Chapter 148: Mulberry Leaf's Persistence

"Sang Ye, do you hate that man surnamed Wei so much? Do you want him dead?" Tang Wei asked the moment she pushed the door open.

"Miss Tang Wei, why are you asking me this?" Sang Ye was startled by Tang Wei's abrupt question. Although she indeed hated that man intensely, having it blurted out so suddenly still felt a bit strange to her.

"Oh, it's nothing. I was just wondering how we should deal with that man surnamed Wei once we reach the Wei estate, so I wanted to ask your opinion! After all, you have the most say in this matter!" Tang Wei herself had been stumped by Wan Wan's argument. Judging by Wan Wan's tone, she definitely intended to kill him to eliminate future trouble, but Tang Wei could not bring herself to do such a deed. She figured this whole affair originated from the tragedy of the Sang Village, so the decision should rightfully be made by someone from the Sang family. That was why she had run over to question Sang Ye. When it all came down to it, the root of the matter was that Tang Wei lacked the nerve to kill someone and wanted to find someone else to make the decision for her.

"I don't know how best to deal with him either. As much as I wish I could tear him apart and eat his flesh! But is this really something we can decide?" Growing up in such a small, isolated mountain village, Sang Ye had been constantly subjected to ruthless exploitation since childhood. Consequently, she harbored a deep-seated fear of the powerful and privileged, and at this moment, she did not dare to make that call.

"It's fine, you just need to decide how to handle him, and Wan Wan and I will take care of the rest." Tang Wei simply wanted to hear Sang Ye's thoughts. She also wanted to see if the people here truly viewed life and death with such stark detachment. Was this mindset shaped by their harsh environment, or by human factors?

"I knew it! I knew you would come to look for Sang Ye!" Wan Wan's voice suddenly rang out from outside the door, followed by her stepping into the room.

Caught red-handed and having her inner thoughts exposed by Wan Wan, Tang Wei felt a twinge of embarrassment. Her face flushed slightly as she awkwardly demanded, "Why did you come over here?"

"Nothing, I wanted to know the answer too!" Ignoring Tang Wan's awkwardness, Wan Wan turned to Sang Ye and said, "Whatever you want us to do to him, we'll do it. You decide!"

Given the power to make this decision, Sang Ye did not rush to an immediate conclusion. Instead, she fell into a heavy silence. A moment later, Sang Ye raised her head, looking at the two with an expression of fierce determination, and said, "I want him to be buried with the elders of Sang Village!"

"Good! Your word is final! We leave immediately!" Wan Wan had been waiting precisely for those words. The moment Sang Ye's voice trailed off, Wan Wan made the executive decision regarding their itinerary, leaving Tang Wei no room for argument.

"If we must kill him, then we kill him! But what about Sang Ye's leg injury...?" By this point, Tang Wei could no longer raise objections. Kill him if they must! She could just let Wan Wan handle it when the time came. It was just that Sang Ye's condition meant she was hardly in any shape to travel right now.

"Don't you worry! Compared to the hatred she holds for everyone in that village, I believe Sang Ye cares far more about when she can kill that man surnamed Wei to avenge the destruction of her home!" Wan Wan truly understood Sang Ye—or perhaps she was simply a native of the planet Lvhua, possessing an unwavering faith in solving problems through brute force. Seeing Sang Ye nod with resolute firmness, Tang Wei had to admit that she simply could not keep up with the "trends" here. Originally, she had thought that killing the man surnamed Wei could be done at any time, whereas Sang Ye's leg was a lifelong concern. Comparing the two, how could one fail to weigh their relative importance? Yet both of them were women of immediate action; once they decided to do something, they wanted it done right away, unable to wait even a single moment.

The three of them packed up a few belongings and slipped out of Sang Village under the cover of night. Having grown up in the village, Sang Ye had no idea if she would ever have the chance to return. Thus, the moment she passed the village entrance, she kept turning her head back to look. Tang Wei and Wan Wan understood her feelings and did not rush her. Instead, Wan Wan walked over, patted her shoulder, and comforted her, "Let's go! There will still be a chance to come back!"

Sang Ye nodded, cast one final, lingering look behind her, and walked forward without turning back. Tang Wei and Wan Wan exchanged glances and hurried to catch up.

When they reached an open, desolate hilltop, Wan Wan halted, looked around, and placed two fingers in her mouth to let out a sharp, piercing whistle.

Tang Wei did not understand what Wan Wan was doing. The gesture reminded her of ancient people summoning horses in television dramas from Earth, so she asked in confusion, "Wan Wan, what are you doing?"

"Finding a ride, of course. Didn't you say Sang Ye's leg shouldn't take prolonged walking?" Wan Wan smiled playfully. From the distance, the sound of hooves began to echo, though upon closer listening, it didn't quite sound like horses. What on earth was approaching?

Curious, Tang Wei swept her divine sense toward the source of the noise, only to spot a creature that looked half-horse and half-ox charging furiously toward them. "What is that?"

