Weird Cultivation, I have a five-organ temple

Chapter 693 A Change in Wushan
Shang Lu did not expect that the long-dormant Impermanence Decree would actually stir at this moment.

He excitedly took out the Impermanence Token and saw that it had been sent by more than one person.

The message from the Rat's patrol was concise and to the point, consisting of only one sentence: "We are all fine, so there is no need to worry. You should return to Wushan immediately and report to the Wushi Office. There is an important task to be assigned to you, so do not delay!"

Compared to the Rat's hunting expedition, the messages from Lü Yang and Gongshu Ling contained slightly more information.

In his message to Wu Xun, Lü Yang wrote: "No need to worry, we're all fine. We couldn't use the communication function of the Impermanence Order while on a mission. Now that the mission is over, I immediately replied to you. Where are you now?"

Gongshu Ling's message to Shang Lu was simpler; he merely urged Shang Lu to return to the Wei Wu Yamen (a government office for shamans) to report for duty so they could carry out the important mission ahead together.

The three cryptic messages appear to be without any problems in terms of wording.

However, after reading it, Shang Lu's alarm bells went off and he became suspicious.

Zishu Xunshou and Gongshu Ling were one thing, but these two rarely used voice when transmitting messages; they always used text.

But Lü Yang is different; he talks a lot and will never type if he can send a voice message.

However, this time, he sent a text message containing witchcraft, which was inconsistent with his usual style.

and……

Before the three witchcraft messages disappeared, Shang Lu quickly read them again.

Whether it was the Rat on the hunt or Lü Yang and Gongshu Ling, they deliberately used ambiguity in how they addressed him, neither calling him by his name nor his junior brother, but always referring to him as "you".

The excitement and joy that Shang Lu felt upon receiving the message from the witch doctor vanished almost instantly.

Something's not right.

He deliberately did not reply to the witch's message. According to Lü Yang's past behavior, he would definitely send several more witch messages to "harass" him.

Soon, the three messages from the sorcerer, once read, vanished like smoke.

Because of the special status of the Guardian Witch, the messages of the Impermanence Decree are designed to be "read and burned immediately" to prevent confidential information from being leaked due to the loss of the Impermanence Decree.

Shang Lu waited and waited, but an hour passed and he still hadn't received any follow-up messages from Lü Yang.

"Has Senior Brother Lü changed his ways, or is someone impersonating them to send me a message?"

Shang Lu's doubts grew stronger.

He thought for a moment, then quickly sent a new shamanic message to Gongshu Ling: "I have found the materials you requested."

A moment later, he received a reply from Gongshu Ling: "Very good, bring them back to Wushan as well. I will be waiting for you at the Weiwu Yamen."

Upon seeing this message about witchcraft, Shang Lu's anxiety completely died.

Something must have happened to Zi Shu Xun Shou and Lü Yang and Gongshu Ling.

Their hunting orders and death warrants were confiscated, and the other party even impersonated them, mimicking their language, to lure them to the Wushan Guard Office!
Fortunately, the message delivered by the Impermanence Decree was designed to be "read and burned," which meant that the person who confiscated the Hunting Order and the Impermanence Decree was unaware of Shang Lu's identity and could only refer to him as a vague "you."

"Wushan... the Weiwu Office... it seems this matter is most likely related to the King of Ba!"

Based on the various clues he had gathered, Shang Lu quickly came to a conclusion.

Back in Xingshan, the King of Ba sent an envoy to order Da Zhu and the Xingshan army to withdraw from Chu territory. Da Zhu was unwilling to give up and returned to Wushan to persuade the King of Ba. However, not only did he fail to persuade the King of Ba, but he also went against the grain and supported the joint forces of Ba and Chu to conquer Deng.

Such inconsistent behavior already made Shang Lu suspect that Da Zhu might have met with misfortune.

These unusual messages from the witch doctor have further fueled Shang Lu's suspicions.

"King Ba learned of Da Zhu's secret plot and captured him unexpectedly."

After returning to Wushan, Zishu Xunshou, along with Senior Brother Lü, Senior Sister Gongshu, and others, were all detained, which is why they lost contact with each other..."

"The message I'm receiving now is from someone under King Ba. They've successfully cracked the Impermanence Decree and seen the messages I sent to Zishu Hunting, Senior Brother Lü, Senior Sister Gongshu, and others to inquire about the situation. However, the earlier messages disappeared because of the 'read and burn' setting, so King Ba's people only know that I'm a member of the Impermanence Decree, but they don't know who I am or how to address me. Otherwise, they wouldn't have given themselves away."

