Weird Cultivation, I have a five-organ temple

Chapter 715 Betrayal by an Insider!

The next morning, after finishing his morning cultivation, Shang Lu went alone to HSBC Restaurant to keep his appointment.

Bai Lingxu, Zhu Quan, and the others were worried and suggested going along.

“Junior Brother Shang, let us go with you. When we get there, you go inside to keep your appointment, and I'll lead Old Zhu and the others to keep watch outside. If anything changes, we can provide timely support.”

"Yes, sir, please take us with you. At least we'll have someone to look after us."

Shang Lu knew that everyone's suggestions were for his own good, but he still shook his head and refused.

"Having too many people go isn't necessarily a good thing! The fact that they arranged to meet at HSBC Building means that place is under their control. If they really make a move, you outside won't be able to provide support, and you'll all be in trouble. On the contrary, it's easier for me to come and go alone."

Pokeweed has the confidence to back it up.

After entering the Inner Palace Realm, he could be considered to have entered the ranks of first-class masters.

While he may not be as powerful as top experts like Da Zhu, who are above the third rank and at the demigod level, how many such top experts are there? As for those below the demigod level, Shang Lu is not afraid of them; he has the strength to fight them all—even if he can't win, he can escape!
Not to mention, if Shang Lu is really pushed to the limit, he can forcibly summon a god and unleash a move that grants him the lifespan of heaven and earth! Anyway, he's registered with Tu Bo and Hou Tu, and he carries a Yin Messenger token. Even if he dies, as long as his soul doesn't dissipate, he can still follow the path of ghost cultivation and becoming a Yin god—and he'll have a formal position with a job! And with San Niang by his side, he'll never be allowed to be completely destroyed.

On the contrary, the person who invited him to the meeting, though hidden in the shadows, was unaware of his cultivation level and abilities, and even less likely to know that he was accompanied by a woman named San Niang whose cultivation and skills were no less than his own.

If the other party truly harbors malicious intentions, it's uncertain who will live and who will die.

On the contrary, bringing Bai Lingxu, Zhu Quan and others along would be a burden, forcing him to be distracted, or even restricting his actions.

"Don't stay in the inn today. Go and deliver gifts to the other dignitaries in the city according to the plan, and take the opportunity to observe and gather intelligence." Shang Lu instructed as he handed the Hundred-Faced Mask to Bai Lingxu, telling him to put it on and transform into the appearance of the caravan leader.

Bai Lingxu was a clever man and understood Shang Lu's underlying meaning. He sighed, "It's my fault. After my cultivation level dropped, I haven't been able to recover and therefore can't help Junior Brother Shang." He didn't try to persuade him further, but just looked at the ever-changing mask and asked, "If I wear this treasure, what will you do, Junior Brother?"

"Don't worry, I have other ways to change my form," Shang Lu said with a smile. He opened the novelist's notebook, borrowed the Great Sage's transformation technique from it, and with a quick hand seal and a surge of vital energy, his form immediately changed.

But it had transformed into a completely unfamiliar form.

Seeing this, Bai Lingxu was completely relieved, put on the ever-changing mask, and transformed into Shang Lu's previous appearance.

Shang Lu then took out the Homophone from his pocket and said, "If anything happens, I will use the Homophone to send you a message. No matter what it says, you must immediately lead everyone to change their forms and leave."

"I understand," Bai Lingxu nodded in response, his face serious and earnest. Although his Beast Compendium did not contain a method to transform a dozen people at the same time, it did contain Beasts that could help people hide their tracks.

After giving his instructions, Shang Lu waved his hand and turned to leave the courtyard.

Because he was wearing a mask made by a member of the Zongheng family, he went unnoticed along the way and soon left the inn, heading straight for Huifeng Restaurant.

As Shang Lu walked and observed, he actually discovered that there were several people hiding outside the inn keeping watch.

However, Shang Lu had changed his appearance once again and was wearing a face mask belonging to the Zongheng family. These people didn't pay any attention to him at all. Even if they saw him, their eyes would quickly sweep over him without lingering, treating him as a passerby with very little presence.

When Shang Lu arrived at Huifeng Building, he found that everything was as usual. Apart from the roof ridge beasts and the spies hidden in the carved railings and painted beams that were common on the roof, there seemed to be no other people watching, nor did he see any traps or similar arrangements.

Even so, the pokeweed did not let its guard down.

The more perfectly fine something seems, the more likely it is to hide danger.

"Third Sister, it's up to you now." Shang Lu's lips moved slightly as he called out in a very low voice.

Third Sister flew out from the oil-paper umbrella he carried with him, circled in mid-air once, and began to construct a feng shui formation based on the surrounding layout.

