Weird Cultivation, I have a five-organ temple

Chapter 322 Entering the Mountain to Suppress Bandits
When Sun Chen gathered the yamen runners, county soldiers and other personnel, the sky had already darkened.

It won't be long before night falls.

These yamen runners and county soldiers of Wannian County had suffered a great deal in Gexian Mountain before. When they heard that they had to go into the mountain again, they were somewhat reluctant. Not only were they slow in their movements, but their morale was also very low.

In such a situation, it is obviously unrealistic to ask them to go into the mountains in the dark.

By then, if the bandits are not wiped out, these people might scatter at the slightest sign of trouble.

The quality of the yamen runners and county soldiers in Wannian County was not much different from that in Luoshui County before the secret realm was discovered.

They are all a group of guerrillas whose military equipment is lax and who have not been in battle for a long time.

It's easy for these people to fight when they have the advantage and the wind is favorable.

Once the situation is unfavorable, you must run as fast as you can.

Although Shang Lu and people from Zeicao Office will also participate in this bandit suppression campaign.

With their strength, it is not a problem to capture this group of bandits.

But Shanglu wanted to annihilate the enemy completely, not to defeat them.

At least we have to capture all the bandit leaders!
If we let them escape, it won't be long before they come back and cause chaos again.

By then, it will definitely become even more severe and brutal.

But Gexian Mountain is so big, with many trees, and Shanglu has no secret guards. It would be difficult for Zhu Quan and a few thieves to catch anyone without missing any.

The best way is to bring along the yamen runners and county soldiers from Wannian County.

Let them assist in the siege and search.

Of course, the morale and status of these people must be reversed as soon as possible.

Otherwise, the siege may very likely turn into expulsion - being driven away by the bandits.

Sun Chen also understood the situation of his men and did not dare to let them march in the dark, so he proposed that they stay in the military camp in the city for one night and set out again at dawn the next morning.

Shang Lu had no objection, and the matter was settled.

That night, in the military camp, Shang Lu set up a witch formation and performed military witchcraft to boost the morale of everyone in the camp.

It was the next day in a blink of an eye.

The yamen runners and soldiers of Wannian County were surprised to find that their spirits were surprisingly good after a good night's sleep.

He no longer resisted going to Gexian Mountain to suppress the bandits. Instead, he felt eager to try and kill the enemies and make meritorious service.

Sun Chen noticed the changes in these people and couldn't help but marvel at them.

Ever since he failed in his last attempt to suppress bandits in the mountains, he has been wanting to avenge his previous defeat.

However, the resistance and low morale of his men prevented him from taking any action.

Yesterday, at Shang Lu's request, Sun Chen gritted his teeth and gathered the yamen runners and county soldiers.

At that time, this group of people were still resistant and their morale was poor.

I didn't expect that the situation would become completely different just after one night.

"Is this the trick of the merchant thief Cao?"

Sun Chen guessed in his heart: "I heard that this merchant thief Cao is also a witch officer of the Witch Academy. I don't know what kind of means he used. It's really amazing. Speaking of which, the witch in Wannian County also came from the Witch Academy. How come he doesn't have such ability?"

Although he was curious, Sun Chen did not forget his responsibilities.

He immediately called on his squad leaders and generals to form the team and call out the names.

At this time, Shang Lu used his eloquence to announce reward and punishment measures, and combined with a series of methods of "encouragement" and "motivation" by the soldiers and wizards, he successfully raised the morale of the yamen runners and county soldiers to a higher level.

Although the army has not reached the point where they are ready to fight the enemy, the morale of the troops can be considered to be barely sufficient.

Sun Chen, who watched all this, became more and more envious.

When he led his team into the mountains to suppress bandits, he also offered generous rewards to boost morale.

But the effect is not obvious.

It is far worse than the current effect.

Sun Chen originally wanted to learn from Shang Lu, but he soon discovered that he could only envy Shang Lu's skills but could not learn them.

After the inspection, the troops quickly left the barracks.

Although it is still early, there are already many people in the county town who have gotten up early to work.

Seeing two or three hundred yamen runners and county soldiers heading out of the city with weapons in hand, many people stopped to watch and talked about it curiously.

Some people even greeted the yamen runners and county soldiers they knew in the team and asked them what they were going to do.

Fortunately, these yamen runners and county soldiers, although all old hands, also know the rules.

Especially since their county lieutenant and the thief Mr. Cao from the county were both in the team, how could they dare to say anything nonsense?
Often when they are asked, they glare and yell, "What are you asking about? Is this something you can ask about?"

Shang Lu naturally noticed these situations.

But he didn't say much and left it to Sun Chen to deal with.

Sun Chen is the local chief official. It would be against the rules if he interfered in other people's affairs.

Shang Lu just made a witch seal with his hands and narrowed his eyes slightly.