"If my judgment is correct, these people definitely sent more than just witch messages to me. The guard witches under Zishu's patrol have probably all received similar messages. I just don't know who will fall for it."

"The current Weiwu government office has most likely become a trap! They're just waiting for us to arrive so they can smash a cup as a signal!"

"However, if we want to find out the current situation of Da Zhu, Zi Shu Xun Shou, and Senior Brother Lü and Senior Sister Gongshu, we have no choice but to go to Wushan! Even if it is a dragon's den and a tiger's lair, we have to go!"

In a short while, Shang Lu made up his mind.

But he also knew that he couldn't rush to Wushan, and he couldn't reveal his identity or whereabouts.

Ideally, we should find some well-informed people to try and get some intelligence or clues.

First, we need to figure out exactly what methods King Ba used to subdue the Grand Master!
Da Zhu's cultivation level is among the best in the Ba Kingdom, far surpassing that of the Ba King.

If special means hadn't been used, it would have been impossible for King Ba and his associates to take down Da Zhu!
Secondly, Shang Lu also wanted to find out whether Da Zhu and Zi Shu Xun Shou were dead or alive.

If they are still alive, we must find a way to rescue them.

If he were to die, Shang Lu would not care about right or wrong; all he wanted to do was seek revenge!
Even if he can't report it now, he will definitely not let these people go once his cultivation level is high enough.

"Return to Ba Kingdom first and wait for an opportunity to act."

Shang Lu took out the Taotie handle and swallowed the residual spiritual waves from the Wuchang Token's earlier message. Then he took out several talismans and tightly wrapped the Wuchang Token around them.

Shang Lu's previous experience of being hunted down by Chu Wu made him realize that not only was there a risk of the message being deciphered, but it could also be used to track someone's whereabouts by following the message's spiritual waves.

Since we suspect that the person who sent the witch's message is suspicious, Shang Lu must make full preparations and not let any loopholes slip by, so that these people can take advantage of the situation!
With a heavy heart, Shang Lu left Deng State two days later and returned to Ba State.

The place he walked to, although it was the border between Deng and Ba, was not in the direction of Ba's offensive advance.

Therefore, the two countries simply stationed their troops here, and although there were constant frictions, there was no major war.

As soon as Shang Lu stepped into the territory of the Ba Kingdom, he immediately felt a powerful aura lock onto him.

He originally planned to use the Ice Crystal Blue Lotus to disrupt the energy flow and then leave the place as soon as possible to avoid being entangled with others.

But upon further reflection, he changed his mind.

He swiftly donned the ever-changing mask, altering his appearance and form. He then descended to the ground, put away the gourd, and borrowed the transformative powers of the Monkey King from a novelist's notes, transforming the little black fox back into a child. As for the paper dog, he also used the transformative powers to turn it into a witch dog.

Once all this was done, several figures descended from the sky and appeared in Shang Lu's field of vision, surrounding him from a distance with very wary expressions.

If Shang Lu hadn't taken out the Impermanence Token the instant he sensed their presence and shouted "We're on the same side!", they probably would have already cast their spells.

Although these wizards didn't make a move, they unleashed their magical artifacts, ready to swiftly kill Shang Lu should the situation turn against them. One of them sized Shang Lu up and down before his gaze fell on the Impermanence Token in Shang Lu's hand, and he demanded, "Who are you? Why have you returned from an enemy country?"

"I am a member of the Wuchang Guard under the Weiwu Commandery. I have obtained important intelligence in the Deng Kingdom and have been ordered to rush to Wushan to report!"

As Shang Lu spoke, he used his vital energy to lift the Wuchang Token, from which the shamanic talisman had been removed, and sent it to the shamans so that they could carefully examine it.

Meanwhile, Shang Lu carefully observed the reactions of these people, remaining on guard and ready to take action at any moment.

These wizards were clearly knowledgeable; they recognized the Impermanence Token as genuine and breathed a sigh of relief.

"So it's Wei Wu, my apologies for not recognizing you!"

They all clasped their hands in greeting to Shang Lu, putting away not only the witchcraft artifacts they had unleashed, but also their murderous intent.

Shang Lu thought to himself, "Just as I thought."

King Ba's purge of the Wei witches was carried out in secret; at least, these border army witches were unaware of it.

"Your dedication in guarding the frontier is all the more admirable," Shang Lu said, bowing respectfully.

Encouraged by his silver tongue, his polite words were particularly pleasing to the ear, making the border army shamans smile with delight. They quickly regarded Shang Lu as a confidant and even invited him to visit their military camp.

Shang Lu politely declined, saying, "I have a mission to complete. I will return to have a small gathering with my brothers after I deliver the important intelligence to Wushan."

