into a snarler, cursing and swearing:
"Sir, you don't know, but not long after you left, a series of changes occurred in the Xingshan border army."

First, General Yan Man and Chief Priest Li Xuan were summoned back to Wushan by twelve imperial edicts issued by the Bird King of the court.

Not long after, Mao Tu, who was in charge of military discipline and enemy intelligence, was also summoned away by the Grand Priest with a shamanic letter. From then on, the senior generals of the Xingshan border army were frequently transferred, and almost all of them were replaced.

The newly arrived general, Shi Yu, was said to be from a noble family. Upon arrival, he immediately ordered the troops to retreat, which caused a great deal of controversy in the army.

Shi Yu, that guy, is fair-skinned and chubby, with a smile always on his face, as if he's easy to get along with. In reality, he's a ruthless, smiling tiger who kills without blinking an eye!

Seeing that many soldiers were protesting the withdrawal, the man said on the surface that he wanted to listen to everyone's opinions and asked all the generals who were unwilling to withdraw to gather at the drill ground so that he could ask them about their situation one by one.

As a result, everyone who went to the training ground was charged with the grave crime of 'disobeying orders on the battlefield' and was immediately captured and executed!

At this point, Du Feng, after cursing a few times, also felt a bit scared.

When Shi Yu ordered the retreat, he joined in the commotion. When Shi Yu sent people to assemble at the drill ground, he even wanted to go and join the fun, but was stopped by the mature and prudent Zhu Quan.

Zhu Quanjiu worked in the prefectural government office, and although he was in the bandit corps, he had witnessed too much political struggle.

According to him, Shi Yu always had a smile on his face and seemed easy to get along with, but in reality, he was a ruthless character.

Since he's a formidable figure and a newly appointed official, he's bound to make a strong impression.

How could we back down before the fire even started?
Fortunately, Zhu Quan stopped Du Feng; otherwise, Du Feng's head would have been among the mounds of skulls piled up on the drill ground.

"That bastard Shi Yu killed so many people that heads rolled, but he also managed to quell the arrogance of the Xingshan border army. No one dared to discuss whether or not to retreat."

Not only did no one dare to discuss it openly, but no one dared to talk about it privately either. The new high priest was no pushover either; he sent out many cunning spirits and witchcraft worms as spies. Anyone who dared to speak ill of the matter was invited in for questioning and never appeared again.

Not only were these two men tough, but the generals and followers they brought with them were all rotten bastards.

Before long, we withdrew from the Chu military town that we had finally captured and retreated all the way back to Xingshanwei.

Not long after we returned, they sent down a military commander, saying they were assigning a commander to our battalion. Of course, we refused, so we went to explain the situation to our superiors.

At first, we said that the soldiers who came to transport grain were not under the jurisdiction of the border army. Now that the grain transport mission is over and the Xingshan battle is over, we should return to the prefecture.

However, the sycophants of Xingshan Guard claimed that the imperial court had issued an edict assigning all of us county soldiers to Xingshan Guard and that they would reorganize us so that we could join the Chu army in attacking Deng.

We also said that our battalion has a commanding officer.

As a result, the people above asked us where our commander had gone. How could we possibly answer that? When you left, sir, you specifically instructed us not to reveal your whereabouts to anyone. We are all tight-lipped, so of course we wouldn't tell.

And guess what? Those bastards upstairs actually claimed you were already dead, and even produced a death list, with you prominently listed. I wanted to argue with them, but Old Zhu wouldn't allow it and pulled me back.

That new Sima is no good either. As soon as he arrived at the camp, he started installing his cronies and suppressing us.

Let's not even mention us squad leaders and platoon leaders. Old Zhu's military rank was also taken down by him on trumped-up charges and replaced with his cronies.

After a period of reorganization, the troops were to set off to join forces with the Chu army to attack the State of Deng.

Just when we brothers were at a loss for what to do, Uncle Huai suddenly came to our door and asked if we were willing to go with him.

Of course I was willing, so I went to find Old Zhu, Tu Bi, and a few other old brothers, and they all said they were willing. But the county soldiers hesitated and didn't dare to go with us. In the end, it was just us old brothers who slipped away with Uncle Huai and returned all the way back to Luoshui County..."

Du Feng, despite his mix of words and curses, managed to clearly explain what had happened in Xingshan after Shang Lu left.

Shang Lu frowned; he wasn't surprised that Yan Man and Li Xuan had been summoned back by the King of Ba.

Like Da Zhu, neither of these two men was willing to give up the territory they had already occupied. If the King of Ba wanted to show goodwill to the State of Chu and withdraw his troops, he had to capture the two of them.

Shang Lu had no idea that the Rabbit Hunting Trip would also be transferred, and it was by order of the "Grand Master".

Based on the various clues he had gathered, Shang Lu concluded that there must be something fishy about the order to transfer the Grand Master who was on patrol with the Rabbit Rabbit.

Even the Rabbit on patrol noticed something was wrong, which is why his name was added to the list of the dead.

In this way, no one will suspect Shang Lu's "disappearance," nor will they be able to find out Shang Lu's identity as a guardian witch.

Shang Lu couldn't understand why Mao Tu, who was on patrol, would still obey the order if he had sensed something was wrong. Did he have other plans?

Thinking of this, Shang Lu asked, "When the Rabbit went on its hunt, did it leave me any message?"

"No." Du Feng, Zhu Quan, and the others shook their heads in unison.

Shang Lu nodded and asked no more questions. He then turned to his old buddies who were willing to risk being labeled deserters to follow Uncle Huai to find him and said with a smile, "Since you are willing to follow me, I will certainly not treat you unfairly."

He raised his hand and flicked it, and several bottles of spiritual liquid flew out from the ring-shaped spatial artifact he had seized, landing in the hands of Du Feng, Zhu Quan, and the others.

One bottle for each person, so that others won't laugh at him and think he can't afford it.

"Take these spiritual liquids. I also have several sets of blood-nourishing and qi-cultivating techniques here, which I will pass on to you. Cultivate them diligently and strive to succeed in qi cultivation as soon as possible, so that you can embark on the path of true cultivation."

After saying that, Shang Lu took out several more martial arts manuals and handed them to everyone.

These cultivation manuals were also acquired by him during this period. They were of low grade and not very useful to him, but they were suitable for Du Feng, Zhu Quan and others to cultivate.

Upon seeing the spiritual liquid and the cultivation technique, Du Feng, Zhu Quan, and the others were naturally very excited and knelt down before Shang Lu.

This bow came from the bottom of my heart, without the slightest falsehood.

Shang Lu waved his hand, and a gentle breeze swept by, directly helping the people who had knelt on the ground to their feet.

At the same time, he laughed and scolded, "Go back to your cultivation, I have some questions for Uncle Huai."

Upon hearing this, the group did not linger there. They clasped their hands in agreement and left the side room.

Shang Lu lightly kicked the little black fox again, sending it out to instruct the others on their cultivation.

Although the little black fox is an animal, it is intelligent and has been taught by the mountain spirit. In terms of cultivation, it is qualified to be a teacher for Du Feng, Zhu Quan and others.

Even if it cannot speak, it still has ways to make these people understand its meaning.

After everyone left, Shang Lu turned to Uncle Huai and asked in a low voice, "Did something happen to Zi Shu and the others during their patrol?"

(End of this chapter)