Chapter 158: The Rescue Plan

Tang Wei casually took a shower with the hot spring water, wrapped herself in a prepared bath towel, and stepped out of the bathroom. Without bothering to check whether her hair was dry, she collapsed onto the bed and fell fast asleep.

Big cities always wake up far too early. The floating dust of the night had not yet settled, and the dim energy lamps that had just gone out seemed as if they still wanted to cast a yellowish glow, though upon closer inspection, it was merely the refraction of the dawn. Yet, very few people would ever pay attention to such a scene. Carriages sped past one after another, mostly carrying the smaller merchants of Haizhou City. At this hour, the figures of the "upper class" rarely appeared. Instead, there were lower-class people rushing about for their livelihoods, sprinting as if their lives depended on it, terrified of being late and failing to secure a good spot for their stalls, along with uncles pulling little carts loaded with goods, and countless other minor characters. The entire Haizhou City was like a busy, hollow shell, with everyone bustling about, hurrying through their arduous lives.

The roadside snack stalls were forever packed with people, and shouts echoed back and forth. Fortunately, the proprietress had long since mastered the magical skill of an infallible memory, accurately recalling every single order as she wove back and forth through the crowd. In truth, everywhere was packed. Doorways, taverns, restaurants, and various transportation routes covered every corner of Haizhou City like a spider's web, squeezing batch after batch of people like dried fish, running the constant risk of being flattened.

Tang Wei had paid no attention to when Wanwan had left or when she had returned; she had simply slept all the way until dawn. Waking up now, among all the cultivators, Tang Wei was probably the only exception, actually treating sleep as a matter of top priority. Which of the other cultivators did not spend the entire night meditating until dawn? Some of the more diligent ones would remain seated without moving for months on end—that was a common occurrence. Yet when it came to Tang Wei, it was as though she would die if she didn't sleep, which was truly baffling.

When the sun was high in the sky, Tang Wei finally dragged herself up lazily, stretched, went barefoot to the vanity, and sat down to freshen up and dress, preparing to start her day.

"Well, well! You lazybones, you finally know how to get up! Outside, the weather is bright and clear with not a cloud in the sky. It's a marvelous day for an outing, yet here you are, sleeping your life away. You are simply wasting such wonderful weather!" Wanwan must have heard the movement inside, as she pushed the door open and walked in, giggling as she began to tease Tang Wei.

"The three great joys in life: eating, sleeping, and watching the joke! You guys simply don't know how to enjoy yourselves! Didn't you say I'm an enjoyment-seeker? Naturally, I have to live my life like a fish in water!" Tang Wei replied matter-of-factly.

"You call this just living like a fish in water? I think even immortals don't live as leisurely and carefree as you do!" Wanwan rolled her eyes in exasperation and said indignantly. It was simply too much! She herself had been running around busily all night, sacrificing her sleep just to resolve this lazybones' worries at the earliest possible moment, yet this person was so heartless and could sleep so soundly. Was she simply fated to be a lifelong drudge?

"That's right! How could being an immortal be better than being a mortal? If I could live so leisurely every single day, I wouldn't even care to be an immortal if someone begged me!" What was so great about being an immortal? Once her cultivation realm was high enough, even immortals would have to bow and greet her. Tang Wei was being slightly perverse in her mind; seeing Wanwan's puffed-up, angry look made her exceptionally happy, and she smugly used her words to provoke her further.

Wanwan was no pushover either; how could she fail to see through Tang Wei's tricks? Instead of remaining angry, she simply adopted a similarly leisurely and carefree demeanor. In a bored tone, she muttered, "Fine, who doesn't know how to live a leisurely life? Then I must learn a thing or two from you, so I can stop running back and forth for Mulberry Village! If I overwork myself, someone won't even care in the slightest!" Wanwan sat down on the edge of the bed, stretched out her arms, leaned backward, and let out a satisfied sigh, crying out, "Ah, lying down like this really is comfortable!"

"Hehe! How could that be? It's precisely because I have you, the great and capable Wanwan, that I can be a little more leisurely! Look, the capable do more work! I'm naturally dull-witted, so of course I have to listen to the advice of the great beauty Wanwan!" As soon as Wanwan said that, Tang Wei instantly deflated, having no choice but to shamelessly smile and shower her with flattery.

As the saying goes, "Flattery is never out of style." This rule applied equally to Wanwan. Seeing Tang Wei's ingratiating look, Wanwan was immensely pleased and immediately put on a proud air. "Hmph! That's more like it. Well? Want to know what news I received yesterday? Say a few more nice words, and who knows, maybe I'll be in a good mood and tell you everything!" Wanwan thoroughly enjoyed joking around with Tang Wei. Sparring with words when there was nothing else to do was a fantastic way to relieve stress, and every time they finished bantering, her mood was exceptionally bright.