Pokeweed wasn't idle either. After blocking out all eyes and ears, it secretly released several paper figures, letting them sneak into the shadows and hide.

Once all the arrangements were in place and San Niang had returned to his side, Shang Lu finally entered HSBC Building.

It was still early, and HSBC had not yet opened for business. Upon seeing Shang Lu enter, the shop assistant immediately greeted him with a beaming smile: "Sir, I'm so sorry, our shop is not open yet. Why don't you browse around for a while and come back later?"

Shang Lu took out his visiting card: "I have come here by invitation."

Upon seeing the invitation, the shop assistant was visibly taken aback. At the same time, Shang Lu also noticed that the other shop assistants and the shopkeeper were all looking at him.

Sure enough, the HSBC building was indeed the territory of the inviter.

The waiters, the manager, and everyone else here are all people from the person who made the invitation.

I just don't know who the person who made the invitation is, and how they were able to build such an industry despite the constant surveillance in Wushan.

The shopkeeper walked over, waved away the waiter, and said with a smile and a cupped hand, "So you are a friend of the owner. I apologize for any offense. The owner has been waiting for you in the private room upstairs for quite some time. Please follow me."

Shang Lu nodded: "Thank you for leading the way."

The innkeeper led Shang Lu to the second floor and stopped in front of a private room. He first turned around and introduced, "Honored guest, this is the place." Then he raised his hand and knocked lightly on the door three times, saying, "Master, honored guest has arrived."

"Invite him in."

A voice drifted out from the private room; it was unfamiliar, one that Shang Lu had never heard before.

But Shang Lu didn't care; the voice was probably manipulated, just like his own now.

The shopkeeper opened the door and gestured for the customer to enter.

Shang Lu bowed and thanked him before stepping through the door into the private room.

The private room was quite spacious, and there was only one person sitting inside, looking out at the street from the window. His sharp gaze gave Shang Lu a sense of déjà vu, but the person's appearance was completely unfamiliar.

On the table in front of the man was a small incense burner with a stick of incense burning inside. However, it was not the common sandalwood type; it emitted a faint sour smell.

After entering the Inner Palace Realm and refining the Lung Metal Qi, Shang Lu's sense of smell greatly improved. He immediately detected that the faint sour smell was very similar to the sour wine he had brewed before, which was probably also used to "numb" the maggots on the bones.

This confirms that the unfamiliar "old friend" before him is definitely not one of Ba Wang's henchmen.

"Please sit down." After Shang Lu entered the private room, the person sitting by the window turned around, greeted him, and then looked him up and down with a scrutinizing gaze. Shang Lu did not stand on ceremony. He walked to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down before saying, "Since we are old friends, why hide your true feelings and refuse to be honest with each other?"

The other person paused for a moment, then chuckled: "Didn't you also use illusion magic to change your appearance? But you're right, there's really no need to wear a disguise here."

With a wave of his hand, the open windows closed one after another, and wisps of smoke drifted out of the incense burner, reaching towards the windows like tentacles, quickly converging into a witch's rune.

Although Shang Lu did not recognize the witch rune, he could guess its function, which was most likely to shield him from external detection and eavesdropping.

Immediately afterwards, the other person began to writhe, like a snake shedding its skin, forcefully peeling off a complete human skin to reveal her true appearance—a heroic and spirited woman.

This woman was indeed an old friend of Shang Lu's, and they had even gone through thick and thin together.

"The Snake on a hunting expedition?!" Shang Lu exclaimed in surprise.

"It's me." The Serpent Hunting waved its hand, and the shed human skin immediately folded and shrank on its own, turning into a small picture-like object, which it put away. "Long time no see, Shang Lu."

Shang Lu was quite surprised to have his identity exposed. He put away the transformation ability he had borrowed from the Great Sage, returned to his original appearance, and asked, "How did the patrol recognize me?"

The Snake Hunting shook its head and said, "It's not that I recognized you, but rather another old acquaintance of yours."

Shang Lu was even more surprised: "Another old acquaintance? Who is it?"

"This is the shopkeeper who led you up here just now," said the Snake Hunting.

Shang Lu frowned slightly. When he followed the shopkeeper upstairs earlier, he had secretly observed him with his spiritual insight. The shopkeeper did have cultivation, but his aura fluctuations were quite strange, unlike those of ordinary cultivators. He just didn't expect that the shopkeeper was actually an old acquaintance of his.
Just then, the door to the private room reopened, and the innkeeper slipped in. After closing the door, he took out a piece of bone-like remnant spirit and used a witch's talisman to wrap and seal it.

As the remnant spirit was sealed, the shopkeeper's flesh and blood immediately began to rot and fall off, turning into ashes and disappearing in an instant.

And he revealed his true form hidden beneath his flesh and blood—a mechanical wizard's armor.

