Chapter 132: The Wuhou Qimen

The black stretch limousine passed through Xizhi Bridge and headed straight toward the right, crossing a three-way intersection to the west. There stood a shipping warehouse—a place rarely visited by people during the day, and where not even a ghost could be found at night.

Since they were looking to set up an ambush, a venue like this was the perfect choice.

"Master Ye, Yezi, we're at the old warehouse. Should we drive straight in, or stop here at the entrance?"

"Stop at the entrance. Even though it’s just an old warehouse, the facilities inside are still functional, so we shouldn't go in and wreck the place."

"Got it."

"..."

Although an ambush is usually a tense and thrilling affair, Old Du and Wang Ye remained remarkably calm, without a hint of worry. Perhaps it was Ye Yan sitting nearby who gave them enough confidence.

After all, this guy was a ruthless powerhouse who could really fight; there was no fear of things going sideways.

The extended Maybach pulled up to the warehouse gate. The doors opened, and Ye Yan and the other two stepped out lazily.

Old Du locked the car, leaned against it, and lit a cigarette. He stared into the dim night, lost in thought, wondering what was on his mind.

After a long while, he suddenly looked up and asked Wang Ye, "Master Ye, after driving in such a big circle, how many do you think are still following us?"

"No idea."

Wang Ye unscrewed his thermos and took a sip of warm water, saying lazily, "Who knows? Just that Xizhi Bridge alone is enough to keep them busy. That thing is even weirder than a formation..."

"That’s true." Old Du, smoking nearby, laughed heartily. "Never mind the detours, just getting through Xizhi Bridge would be enough to break them. If those people can get out within two days, they’d be considered talented."

"..."

While the two were talking, Ye Yan, who had been standing with his arms crossed, suddenly opened his eyes.

"They’re here."

As he spoke, Wang Ye and Old Du instantly became alert, scanning their surroundings.

But in the darkness of the night, all they could rely on were their eyes. Compared to Ye Yan, who was completely in his element, they were far behind.

The two searched for a long time without finding where the enemies were. It wasn't until two sparks suddenly ignited in the darkness, trailing like meteors, that they finally spotted them.

The firelight flickered, carving a wide arc through the air before crashing down near Wang Ye and Old Du, exploding with a roar and sending gravel flying.

"Damn..."

Even with Ye Yan’s warning, they had been caught off guard by the speed and suddenness of the attack, and their evasion was somewhat hurried.

Wang Ye was fine; his skills were solid, and such an attack posed no real threat to him.

However, Old Du, who hadn't fought anyone in a long time, was in a bit of a mess. Though he wasn't injured, his suit sleeve had been shredded by sharp stones, ruining his impeccably dressed image.

After dodging, they saw three figures slowly approaching from the direction the fire had come.

The three were dressed identically in black hoodies and masks, but the color of their eyes beneath the masks differed. Under the moonlight, they looked like a trio of muscle-bound thugs.

"You guys sure are fast."

Wang Ye, who had just performed a nimble flip to dodge the fireballs, clapped his hands and looked up languidly.

From the time they stepped out of the car until now, not even the time it took to finish a cigarette had passed. These three had already caught up. Compared to the poor souls left spinning in circles at Xizhi Bridge, these three were clearly more troublesome.

Thinking this, Wang Ye frowned and straightened his back lazily. "What a pain."

"Do you want me to lend a hand?" Ye Yan, standing to the side, suddenly asked.

"No, no. A small scene like this isn't worth bothering you with. I'll handle it myself. Though... fighting is so tiring."

While grumbling, Wang Ye hooked his thermos onto his belt, stretched his arms, and then began to size up the three men in front of him with a serious expression.

"I say, you guys are pretty arrogant. You’ve been tailing us the whole way without any attempt to hide. Are you really not afraid of the Company coming after you?"

"Hehehe—"

Hearing Wang Ye’s words, the one in the middle, of average height and wearing a yellow-and-black striped mask, suddenly let out a laugh.

"Doesn't matter. No one will know who we are anyway."

The man waved his hand dismissively, pointing at Wang Ye with a defiant look. "Though... I didn't expect you, the third son of the Wang family in Zhonghai, to be a practitioner of the Mystic Arts."

"A practitioner!"

As soon as he spoke, Old Du couldn't help but gasp in surprise, looking at Wang Ye’s back.

As a rogue cultivator, Old Du’s information was relatively behind. He was the only one present who didn't know Wang Ye’s background.

