Achieving the Dao from the Hundred Schools of Thought

Before Zhuang Weiyang and the other could reply, Ma Gu's attention was drawn to Goujian and Lingyu inside the stable.

"Oh! Where did this young lady come from, daring to help Goujian?"

Ma Gu flicked his whip, the cracking sound startling Goujian so much that he trembled repeatedly.

Judging from the looks of it, Ma Gu had been whipping Goujian quite often.

Goujian hurriedly bowed.

"Master Ma! This woman is an envoy from my Yue Kingdom, here to escort a tribute woman to His Majesty. I will let her depart immediately!"

Ma Gu frowned, raised his long whip, and shouted:

"You shameless Goujian, are you itching for a beating again? You dare to interrupt Lord Ma when he's speaking?!"

"Master Ma, Master Ma! I'll go get to work right away. This woman will leave immediately. Please don't take offense, Master Ma."

Goujian picked up two buckets, bent over, and walked around the wall past Ma Gu.

Lingyu, unaware of the impending doom, followed and reached out to snatch Goujian's water bucket, wanting to help her king with his work.

Ma Gu sneered and lashed out with his long whip, striking at Ling Yu's outstretched hand.

"Snapped!"

As soon as the whip cracked, a bloody mark immediately appeared on Lingyu's fair and delicate hand.

"you!"

Lingyu, in pain, withdrew her hand and glared angrily at Ma Gu.

Goujian, ignoring the argument between the two, had already walked out of the stable.

Seeing this, Lingyu disregarded her argument with Ma Gu and turned to chase after her king.

"Can I say you can leave now?"

Ma Gu lashed out with his whip again, binding Ling Yu up.

"Hmph!" Lingyu immediately ignited her inner fire, revealing her brilliant cultivation level.

Unfortunately, it was useless.

Ling Yu, being a military cultivator, had no soldiers by his side. Ma Gu, on the other hand, served as a groom, and his strength was further enhanced in the stable.

With the balance shifting, Lingyu was unable to break free from the long whip binding her.

"What a fiery little mare! Hahaha, Weiyang, Bojiang, you two go wait over there for a quarter of an hour... no, half an hour!"

"I, Magu, am going to give this little mare a good lesson today!"

"Spell - Holding the Peg!"

Ma Guxin's heart flashed, and with his Candlelight Realm cultivation, he activated a binding technique.

Lingyu immediately lost the power to break free!

"Master Ma! This woman is an envoy from my Yue Kingdom. Please release her!"

Goujian begs Lord Ma to have mercy and teach Goujian a lesson if he has offended anyone!

"Master Ma—!"

Just as Zhuang Weiyang was about to speak, Goujian, who had been away, returned and repeatedly bowed to Ma Gu.

Ma Gu frowned and stopped walking towards Ling Yu.

"Who do you think you are? Get out! Get out!"

Ma Gu punched and kicked Goujian, sending him flying.

Lingyu, belatedly realizing what was happening, kept calling out:

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

Faced with Ma Gu's mortal fists and kicks, Goujian retreated repeatedly to protect himself.

He pleaded for mercy verbally, but made no move whatsoever.

After Ma Gu knocked Goujian away, he looked eager to try again and was about to crawl back into the stable.

When passing by Zhuang Weiyang and her companion, he only left one sentence:

"Half an hour! You two wait for me for half an hour! Hahahaha."

Bo Jiang, with an ambiguous expression, tugged at Zhuang Weiyang's sleeve.

"Let's go, a gentleman doesn't disturb others' enjoyment."

Zhuang Weiyang stood rooted to the spot, while Lingyu's incessant wails echoed from inside the stable.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

Lingyu was puzzled as to why she had ended up in such a predicament.

I was already determined to die, and all I wanted was to see the king one last time, so why didn't the king save me?

This stable boy's skill lies entirely in his whip. Your Majesty, you now possess a cultivation level of one realm, yet why don't you save my Lingyu when facing an unarmed stable boy?!

"Stop..."

Zhuang Weiyang finally couldn't hold back and spoke up to stop her.

Zhuang Weiyang couldn't turn a blind eye to something like this happening right before her eyes.

If I were to leave now, it would go against my conscience.

"Wei Yang, you..."

Bo Jiang tried to stop her, but Zhuang Weiyang pushed him away.

Upon hearing this, Ma Gu's anger flared, and he stood up, looking at Zhuang Weiyang with a cold smile:

"What, you, Zhuang Weiyang, are trying to show off your power here? Do you want to be the first to benefit?"

