Chapter 145 Return
"Let me ask you, what rank do you hold in the Tri-Hall?"
Zhang Pu's sudden question left both the masked strong man and the masked leader momentarily stunned.
Suddenly, Zhang Pu gave the masked leader a shove, sending him sprawling onto the floor with his limbs splaying upward, and said to him, "I wasn't asking you!"
The masked leader struggled on the ground, finding himself unable to get back up for a moment, too resentful to speak out.
The masked strong man, meanwhile, was gripped with a deep sense of dread. To this moment, he still had no idea how Zhang Pu intended to toy with them next.
He thought to himself: *Come to think of it, among all the people here, I am probably the one who has offended this person the most, seeing as I was the one who abducted him!*
Now, the masked strong man finally realized for certain that Zhang Pu's question had been directed at him.
Zhang Pu's supernatural prowess was the most terrifying sight the masked strong man had ever witnessed in his entire life. Zhang Pu had knocked down so many people, yet the masked strong man hadn't been able to clearly see how Zhang Pu made a single move from beginning to end.
The masked strong man seemed to ponder something, and then, abruptly, he straightened his back once more. Word by word, he said to Zhang Pu, "A gentleman may be killed, but not humiliated!"
Zhang Pu smiled, suddenly feeling that this fine-looking older uncle resembled a stubborn young man.
"Who said I was going to kill you?" Zhang Pu replied leisurely. "I only want to tell you this: if you don't hold the top rank in the Tri-Hall, but you *want* to hold the top rank in the Tri-Hall, I will help you up to that seat!"
When these words left Zhang Pu's mouth, the masked strong man was left utterly bewildered and at a loss. Even the masked leader, still lying on the floor, wore an expression of strange and complex emotions.
Zhang Pu could easily gauge the situation: the masked leader on the floor was likely not the true supreme head of the Tri-Hall. This place should merely be a branch stronghold of the Tri-Hall. This masked leader was probably just the person in charge of this specific branch, and nothing more!
Regardless of whether the masked strong man desired to become the head of the Tri-Hall or dared not even dream of it, Zhang Pu knew that this was a question not easily answered on the spur of the moment.
Abruptly, Zhang Pu strode out of the cavern chamber. Before leaving, he said to the masked strong man and the masked leader, "The people on the ground are only knocked out and dizzy; they won't die. I have to go now. I hope your men didn't do anything to Uncle Fu beforehand? Otherwise..."
With those words, Zhang Pu stepped right out of the cavern chamber, leaving the masked strong man standing there in a daze.
Even relying purely on his instincts, Zhang Pu was able to leave this place swiftly.
His current strength was comparable to that of a Martial Dao Grandmaster, so it was hardly surprising that his strikes had left these people in such awe.
***
As soon as Zhang Pu left the branch stronghold of the Tri-Hall, the wind seemed to rise beneath his feet.
Next, he wanted to test just how far his movement speed could exceed his own expectations.
The physical energy generated by the automatic circulation of the Sun-Moon Scripture sometimes reached realms that even he found unimaginable.
Zhang Pu quickly returned to the grove of bamboo, but Uncle Fu and the two masked men from the Tri-Hall who had previously been guarding him were no longer there.
Where on earth could they be?
Zhang Pu paused for a moment before deciding to head back to Uncle Fu's residence first. If they weren't there, he would go out and search for the masked strong man and his group from the Tri-Hall branch.
"Uncle Fu—"
Zhang Pu arrived back at Uncle Fu's dwelling without delay. The moment he stepped through the door, he saw that Uncle Fu was right there.
Uncle Fu looked completely fine, unharmed.
Seeing Zhang Pu return safely, Uncle Fu hurried to his feet.
Both of them simultaneously asked if the other was alright!
Uncle Fu told Zhang Pu that those two masked men had threatened him for a bit before leaving, because their target was not him.
The target of this gang of masked men was Zhang Pu—a fact Zhang Pu was well aware of now.
Yet, in the end, he had proven useless to them. He had gone along with their scheme to play along, only to fail to obtain any of the information he wanted; the mystery of his parents' disappearance remained unresolved.
"Uncle Fu, do you know about the Tri-Hall?" Zhang Pu asked, settling down inside the house.
"The Tri-Hall?" Seeing Zhang Pu's eyes scrutinizing his expression, Uncle Fu's face flickered with a rapid succession of changes before he replied, "I've heard of it."
Without waiting for Zhang Pu to speak, Uncle Fu quickly added, "That masked strong man let you go, they dragged you off to..."
Zhang Pu did not beat around the bush. "They asked about my mom and dad. They belong to the Tri-Hall."
***
"They're from the Tri-Hall?" Uncle Fu cried out in apparent astonishment.
Acting as if he hadn't noticed Uncle Fu's shock, Zhang Pu continued, "I never expected they would be looking for my mom and dad, too."
Seeing that Uncle Fu had fallen silent, Zhang Pu pressed on, "Uncle Fu, do you know if my parents had any past feuds with the Tri-Hall?"
"No, not at all!" This time, Uncle Fu answered with crisp and absolute clarity. "It's as if no one from the Tri-Hall has ever been here before. Even an incident with masked men like tonight's is a first! These mountains have always been peaceful; nothing like tonight's events has ever happened here!"
Uncle Fu didn't sound like he was lingering in any lingering fear. At his advanced age, he seemed to have long since viewed life and death with indifference. A person who regarded life and death lightly would never know fear.
If Uncle Fu wasn't lying, then what was the real reason? Why had the people of the Tri-Hall suddenly come to these mountains to seize him and demand information about his parents? Without a doubt, these masked members of the Tri-Hall certainly weren't trying to avenge the three Tri-Hall men from the passenger bus; these people probably didn't even know about what happened on that bus. The Tri-Hall seemed to have many branch strongholds, and the three men on the bus likely belonged to a completely different branch from the masked strong man's crew tonight!
It seemed there were secrets belonging to his parents of which he was completely unaware.
In his previous life, his memories hadn't been this complicated. Zhang Pu only remembered that in his past life, he had lived such a mediocre and useless life that he ended up dragging his parents down with him. But thinking about it carefully now... could it be that he hadn't dragged his parents down at all, and that there were hidden secrets behind them that he knew nothing about?
The deeper Zhang Pu thought, the more profound his contemplation became. Yet, a firm resolve settled in his heart: no matter what, come what may, he would not allow regrets to repeat themselves in this lifetime. Even the regrets hidden in realms he knew nothing about, he would unearth and find a way to make amends for.
It appeared that Uncle Fu also knew very little about many of these matters; these were things he would have to investigate himself.
At a certain moment, Zhang Pu checked the time, whether intentionally or absentmindedly, and realized that dawn was fast approaching.
"Uncle Fu, get some rest first! We haven't slept the entire night; we can sort these things out tomorrow!" Zhang Pu said to Uncle Fu after checking the time.
"You're right! Ah-Pu, you go get some sleep first! There's nothing we can do about your parents' situation for the moment anyway, and it's not something that can be resolved overnight! Try to look at things with an open mind. I'm an old man, I naturally sleep less, so it doesn't matter much for me," Uncle Fu replied.
Shortly after, however, both of them went off to rest, knowing there was little point or necessity in sitting around until dawn.