Chapter 149: Three Women Storm the Wei Estate

After dismounting from the gugu beast, Sang Ye stood on the ground with her two legs still trembling slightly. It was hard to tell whether she had been scared to this state or simply exhausted.

Tang Wei glanced at her from the corner of her eye, feeling secretly fortunate that she had chosen not to ride. Otherwise, her current condition would undoubtedly be no different from Sang Ye's. If such a pathetic scene played out on her, it would be far too humiliating! People would say, "Look at that, a dignified cultivator reduced to such a shivering wreck just from riding a beast. She has truly disgraced all cultivators."

"Tang Wei, what is the matter with you?" Seeing Tang Wei staring blankly into space with a focused expression, Wan Wan assumed she had concocted another plan and could not help asking.

Tang Wei snapped out of her daze, rolled her eyes twice, and thought to herself: I must never let her know what I was thinking—it is much too embarrassing! Out loud, however, she replied briskly, "Oh, nothing! Let us hurry into the town."

"Mm!" Wan Wan nodded and gently patted the gugu beast on its rump. The creature turned its head, rubbed affectionately against Wan Wan twice, and bounded away into the depths of the mountain forest without looking back.

Watching the beast disappear into the distance, the two turned around and finally noticed that something was amiss with Sang Ye. She was still standing right where she had dismounted, not having moved a single step, her legs still trembling faintly. Filled with curiosity, the two asked in unison, "Sang Ye, what is wrong with you? Is your legs uncomfortable anywhere?"

"I—I—I—n—n—nothing's wrong!" Sang Ye's face was completely pale as she stammered out her reply.

"Nothing's wrong, you say? Your face is as pale as a sheet! Let me examine you right now!" Only now did Tang Wei realize just how bad Sang Ye's condition was. Could it be that after such a long, jarring ride, her old leg injury had flared up? Without further ado, she walked over, grabbed Sang Ye's hand to begin an inspection, and circulated a wisp of Wood Spiritual Qi through her body. Finding nothing abnormal and the leg injury completely healed, she grew puzzled. Exactly where was the problem? Tang Wei muttered to herself in bewilderment, "There is nothing wrong at all! Why on earth is your face this pale?"

Sang Ye swallowed hard before speaking in a halting voice, "Miss Tang—Tang Wei, I—I am quite fine. It is just that... this was my first time riding one of those, and I was rather... rather frightened."

Tang Wei and Wan Wan both breathed a collective sigh of relief. "I knew it! My darling creature runs so smoothly; it shouldn't have been able to hurt you! Come, come, sit down for a moment. You will feel better after a rest." As she spoke, Wan Wan walked over, pulled Sang Ye aside to sit down, and then simply sprawled out flat on the ground, gazing blankly up at the starry sky.

"N—no, there's no need. We must hurry to the Wei estate!" Sang Ye stood up from the stone, insisting on pressing onward. She was terrified of delaying everyone's schedule on her own account.

Tang Wei hurriedly walked over, pushed her back down onto the stone, and said, "There is no need to rush so impatiently. A brief rest will do no harm, and besides, the hour is still early! For all we know, the people at the Wei estate might still be having a happy time."

Whether or not those words offered any comfort to Sang Ye, they certainly caught Wan Wan's attention. Curious, she asked, "Tang Wei, what is 'happy'?"

Tang Wei burst into laughter at Wan Wan's clumsy phrasing. "Hahaha, Wan Wan, you are simply too funny. 'Happy'! 'Happy'! Hahahaha!" Seeing Wan Wan staring at her with a pout, Tang Wei quickly checked her laughter to explain, "It isn't 'what kind of skin'! It is 'happy'—a dialect from where I come from, which means joyous, cheerful, and glad! Whenever people hold a banquet there, they love to be happy!"

"Your homeland continues to grow stranger and stranger to me. If I ever get the chance, I truly wish to go and see it for myself!" Wan Wan twirled a lock of her hair, looked up at the starlit sky, and sighed with sudden emotion.

"Alright, if the opportunity arises, I will invite you to visit our place!" The two chatted idly, speaking so congenially even though they both knew it was an impossibility. After less half an hour of this casual banter, Sang Ye was even able to chime in with a sentence every now and then. Seeing that her condition had largely recovered, Wan Wan finally gave the word to proceed toward the Wei estate.

At this late hour, the town gates were firmly closed, and entering required scaling the city wall. This, however, posed no challenge whatsoever to Tang Wei and Wan Wan. As for Sang Ye, Tang Wei simply hoisted her up with one hand and leaped over the wall into the town. Wan Wan had previously infiltrated the Wei estate before and naturally knew the place like the back of her hand. After a few nimble bounds, they arrived right outside the main courtyard of the Wei estate. Gazing ahead at the row of gatehouses, they saw a dozen men gathered inside the entrance room, roughhousing and gambling. When she saw the situation clearly inside, Wan Wan's brows began to knit tightly together.

"Wan Wan, what is it? Is something wrong?" Tang Wei, unfamiliar with the layout, stepped close to Wan Wan and asked in a low voice.

"It seems the Wei estate has acquired even more martial artists. The last time I snuck in here, the strongest night watchman was at most a mid-level martial artist. Yet now, they are actually able to employ high-level martial artists for night watch duty. That means there must be at least ten more high-level martial artists here, if not more!" Wan Wan said with evident anxiety. The only reason she had managed to infiltrate the Wei estate smoothly last time was because she relied on the absence of high-level martial artists. With such a massive influx of experts this time around, their operation would apparently have to be halted; otherwise, once surrounded by so many high-level martial artists, escaping would likely prove exceedingly difficult. No doubt the head of the Wei clan had rendered some tremendous service this time, or had turned a massive profit through illicit means! Otherwise, it would be impossible to explain the sudden appearance of so many guards.