No one noticed that above their heads, there was a bird, looking down from high above, taking in the entire situation.

Soon, Shanglu made a discovery.

"There are mice indeed."

He snorted coldly, without turning his head, and quickly instructed Zhu Quan who was following him:

"In front of you on the right, there is a man in gray clothes and a straw hat, running towards the rice shop... Keep an eye on him and see who he comes into contact with. If he leaves the city directly, arrest him and torture him!"

"Yes, sir." Zhu Quan replied.

He did not go out himself, but called over two of his men and whispered a few instructions to them.

The two thieves were originally wearing plain clothes. After receiving the order, they immediately squeezed into the crowd and disappeared in an instant.

A moment later, Shang Lu discovered another suspicious target through the wooden kite and handed it over to Zhu Quan for handling.

He was also taking this opportunity to examine Zhu Quan's abilities.

The team left the city and walked along the official road for a short distance before they saw several thieves waiting on the roadside and the people they had captured.

These people had obviously been taught a lesson, and each of them had injuries on their bodies.

Sun Chen recognized the thieves and was stunned at first, then he had a guess and asked in a low voice: "Shang Zei Cao, what's going on? Are there any problems with those people?"

When Shang Lu saw Qiu Dao taking the men down, he knew that his guess was correct, and snorted coldly, "Those few people were the bandits' spies, and they were rushing back to report the news, but they were captured by my people."

Sun Chen's expression became increasingly ugly.

He finally understood why he stepped on a snake's den and encountered ferocious beasts the last time he entered the mountains.

I just thought it was bad luck before.

Now I realize that it had nothing to do with luck. I was being targeted before I even left the city.

From this perspective, it was not unfair that he was defeated the last time he went into the mountains.

It is not easy to bring most people back alive.

"Let's hand these bandit spies over to County Captain Sun for disposal." After Qiu Dao escorted the captured spies back to the team, Shang Lu handed them over to Sun Chen.

Sun Chen bowed and thanked Shang Lu, then immediately called over a few of his trusted men, who first crippled the thieves' hands and feet, and then rode their horses at full speed to send them back to the city's jail.

Wait until we destroy the thieves' den in the mountains and capture all the bandits, then we'll interrogate and convict them together.

Shang Lu called a few thieves to his side and asked them as they walked on: "Did you find out anything?"

These thieves do have some tricks up their sleeves when it comes to interrogation.

Even though not much time had passed, a lot of information was obtained.

"The bandits are hiding in Yunshang Peak of Gexian Mountain. They have built houses there and constructed some simple fortifications. This is the topographic map I drew based on what they said. I showed it to several informants and they all said it was like this."

Shang Lu took the topographic map and saw that it was clearly drawn, with roads and fortifications marked out. He nodded and praised, "Well done."

Then he asked, "Have you found out who among the bandits controls the poisonous snakes and ferocious beasts? What methods does he use? What level of cultivation does he have?"

"No, these people said that only their leader Xiang Hu knows how to control poisonous snakes and ferocious beasts. But Xiang Hu is good at strength and doesn't have the ability to control beasts!"

"We have asked around, and found out that most of the bandits are ordinary people who have learned some martial arts, and only a few of them have real cultivation skills. The spies are just ordinary people, and they don't know the specific level of those people's cultivation."

"But the spies of these bandits mentioned one thing. They said that even if we captured them, as long as we entered Gexian Mountain, we would be immediately discovered by Xiang Hu."

Shang Lu was not surprised at all: "This is not surprising. Since there are extraordinary people among the bandits who can drive poisonous snakes and fierce beasts, they can naturally turn the poisonous snakes and beasts into ears and eyes to help them monitor the situation in the mountains."

At this time, Sun Chen had arranged for his men to escort several bandits' spies back to the county magistrate's jail. As soon as he walked over, he heard what Shang Lu and the thieves were saying.

He originally thought that after several spies were captured, the anti-bandit operation could be carried out by surprise.

I never thought that those bandits could monitor Gexian Mountain through poisonous snakes and wild beasts!
Then, as soon as we enter the mountain, won’t all our actions be under the surveillance of the bandits?

What kind of bandits are we even trying to suppress?
Sun Chen couldn't help but look worried: "Ah? This...what should I do?"

"Why are you panicking?"

Shang Lu was not in a hurry at all.

"With us here, what does it matter even if the bandits see us? What you need to do is to surround the bandit camp on Yunshang Peak as quickly as possible and not let a single bandit escape!"

Now that we know the exact location of the bandits, we can just attack them.

It was just that the originally planned surprise attack turned into an offensive.

But Shang Lu believed that with him, Zhu Quan and others there, even a siege would be no problem.

The only thing to pay attention to is not to let the bandits realize the danger too early and escape in the chaos.

