Chapter 97: Discovery

He had originally thought a cursory glance would suffice, since the real problem was the leader.

But that cursory check was enough to unsettle Zhang Pu. The moment he finished scanning the group, a storm rose in his heart.

It truly did.

Strange, was it? Could a subordinate possess more power than the man at the top?

How could that be?

No, that was not it. Rather, among them there was one man whom Zhang Pu suddenly felt he had seen before, someone with whom he had even had prior dealings.

A stranger who was, in truth, familiar.

Exactly that.

The instant Zhang Pu looked away after catching sight of him, he even sensed that the man had, for that fleeting moment, fixed his gaze on him as well.

Where had he met this man before?

Zhang Pu did not even need to rack his brains. Memories of this person seemed to pour in all at once.

Once on a tree-lined path near his former rented place by South Lake Park, and once at the hotel where he had, by pure chance, caught Chen Wenfa in the act of an affair.

Now Zhang Pu remembered clearly. Yes, this was the same ninja who had once crossed paths with him.

After their first fight, Zhang Pu had suspected him of being hired by the school tyrant Gao Lixia to deal with him.

When this ninja had met him those first two times, he had been fully dressed as a ninja, his entire body wrapped from head to toe in the traditional garb of the Japanese-style ninja, leaving not the slightest hint of face or form exposed.

But now he was not dressed as a ninja at all, not in the least. No face covering, no body concealment, nothing—just the same plain, ordinary attire as everyone else there.

And yet in this world, perhaps aside from Zhang Pu, there should have been few who could recognize him.

But Zhang Pu could, because he was a cultivator. Through a few minor techniques from the cultivation world, or even by the sheer certainty of a pair of eyes, he could pick this ninja, whom he had seen before, out from that crowd. Although before, because of the man’s disguise, Zhang Pu had only ever seen his eyes.

Damn. Had he grown too arrogant, believing that since he had formally stepped into Foundation Establishment, he could look down on everyone? Only now had he realized that among this whole group there was, in fact, a familiar face he knew well enough to have missed entirely.

Still, after a brief flicker of self-reproach, Zhang Pu did not worry too much.

During this period, his cultivation had advanced at a near-daily pace. That ninja, after all, had met him three days apart; it was only natural that he would now see Zhang Pu in a new light. In such a short span, Zhang Pu had long since risen from the level where he could merely hold a slight edge over the ninja to a point where he could openly challenge a martial grandmaster of the mortal world.

As for that ninja’s leader, Zhang Pu could tell at a glance that he had not even reached the level of a martial grandmaster. Could this ninja be hiding something even deeper?

There was no need to mention that Zhang Pu’s instincts had already told him so. Even if they had not, he would not have believed it. On this earth, there were probably very few people whose cultivation could progress as terrifyingly fast as his.

What was more, Zhang Pu could also tell that this ninja was not a cultivator, nor some demonic or beast-form cultivator.

At that moment, the only thought in Zhang Pu’s mind was: he had not expected this journey to Poison Dragon Pool to be even more exciting than he had imagined.

Though Zhang Pu had never been the sort of petty man who had to repay every slight, this ninja had once tried to assassinate him. This time, then, he would be obliged to make things a little uncomfortable for him. And if the ninja refused to behave, Zhang Pu even felt tempted to leave him here forever, as a permanent companion to Poison Dragon Pool.

Zhang Pu felt this ninja should be Japanese, though perhaps he had lived in China for so long that he now spoke Chinese naturally, and had been so thoroughly assimilated that no ordinary person could tell what kind of ninja he was anymore. Moreover, he probably wore that special ninja outfit only when carrying out assignments.

As Zhang Pu analyzed the man in his mind, he also quietly observed the leader and the other four companions.

At first he had assumed that since there was a ninja in the group, they might all be ninjas, and at the very least all be Japanese. But after taking a proper look, he was again surprised: aside from that ninja, the rest of the team were all unmistakably Chinese.

Genuine, no substitute. Zhang Pu’s ability to read people was not to be underestimated.

What on earth was going on?

Zhang Pu truly did not understand. Why would there be a ninja in this team?

Could this team itself be serving someone else? Serving the Japanese? Otherwise, how could there be a ninja among them?

No matter how he looked at it, this ninja did not seem to be someone born and raised in China.

The more Zhang Pu analyzed it, the more he felt that this trip to Poison Dragon Pool would be far more than merely interesting.

Later, at one point when he and Liu Yingde rejoined the others, Zhang Pu quietly warned him to keep a close eye on the people in the covert team, especially their ringleader and that ninja.

With Zhang Pu’s reminder, Liu Yingde also said that he had already begun to suspect something.

As for Zheng Lan’s group, though they were loud and imposing, and Zheng Lan herself had the frank and bold temperament of a man, Zhang Pu did not feel inclined to expend much energy watching them.

Those wealthy young dandies usually only did foolish things anyway.

As for the bodyguards under Zheng Lan, Zhang Pu could see that they had some hard-won skill, but to him, Zhang Pu, they were not the least bit worth worrying about.

Zheng Lan, in Zhang Pu’s mind, was always a coarse and domineering woman, even if she was sexy and beautiful. She was simply not the type of girl he liked.

Because of the detours on the map, many places had no path at all. By afternoon, the excitement that had flared up when they first entered the mountains in the morning had quickly faded, especially for the group of young rich men. People were always like this: at first everything felt fresh, and a bit of fatigue during the outing did not matter. But once that freshness wore off, what remained was likely nothing but weariness.

Truly, if not for Zheng Lan, those young masters would already have wanted to throw in the towel.

Even the others with some skill remained fairly steady, and though they were accustomed to hardship and would not be easily tired, the mountains and forests were so bleak and desolate that there was nothing pleasant to admire. The whole journey felt like labor undertaken for some task, with not the slightest trace of leisurely enjoyment.

Even Zheng Lan eventually furrowed her delicate brows in silence. Before coming, she had not imagined this trip would be so dull. She was used to living in the great city and had even grown tired of it. Coming into the deep mountains and old forests, she had originally been exhilarated, feeling it would be a change of pace, a way to refresh her life.

Yet who would have thought that although delicacies can become tiresome, plain vegetables and tofu can be utterly flavorless as well.