"Alright then! My dear great beauty Wanwan, please have mercy! Considering the whole roasted rabbits I make, tell me quickly! I will definitely make ten whole roasted rabbits tomorrow to properly reward you!" How could Tang Wei not know that Wanwan was just playing with her? She played along perfectly, putting on a pitiful expression, looking at her with wide eyes, and coaxing her softly.

"Mm! This great beauty is in a good mood now, so I'll spare you!" Wanwan sat up from the bed and began to speak in a serious tone. "I went out and gathered information yesterday!"

"How did it turn out? You came back so early; surely you didn't fail to find much useful information, did you?" Tang Wei asked anxiously. When it came to serious matters, she finally started acting somewhat normal.

"Not at all! I came back before dawn! I was afraid of being followed if I returned after daylight, so I kept it brief. However, I managed to find out the basic situation, and it won't affect our judgment." Wanwan explained her whereabouts before continuing. "Those children were indeed sent via the waterway. However, after leaving Town Magistrate Wei, that emissary went on to the next town and hasn't started moving again to this day, probably delayed by something there. My subordinates calculated that taking the waterway to the capital, they will definitely pass through the moat outside Haizhou City. Even without any delays on the road, it would take at least five days to reach Haizhou City from there, not to mention they haven't even started moving yet! Therefore, we have plenty of time to arrange a rescue plan!" Wanwan was in a goodly mood; it seemed that dealing with the Mulberry Village affair shouldn't be too difficult.

"Then I wonder if you all have discussed any specific plans?" Tang Wei asked happily. As long as the people of Mulberry Village were rescued, she could rest easy and attend to her own business, so naturally she was thrilled!

Wanwan gave an awkward, embarrassed smile and said, "We haven't gotten that far yet. I was thinking of discussing it with you first!" Seeing the look of disappointment on Tang Wei's face, Wanwan quickly added, "However, they did help propose a few options for our reference. How to actually do it is still up for us to decide."

"Really? Then hurry up and tell me!" Tang Wei's mood swung from happy to disappointed, and now to eager anticipation. Her facial expressions changed faster than turning the pages of a book.

"The first option is for us to go straight to the capital, kill that demagogic grand preceptor, and rescuing those children will become much easier. Anyway, no one else knows how to brew that so-called longevity medicine, so King Tang will have no choice but to drop the matter! It's not like the royal palace can keep so many people just eating for free! The most likely outcome is that those children will be directly dumped into the military camp. By then, we just need to bribe the officials with some money and fetch the people directly out!" Wanwan slowly laid out the first plan.

Tang Wei thought about it and realized that this plan had some difficulty, but the result was very secure! Of course, if she took action herself, this plan was indeed the best solution. However, Tang Wei still had her reservations. She didn't know whether there were other cultivators on this planet. Before she fully figured things out, she did not want to expose herself. At this moment, her mindset was identical to Wanwan's: compared to the people of Mulberry Village, Earth was naturally far more important. She could not be so saintly as to completely disregard the safety of Earth. Since there were other options, she wanted to listen further, hoping for an even easier solution! Thus, she immediately spoke up, "This method isn't entirely unviable, but going into the royal palace to kill someone is a bit difficult, isn't it? Let's hear your second option!" Although this was an excuse, it was also the truth, and at the very least, Wanwan believed it.

"The second option is for us to wait until the emissary's boat passes through the Ghost Soul Forest, intercept them, destroy the boat, and silence the imperial officials, making it look like a natural disaster so King Tang won't investigate further. The Ghost Soul Forest is gloomy and desolate year-round; no one dares to enter it at all, and it's practically a forbidden zone of the Tang Kingdom. We could send people to find a safe place inside to hide the captives. While these children might not be suitable anywhere else, once they're in there, no one should be able to find them. After a decade or two, they'll basically be safe! However, this method treats the symptoms rather than the root cause. These children will be fine, but I'm afraid King Tang will just send someone else to look for more." After finishing, Wanwan stared intently at Tang Wei, waiting for her to decide which path to take.

Tang Wei frowned and said, "This method probably won't work. You said that Ghost Soul Forest is gloomy year-round and no one dares to enter, so it must be very dangerous inside! If we bring people in there, aren't we afraid something will happen to them?" Just hearing the name told her it was no good place; how could Tang Wei casually throw people into a place like that?

"It truly is not a hospitable place; once people go in, they practically never come out, which is why it's called the Ghost Soul Forest," Wanwan told Tang Wei straightforwardly.

"Then why did you..." Tang Wei was somewhat displeased. Could Wanwan be so ruthless just to wash her hands of this matter quickly? Yet, somehow, it didn't quite look that way. What on earth was Wanwan's intention?