He then changed the subject, asking, "By the way, I've been lying low in Dengguo all this time. I wonder if anything major has happened in our country?"

"I haven't heard of anything major."

“In recent days, apart from the war with Deng Guo, nothing else has happened.”

The border army shamans had no suspicions and simply assumed that Shang Lu had indeed been missing for many days, which aroused their curiosity.

After listening to the words of these border army shamans, Shang Lu became even more certain that King Ba's purge of the Wei shamans was carried out in secret.

Why would King Koba do this?

Could it be that someone opposed King Ba's purge of the Wei witches, and that this person was quite powerful and prestigious, which is why King Ba did not publicly label the Wei witches as traitors, but instead carried out the elimination in secret?

The question remains: who are the opponents? What role did they play in this matter, and were they aware of Ba Wang's covert purges?

Shang Lu pondered for a moment, then changed the subject and asked, "Brothers, there must be military shamans accompanying you in your border army, right?"

The border army wizards still didn't suspect anything, assuming that Shang Lu wanted to visit his colleagues, and they all shook their heads: "Yes, but we have never seen him."

Only one person said, "I heard that these military shamans were recalled to Wushan a few days ago."

Shang Lu immediately pressed, "Recalling Wushan? Do you know why?"

The wizard shook his head and said, "I don't know. The missions you guard the wizards carry out are always classified."

Shang Lu gave a few perfunctory replies, but in his heart he became more and more certain of his previous guess.

Recalling Wushan is a trap to lure you into!

Once you openly reveal your identity, you will never return.

With this judgment, Shang Lu became even more cautious after bidding farewell to the border army shaman, and never showed his Impermanence Decree to anyone again.

Fortunately, besides the Decree of Impermanence, he also had a waist token and official document of the Prefect of Baiyi County. When he encountered shamans who questioned him along the way, he successfully fooled them all with his identity and his silver tongue.

Although some people wondered what the Sima of Baiyi County was doing in another county, they were all swayed by Shang Lu's eloquence and no longer had any doubts.

Shang Lu traveled at full speed and returned to Baiyi County a few days later.

He first returned to Baiyi County, intending to go to the Witch Academy to inquire about news from Feng Boyuan and Bai Lingxu.

These two people, one of whom is a member of the Feng family, one of the Nine Ministers of Ba Kingdom, even though he is from a less important collateral branch, have far more information about Feng than ordinary cultivators.

As for Bai Lingxu, he was known for being a gossip with an extensive network of connections. For enough money, he could even find out which concubine the King of Ba had slept with the previous night.

Of course, this was something Senior Brother Bai said while bragging, and Shang Lu didn't know whether it was true or not. This was a good opportunity to test it out.

These two people might actually be able to provide some clues about the secrets that happened in Wushan.

However, after entering Baiyi County, Shang Lu did not rush to Chengfeng County, but instead returned to Shuanggui Village in Luoshui County first.

Seeing the village in the distance and noticing that little had changed and the villagers were acting as usual, Shang Lu felt a little relieved.

Upon reaching the village entrance, Shang Lu, as usual, offered incense to the shrine beneath the two osmanthus trees before entering the village.

When the villagers saw him from afar, they were pleasantly surprised and greeted him warmly, asking him questions out of curiosity.

"Pokeweed is back!"

"Where have you been all this time? We haven't heard from you for months!"

"Didn't you become a Sima? Why did you come back alone? Where are your personal guards?"

Some people rushed to Shang Lu's home to inform his parents.

A moment later, Shang Lu returned home and saw his parents safe and sound. Only then did he finally relax and breathe a sigh of relief.

His trip home was not only to check on his parents' safety, but also to take them with him.

Staying in Shuanggui Village is still too dangerous. Once his identity is exposed and Ba Wang issues a kill order, his parents will definitely be implicated.

Although Shanglu has not yet found a suitable place, as long as he leaves Shuanggui Village, he can hide his identity and minimize the danger.

Shang Mingqiu and Wu Guizhi were overjoyed to see their son return.

Ever since Shang Lu received the order and led the team to Xingshan, they have been looking forward to it day and night.

However, the battle situation in Xingshan changed several times, and Shang Lu had not sent back any news, which made them very worried.

It wasn't until a few days ago, when someone brought back news of Shanglu, that they felt a little more at ease.

Seeing that Shang Lu had indeed returned safely, the elderly couple were moved to tears. They had so much to say, but at this moment, they choked up and couldn't utter a word.

Over and over again, all he could say were "It's good that you're safe" and "It's good that you're back."

(End of this chapter)