Therefore, we must fight quickly and decisively.

Fortunately, the bandits in Gexian Mountain were unaware of the existence of Shang Lu and others.

Who knows, they might let their guard down when they see Sun Chen leading the yamen runners and county soldiers into the mountains again.

This also gave Shang Lu and others an unexpected opportunity.

Fortunately, Sun Chen didn’t know what Shang Lu was thinking, otherwise he would have been very depressed.

However, seeing Shang Lu's confident look, Sun Chen felt relieved.

To take a step back, even if the bandit suppression fails again this time, Shang Lu is still there to support us.

When the team arrived at Gexian Mountain, it was already four quarters past midnight.

Shang Lu ordered everyone to rest on the spot and let them eat some dry food and drink some water to replenish their strength.

At the same time, he called Sun Chen and others to his side, asked about the location of Yunshang Peak, and arranged for someone familiar with the mountain terrain to lead the way.

Knowing that there were people among the bandits who could control poisonous snakes and ferocious beasts, Sun Chen, Zhu Quan and others prepared a batch of snake repellent last night.

Regardless of whether it is useful or not, it is distributed to everyone first.

After resting and determining the route, the team immediately entered the mountain and headed towards Yunshang Peak.

As soon as he entered the mountain, Shang Lu released the wooden kite and let it fly in the air to act as a spy.

The wooden kite that Gongshu Ling lent him was not used to search for the Five Evil Stones, but was used by him to track down the enemy.

Through the wooden kite, Shanglu soon discovered something strange:

There were indeed poisonous snakes and ferocious beasts in the mountains, but they did not come in the direction they were traveling.

Even some poisonous snakes and ferocious beasts that were originally hiding on the route moved aside on their own when Shang Lu and his team were about to arrive.

Only after Shang Lu and his hundreds of companions had gone far away did they return to their original position.

It seemed that the poisonous snakes and ferocious beasts in the mountain seemed to have encountered a ghost wall and changed their directions without noticing.

Wait, a ghost wall?

Shang Lu's heart suddenly moved. He touched the oil-paper umbrella he carried with him, moved his lips slightly, and asked in a low voice: "Sanniang, are you driving away the poisonous snakes and beasts along the way?"

Sanniang's figure immediately appeared in front of Shang Lu, nodded at him, and then turned into a cloud of smoke and disappeared without a trace.

But he continued to go to the road ahead, helping to drive away poisonous snakes and ferocious beasts to prevent his whereabouts from being exposed.

Shang Lu couldn't help but marvel at it.

Sanniang didn't seem to have such a skill before? I don't know if it was a new magical power she gained after her cultivation level was improved, or a skill she learned in class at the witch academy.

No matter where this ability came from, it played a big role at this moment.

Unlike Shang Lu, Sun Chen did not know of Sanniang's existence.

He was somewhat surprised and worried that he had not encountered any poisonous snakes or ferocious beasts along the way, and could not help but say:

"Shang Zei Cao, today's situation is so wrong. The last time we entered the mountain, we were trapped in a snake den and attacked by wild beasts... But today, let alone poisonous snakes and wild beasts, we didn't even see a bird or rabbit. I'm afraid there is a trap to lure us in?"

Shang Lu thought to himself, what a bullshit trap! If it weren’t for my wife’s help, look at this moment, wouldn’t there be poisonous snakes and ferocious beasts attacking?
But he didn't want to tell Sun Chen about Sanniang's affairs, so he said vaguely, "We drove away the poisonous snakes and wild beasts along the way in advance."

"Ah?" Sun Chen was stunned when he heard that.

He followed Shang Lu, Zhu Quan and others all the way. Apart from seeing Shang Lu releasing a wooden kite, he didn't see any other actions. How could he drive away the poisonous snakes and ferocious beasts along the way without anyone noticing?
Is it the credit of the wooden kite in the sky?
Or is it that this merchant thief Cao, does he also have some evil ghost soldiers?
Sun Chen was very curious, but didn't dare to ask.

Fortunately, the situation is good.

The yamen runners and county soldiers in the team thought so too.

When they first entered Gexian Mountain, they were very cautious, fearing that they would be suddenly attacked by poisonous snakes or surrounded and beaten by ferocious beasts.

As a result, after walking for such a long time, everything was calm and nothing happened.

This gradually changed their mentality.

Although I was still very careful, I was no longer panicked or afraid.

On the contrary, under the influence of Shang Lu's "encouragement", morale gradually increased.

I don't know how long it took.

Suddenly, Shang Lu raised his hand and made a gesture.

Zhu Quan and Sun Chen hurriedly whispered to everyone to stop and hide where they were.

"We have arrived at Yunshang Peak."

Shang Lu raised his hand, pointed forward, and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"The thieves' den is right there...but the aura is a little weird."

(End of this chapter)