Wang Ye didn't bother explaining his identity. His eyes were fixed on the three men, as if probing for something.

The three men didn't care whether Old Du knew who Wang Ye was. Their goal for this trip was Wang Ye, and he was their only objective.

They had no interest in anyone else.

Deep blue Qi erupted from beneath the feet of the man in the center. In an instant, it felt as if the world had shifted. The group felt as if they had been dragged into a bizarre, surreal world, and the three masked men before them suddenly appeared to grow tall and imposing.

"Wuhou Qimen."

Wang Ye’s pupils contracted to the size of pinpricks. As a fellow practitioner who had sparred with top-tier members of the Wuhou Sect like Zhuge Qing, he recognized their origins at a glance.

Realizing this, Wang Ye quickly turned his head. "Yezi, take Brother Du and fall back..."

Before Wang Ye could finish, the person standing at the center of the formation on the opposite side spoke up: "Back away twenty meters from my current position. Mustache, Ice-Face, we aren't looking for you two..."

Without needing to be told, the moment the Wuhou formation was deployed, Ye Yan had already perceived the changes through the darkness and had pulled Old Du to a safe distance.

The three on the field took their fighting stances the moment the other two retreated.

"Two-Yi, Mountain-Bearing, Closed-Elbow... The Wuhou Sect's Qimen arts. Interesting."

Although Ye Yan wasn't a practitioner and couldn't see the formation plate beneath their feet, he could recognize their fighting stances—and combined with Wang Ye’s earlier exclamation, their background and origin were practically laid bare.

"Yezi, what's going on?"

As a rogue cultivator, Old Du hadn't felt the subtle details of the changes on the field. But seeing Ye Yan choose to retreat, he felt a wave of inexplicable panic. Coupled with the imposing aura the three had displayed, he was very worried for Wang Ye.

"Small problem."

Ye Yan couldn't explain much about the battles between practitioners. At the end of the day, he was an outsider... but he wasn't worried about Wang Ye’s safety.

After all, this was a guy who had even taken down Zhuge Qing; his strength was nothing to scoff at.

Even with Ye Yan’s reassurance, Old Du’s worry remained.

As they spoke, the battle had already begun. The three masked men of the Zhuge family had launched their assault on Wang Ye.

Starting with the powerful and fierce Baji Quan, combined with Changquan and elbow strikes, they instantly surrounded Wang Ye. The four engaged in a heated melee, turning into a blur of motion.

Fist winds mingled with leg strikes, creating a series of "bang-bang-bang" sounds that shattered the silence of the night.

Facing the siege of the three Zhuge family members, Wang Ye didn't panic at all. With a fluid, graceful Tai Chi, he easily parried their attacks.

"Tai Chi really is something." Seeing Wang Ye effortlessly handling the other three, Ye Yan couldn't help but remark.

Hearing this and seeing that Wang Ye was fine, Old Du finally exhaled.

Although he was a rogue, he wasn't a total layman like Zhao Fangxu, who understood nothing and needed everything explained to him.

Even though the three Zhuge members were numerous, when it came to close-quarters combat, Wang Ye was inferior to none. After several exchanges, not only was he not crushed by the numerical disadvantage, but by using Tai Chi’s principle of "borrowing force to strike," he had subtly gained the upper hand.

After two or three rounds, the three Zhuge members gave up on trying to find a weakness and swarmed him directly.

Seeing this, Wang Ye stopped holding back.

His Tai Chi, which had been all about finesse and breaking strength with softness, suddenly became fierce and aggressive, its momentum arguably even surpassing the Baji Quan.

"Taiyuan!"

"Yunmen!"

"Jiuwei!"

Wang Ye transformed his palms into fists, his moves shifting unpredictably. Whether it was fists, palms, or knuckles, every strike landed with pinpoint accuracy, instantly scattering the encirclement the three had just formed.

There was no longer any chance for a joint attack.

The three acupuncture points he struck were all "death points" on the human body, but he hadn't struck with lethal force. This was merely a warning from Wang Ye.

"I say, gentlemen, that’s enough. I've worked up an appetite, but this is getting old. Shall we talk?"

Wang Ye could see that while the three were coming for him, they didn't have malicious intent. Otherwise, if it were a life-or-death struggle, he wouldn't have held back; he knew too many ways to make someone drop dead instantly... or at the very least, lose all ability to fight.

Having suffered a major loss in their first contact, the three men showed no intention of retreating. Instead, their fighting spirit seemed to ignite, becoming even more determined. Wang Ye felt his head throb.