Ma Gu's anger reignited, and he wanted to force Zhuang Weiyang to retreat.

Zhuang Weiyang's expression remained unchanged as she spoke:

"I'm not a beast! You can kill her, but you can't humiliate her!"

"Oh? You, Zhuang Weiyang, were throwing your weight around in Zuili, and now you want to set rules for me in Suzhou too?! Let me give you a piece of advice: you'd better stay out of my business!"

If you don't see eye to eye, even half a sentence is too much.

Zhuang Weiyang believed in showing mercy when she acted, and showing no mercy when she did act.

Now that we've gotten involved, we're going to see this through to the end.

Without wasting any more words with Ma Gu, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he immediately activated the "Wind" technique, trapping Ma Gu in place.

"Zhuang Weiyang..."

Lingyu, having narrowly escaped death, stared blankly at Zhuang Weiyang, softly calling out Zhuang Weiyang's name.

Overwhelmed with mixed emotions of joy and sorrow, Lingyu's mind went blank for a moment.

Zhuang Weiyang's blood surged, and he gripped the horsewhip binding Lingyu with both hands, his arm veins bulging as he exerted force.

"Snapped!"

The whip snapped instantly.

"Zhuang Weiyang! Do you know who I'm working for? I..."

"wind!"

Zhuang Weiyang didn't even look at Ma Gu, and used her wind magic to bind Ma Gu's mouth.

Some things are better left unsaid, leaving room for maneuver.

If Ma Gu were to finish speaking, things would get really messy.

After releasing Lingyu from her restraints, Zhuang Weiyang stood up and looked at the stunned Lingyu.

"Could it be that General Ling has been frightened?"

Zhuang Weiyang had no pity for women; she only saved her because she disapproved of Ma Gu's actions.

"Hey! Snap out of it, General!" Zhuang Weiyang gently kicked Lingyu a few times with her toes, and Lingyu finally woke up as if from a dream. She shook off her riding whip and looked at Zhuang Weiyang with a complicated expression.

"Thanks."

Lingyu thanked her softly, bowed, and ran out of the stable.

As she passed by Goujian, he raised his hand, but Lingyu did not stop and walked away.

"Wei Yang, what are you doing?! Release Ma Gu at once!"

Zhuang Weiyang released the spell, giving Ma Gu no chance to speak, and left immediately.

If Ma Gu were to reveal the name of an important figure, Zhuang Weiyang would be unable to respond.

It's better to be a naive fool and accept the excuse of ignorance.

"Weiyang, Weiyoung!"

Bo Jiang wanted to stop Zhuang Weiyang, but after hesitating for a moment, Zhuang Weiyang had already walked far away.

"Ma Gu, you know perfectly well that Zhuang Weiyang can't stand these things, yet you still acted like this in front of her!"

"Zhao Xiuwen killed him without hesitation. Do you think you have a bigger background than Zhao Xiuwen?"

Upon hearing this, Ma Gu recalled the scene just now and immediately felt a sense of danger.

He had been tyrannical in the stables for years, treating even the king of a country like livestock, ordering him around at will.

His arrogance, honed over many years, made him unable to swallow his pride, and he stubbornly retorted:

"He killed Zhao Xiuwen, which was because Zhao Xiuwen violated the law! I was acting on the orders of the Prime Minister to humiliate Goujian."

"Hmph! Zhuang Weiyang ruined all my good plans. I'm going to the Prime Minister's residence right now to report her!"

Bo Jiang then understood why Zhuang Weiyang had left so quickly.

"What are you suing for? Suing him for obstructing you from raping a Vietnamese woman?"

"I'll accuse him of looking down on Wu Zixu! I..."

"Come on," Bojiang interrupted Magu irritably.

"Did you have a chance to mention Prime Minister Wu just now? You falsely accused Zhuang Weiyang in front of Prime Minister Wu. Do you think what your fate will be?"

Furthermore, wasn't it you, Ma Gu, who looked down on Wu Zixu? You should calculate for yourself how much bribe you received from Grand Tutor Bo Pi.”

"this……"

Ma Gu was speechless for a moment, but the resentment on his face grew even stronger.

Bojiang sighed and stepped forward to dissuade him.

"Brother Ma, let's forget about it."

……

Zhuang Weiyang returned to her small courtyard, where she saw that Zilu had finished reading the classics and was sitting in the courtyard with his eyes closed, seemingly digesting what he had learned.

"Weiyang, why are you back so early? Hmm, did you just make a move?"