Wan Wan had never considered what kind of concept Tang Wei's so-called cultivation might represent when compared to mortal martial artists. In her mind, even if Tang Wei was somewhat stronger than her, she was certainly no match for ten high-level martial artists combined! Unless Tang Wei was a legendary Martial God—yet she looked so young, possessed so little worldly experience, and had such a simple mind; one could tell at a glance that such a thing was a hundred percent impossible. And that was not even mentioning that they were encumbered by Sang Ye, who was practically dead weight.

Come to think of it, Wan Wan's only real flaw was being overly decisive. How could she have ever assumed that Tang Wei might not be even more powerful than a Martial God?

"Do you suppose someone of your own skill level counts as a high-level martial artist?" Tang Wei countered with a peculiar question instead.

"What do you mean?" Taken aback by Tang Wei's baffling inquiry, Wan Wan paused before asking in return.

"If it is someone with skills comparable to yours, I imagine dealing with ten of them should pose no problem at all for me!" Not wishing to crush Wan Wan's ego, Tang Wei expressed her meaning with tact.

At first, Wan Wan did not fully grasp the statement. Once the implication sank in, she opened her eyes wide, staring in disbelief as she stammered, "Y—y—you what? You can handle ten people with martial skills like mine?"

Tang Wei nodded cautiously, keeping her eyes fixed on Wan Wan to gauge her reaction.

"You? Are you a Martial God?" Wan Wan pointed at Tang Wei and asked in a hushed, incredulous tone. Tang Wei blinked, shook her head, and beamed at her with a gentle smile.

"Then what realm of cultivation are you in? Are you even stronger than a Martial God?" Wan Wan was a fanatic martial arts enthusiast. Hearing that Tang Wei's cultivation surpassed ten high-level martial artists combined made her completely forget what they were currently doing. She grabbed Tang Wei's arm, eager to get to the bottom of the matter, as nothing else could possibly have captured her interest more at that moment.

"I beg of you! Wait until we get out of here before you ask, would you? And look at where we are right now! If you alert those people and a crowd gathers, starting a fight will only become much more troublesome!" Tang Wei rolled her eyes at her and whispered a complaint.

"True enough, true enough! But you are not permitted to fob me off later!" Wan Wan had resolved to get to the bottom of this affair—whether for her own sake or for her royal brother's, these matters had to be clarified.

"Very well, very well! Let us not discuss this right now, shall we?" Tang Wei shot her another sideways glance before her expression instantly shifted to one of vibrant enthusiasm. "Let me show you a couple of formidable techniques!"

"What kind of formidable techniques?" Wan Wan immediately perked up. Being able to witness Tang Wei in action firsthand would at least allow her to evaluate the woman's true strength.

With a feigned, mysterious smile, Tang Wei said, "Just watch!" With that, she rose and tiptoed toward the gatehouse. As she reached the doorway, the men inside all ceased their activities and looked over. One smooth-talking fellow cracked a crude joke, "Little sister, which courtyard are you from? Did you come here looking for big brother?"

Tang Wei smiled faintly, nodded, and casually tossed him a wink. The slick, sharp-faced scoundrel broke into a lewd grin, abandoned the dice in his hand, and sauntered over with a lustful expression.

Tang Wei walked to meet him. When she stood face-to-face with the man, she secretly channeled spiritual qi into her middle finger and pressed it directly against his immobilizing acupoint. The man instantly froze in his tracks. Following that, Tang Wei flicked her hand toward the sole high-level martial artist in the room and muttered, "I am not looking for you; I am looking for him!"

Before that high-level martial artist could react, Tang Wei closed the distance in a flash and struck his immobilizing acupoint as well. Once the most skilled fighter was neutralized, dealing with the remaining men became utterly effortless. With a few swift movements, Tang Wei had subdued the entire roomful of occupants. *Ha! I may not have mastered any complex spellcraft, but using the simplest acupoint-sealing technique is more than enough to swagger around this place.* Tang Wei was simply too lazy to learn defensive spells, and whenever she deployed lethal arts, someone usually died. Acupoints, however? Any cultivator worth their salt knew them inherently—there was no need to study them at all!

As soon as the situation was secured, Wan Wan pulled Sang Ye inside and exclaimed, "Well, I'll be! You really do have some tricks up your sleeve! How did you pull that off? Why is everyone completely frozen? Wow, this trick is insanely useful! Won't you teach it to me?" As she spoke, Wan Wan wandered among the paralyzed men, poking and prodding them here and there with an expression of boundless curiosity.

"You can actually learn this trick quite easily. I can teach you when the opportunity arises," Tang Wei said with an indifferent smile. To her, this technique was truly nothing more than a minor parlor trick, and sharing it with Wan Wan posed no issue.

"Really?" Wan Wan clapped her hands together in delight and hopped up and down, then added with a suspicious squint, "You are forbidden from tricking me!"

"I am not tricking you! Let us hurry along and check out the inner courtyard!" Tang Wei said with a radiant smile. Wan Wan's gesture just now had been strikingly reminiscent of Yun Qian, stirring once again her fond thoughts of her family back in Huaxia.