He even started to wonder if the people of the Zhuge family—aside from that squinty-eyed fox—were all hot-headed idiots.

These three were, and Zhuge Bai, who had been scared silly by Jin Meng and then insisted on inviting the guy back, was also strange. They were all so weird.

What a massive pain.

"Don't get cocky. That was just a test. The real fight has only just begun."

As soon as the words left their lips, the three Zhuge members quickly pulled back to put some distance between them and Wang Ye.

"Damn, again?"

Looking at the trio, Wang Ye felt a wave of lethargy. But the opponents wouldn't give him any chance to catch his breath. This time, they channeled their arts directly.

"Li-Character: Fire Meteor!"

Trailing flames, the meteors streaked across the sky, heading toward Wang Ye in the distance. Compared to the two fireballs from their arrival, these fire meteors were far superior in both quantity and power.

It was clear they were finally getting serious.

"So annoying."

Though Wang Ye grumbled about how tiresome it was, his movements didn't falter. With a few practiced dodges, he evaded the fire meteors.

The massive fireballs streaked through the night sky, crashing into the warehouse behind him, sending sparks flying and igniting two piles of plastic by the gate.

Feeling the thick smoke rising behind him, Wang Ye’s face fell. "Hey, hey, hey! Fight if you want, but don't go destroying public property!"

But the opponents didn't care about his words. While conjuring more fire meteors, they replied, "Doesn't matter. You can afford the damages."

Wang Ye: "..."

Still, the battle showed no signs of stopping.

Following the fire meteors, the Zhuge family members utilized the Eight Gates Moving Technique.

Combined with the fire meteors, the projectiles, which previously hadn't been very accurate, suddenly seemed to have an auto-aim hack, crossing space to strike directly at Wang Ye.

"Damn..."

The sudden shift caught Wang Ye off guard, and he nearly got hit. Fortunately, he was extremely adaptable. With a cloud-hand technique from Tai Chi—a move ingrained in his bones—he used his signature entanglement, sticking, and withdrawing to neutralize the threat of the combo, even using the momentum of the fire to press toward the three.

"A combo technique? As expected of Wuhou Qimen. It’s getting more interesting."

Interesting as it was, Ye Yan felt this farce should come to an end.

Given how troublesome these three hot-headed Zhuge kids were, even if Wang Ye wanted to finish them, he would likely have to use his own secret arts. The price of the Feng Hou Qimen was simply too high; it wasn't worth paying that cost for a mere farce.

Therefore, Ye Yan decided to intervene.

"That's enough of this farce. There’s no point in continuing."

"Gentlemen, call it quits."

Ye Yan stepped into the Eight Gates formation plate, blocking the path between Wang Ye and the opponent just before the Eight Divine Powers could collide with the Tai Chi.

Bang—

Black Qi emerged from Ye Yan’s palm, colliding with the fireball in Wang Ye’s hand and the deep white tiger-head projection on the opponent's fist. The light shimmered, only to be instantly swallowed by the deep black energy.

"What..."

The moment his Qi was swallowed, a flash of shock appeared in Zhuge Sheng’s eyes. He had never imagined that the art he had mastered could be broken so easily.

This sudden intruder changed the atmosphere of the battlefield instantly.

"I thought you were going to stand on the sidelines and watch the show forever?"

Compared to Zhuge Sheng, Wang Ye was much calmer, as he knew who Ye Yan was. But even so, the impact had made his arm ache, and the webbing between his thumb and index finger felt as though it might have split.

He had finally witnessed the unfathomable depth of Ye Yan’s strength.

This guy was a monster.

However, since Ye Yan had intervened, there was nothing left for him to do. Wang Ye yawned, rubbed his wrists, took the thermos off his belt, and began sipping his tea.

He looked like an old man enjoying his retirement.

On the other side, Zhuge Sheng looked at Ye Yan with a hint of vigilance.

"I don't know who you are, but isn't it inappropriate to interfere in someone else’s fight? If you back off now, I won't hold it against you—we'll just pretend it never happened."

Hearing this, Ye Yan chuckled. "Sure, kid. Since you guys haven't had your fill of fighting, why don't I play with you for a while?"

Ye Yan shoved his hands into his pockets, his eyes filled with disdain.

As he spoke, a demon banner materialized behind him and slowly unfurled.

Deep green light surged, and the next second, a massive ink-wash dragon flew from the banner, coiling behind Ye Yan and looking down at everyone below...