"You saw it?" Wan Wan asked, startled rather than answering. Inwardly, she was shaken: *Judging by the sound of the gugu beast's hooves, it's still at least a hundred meters away, and there are so many trees around blocking the view. There is absolutely no way Tang Wei could have seen it with her naked eyes! Yet from her expression, she clearly knows what a gugu beast looks like, even if she doesn't recognize the species, which is why she's asking! Exactly what method is Tang Wei using to see things so far away? And what is this 'cultivation' she keeps talking about?* Martial artists could never comprehend what a cultivator meant by divine sense, which explained why Wan Wan was making such a fuss.

Hearing the question, Tang Wei realized she had been too careless. Wan Wan was a princess of the Ning Kingdom, and some things were better kept from her. Moreover, she had spent this much time with Wan Wan without realizing she had a mount nearby; it seemed she had grown far too complacent. However, since the secret was already exposed, there was no point in hiding it further. She replied naturally, "That's right, a creature I've never seen before is sprinting this way. It's very fast, but its gait looks quite steady. What on earth is it?"

Wan Wan did not dwell on the matter any longer. Instead, she said proudly to Tang Wei, "That's my mount, called a gugu beast. It's the best traveling companion on our planet!" One had to know that gugu beasts were extremely rare, highly selective of their owners, and had to be raised from youth. Their maximum running speed was as fast as lightning, making wild gugu beasts nearly impossible to capture. Consequently, they were priceless commodities that money couldn't buy. For an ordinary person, merely catching a glimpse of one was considered a great honor, and even high-level martial artists found it immensely difficult to acquire such a mount.

"With a speed like that, why does it have such a rustic name?" Tang Wei asked. As they spoke, the gugu beast arrived at their side and began circling around Wan Wan affectionately.

"Hehe! I'm not entirely sure either; everyone has just always called it that. But when it runs, it makes a constant 'gugu' sound, so I suppose that's why they call it a gugu beast!"

"Oh! Well then, let Sang Ye get on. We can just walk slowly!" Looking at the creature—which was still making gugu noises and wasn't particularly pretty—Tang Wei had no desire to climb onto its back. She preferred the steady reliability of walking! Another primary reason was that she didn't know how to ride a horse, let alone ride whatever this strange beast was. By starting out early on foot, she could avoid making a fool of herself later.

"Gugu's back is very wide; carrying three people is no problem at all! Besides, Gugu has a bad temper. If I'm not up there leading Sang Ye, it will definitely throw a tantrum. Why don't the three of us ride together? We'll reach the Wei estate much faster that way," Wan Wan suggested. So "Gugu" must have been the beast's name!

"You two go ahead and ride. I'll catch up from behind!" Tang Wei would rather die than mount that creature. She refused to believe that once they left, her flying sword wouldn't be able to catch up to this contraption.

"Oh, forget it then. I'll just walk slowly with Sang Ye, though I'm afraid it'll inconvenience you to walk all the way!" Wan Wan simply couldn't bring herself to abandon Tang Wei here alone, so she decided they might as well take it slow.

"No need, really, no need! You guys hurry along!" Tang Wei waved her hand impatiently, urging them to leave quickly so she could get on her way too.

"But Gugu is very fast. Will you be able to keep up?" It wasn't that Wan Wan looked down on Tang Wei, but up to this point, she had truly never seen anyone outrun a gugu beast.

"Rest assured! I will definitely keep up. If you're really that worried, why don't we have a race to see who reaches the outskirts of the town first? I'll even let you have a head start. What do you say? Do you dare? Whoever loses has to run errands for the other from now on. Well?" Please, if they dared to underestimate her, she had to show them a thing or two, or they would never realize how blue the sky truly was.

Seeing how confident Tang Wei was, Wan Wan stopped trying to persuade her. Considering how many tricks Tang Wei usually had up her sleeve, she figured Tang Wei must genuinely have a way to catch up. With a nod, she said, "A race it is, then! Don't be scared! You'd better hurry up, because I'm taking Sang Ye and leaving now!" With that, she scooped Sang Ye up from the ground, mounted the gugu beast, and bolted forward like a flash of lightning.

Watching Wan Wan and Sang Ye vanish into the distance, Tang Wei retrieved the flying sword—the very one she had previously used as an excavation tool—from her spatial storage. Channeling her spiritual energy, she mounted the blade and sped off into the night.

Less than two minutes later, Tang Wei had overtaken Wan Wan from above. Without stopping, she flew straight ahead to her destination.

When Wan Wan finally arrived at the small forest on the outskirts of the town after an arduous journey, she spotted a figure sitting on a large boulder ahead under the moonlight. As she drew closer, she realized Tang Wei was already waiting there. Unable to contain her curiosity, she asked, "Tang Wei, I didn't see you pass me the entire way. How on earth did you get ahead of me?"

"I took a shortcut! Well? Are you ready to take charge of running errands from now on?" Tang Wei completely avoided mentioning how she had managed to get ahead, shifting the topic instead to force Wan Wan to concede defeat.

"Errands it is, then. It's not like I haven't run errands for you before," Wan Wan replied nonchalantly, nimbly dismounting from the gugu beast and reaching out to help Sang Ye down as well.