Shang Lu was stunned for a moment, then hesitantly asked, "But... Senior Sister Gongshu?"

This witch armor is different from the one Gongshu Ling used before.

However, apart from Gongshu Ling, among the people Shang Lu knew, there was really no one else who could be so crazy as Wu Jia, who exuded the aura of a living person.

"It's me," Gongshu Ling's voice came from beneath the shaman's armor.

This surprised Shang Lu even more: "It really is you? Why are you wearing witch armor?"

The power of this new witch armor is weaker than Gongshu Ling's previous witch armor, indicating that her change of witch armor was not voluntary.

So Shang Lu pressed on, "Where are Zi Shu Xun Shou and Lü Yang? What happened to them?" He paused, then added, "And how did you recognize me?"

He was both curious and concerned about why his identity had been exposed, and he wanted to figure it out as soon as possible, patch up the loopholes, and prevent Ba Wang's henchmen and the lackeys of the powerful families from seeing through their disguise.

Gongshu Ling first recounted their experience: "After arriving at the foot of Mount Wu with Zishu Xunshou, Lü Yang, and myself, Zishu Xunshou sent a message to the Grand Priest. The Grand Priest replied, urging him to return to Mount Wu to report on his duties. Zishu Xunshou immediately concluded that something must have happened to the Grand Priest."

Shang Lu nodded, understanding why Zi Shu's patrol had reacted this way. After all, their mission was to rush to the State of Chu and rescue Dian Ke and Da Xing Ren. If the person reporting back to the shaman was truly Da Zhu, how could he not know about this? Nor would he urge him to return to report.

Therefore, the person who sent this shamanic message was either not a high priest, or a high priest using this shamanic message to convey his predicament.

He remained silent, waiting for Gongshu Ling to continue.

"After the rats made their judgment during their patrol, we immediately parted ways with the steward and the master of the road. They returned to Wushan on their own, while we changed our appearance and hid."

Sure enough, not long after Dianke and Daxingren returned to Wushan, a group of wizards rushed straight to the place where we had rested before.

We hid in the shadows and evaded their pursuit. Afterwards, the Rat on patrol gathered information while contacting other guardian shamans, trying to find out what had happened to the Grand Priest.

Within two days, the Rat Guardian indeed made contact with a Guardian Shaman, who was none other than the Tiger Guardian from the Twelve Guardians. He was overjoyed, saying that the Tiger Guardian's cultivation was extraordinary, and that if they joined forces, even if something really happened to the Grand Master, they could find a way to rescue him.

Unexpectedly, when the Tiger Patrol arrived and saw us, he immediately turned hostile and led his men to capture us all!

Upon hearing this, Shang Lu understood immediately: "The Tiger Tiger's patrol has betrayed us?"

"It's not just the Tiger patrolling."

At this moment, the Snake Patrol interrupted, saying in a deep voice, "The entire White Tiger Division has betrayed the Guardian Witch and the Grand Priest!"

Although Shang Lu had never been to Wushan, he knew about the internal system of Weiwu, which was divided into four departments and twelve patrols.

The four departments are named after the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise, respectively, and each has a different division of labor. The White Tiger Department is responsible for blood hunting and soul chasing, and apprehending wanted criminals!

Unexpectedly, they all betrayed them.

Shang Lu frowned and exclaimed in surprise, "So, the Grand Master was betrayed because of the White Tiger Division?"

"It is not yet clear what happened to Da Zhu, but we deduce that it is most likely so."

The Snake Patrolman said in a deep voice, "The White Tiger Division not only has the Tiger Patrolman, who is in charge of fighting, but also the Rabbit Patrolman, who is in charge of eavesdropping in dreams. Even the maggots that cling to bones are cultivated by them. Therefore, after their betrayal, the entire Weiwu was immediately severely damaged! Those who remained in Wushan either chose to submit and betray under their torment and torture, or, like the Rat Patrolman and his ilk, had their marrow extracted and their vital energy stolen!"

Shang Lu turned his gaze to Gongshu Ling.

Sister Gongshu continued, "We did not expect Yin Hu to betray us during his patrol, so we were caught off guard and were captured by him in one fell swoop."

At first, we were imprisoned in the Weiwu Yamen (a government office for witch doctors). Inside, besides us, were some other Weiwu who had also been arrested.

Inside the Weiwu Yamen (a government office specializing in witchcraft), we were subjected to all sorts of cruel tortures, both physical and mental. The torment we endured was beyond imagination; they used every imaginable method. They even extracted our marrow and vital energy, using us as raw materials for alchemy and medicine.

Because I have no physical body, but am a witch's armor, they planned to refine me directly into a witch's artifact spirit..."

(End of this chapter)