Chapter 4395 — The Reason He Was Captured
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
"You! Ah..." Lu Bianren pointed at Wei Zhao and sighed, his heart brimming with gratitude even as he could not help blaming himself. "Back at the Welcome Pavilion, I had the title of Third Pavilion Master hanging over my head and still couldn't lift a finger to help you two. Now the tables have turned and I've become a burden, making you worry over me instead. My conscience simply won't let me rest easy."
"Now that's where you're wrong, Senior Brother Lu. We fellow disciples don't often find such rapport, and we rise and fall as one—we're our own people. When you vanished without a word, if we had simply looked the other way and done nothing—"
"That... well, that's true enough, but there was no need to take such a risk for my sake! What if you had gone and gotten yourself caught up in it too? Then I truly would be guilty of a crime no amount of death could atone for!" Lu Bianren said, still shaken by the memory.
"But didn't we both get out safely in the end? So long as the outcome is a happy one, that's all that matters. Besides, I came here to carry out a trial mission—I wasn't specifically looking for you. So put it out of your mind, Senior Brother Lu," Wei Zhao said with a smile.
"Very well." Lu Bianren nodded helplessly, though given his nature, how could he truly set aside so enormous a debt of gratitude? He simply buried it deep in his heart and locked it firmly away. Changing the subject, he asked, "By the way, how is Ku Zhongle doing now?"
"Senior Brother Ku has taken the position of Third Pavilion Master of the Welcome Pavilion, with Xiao Che, Qiao Hongcai, Li Zhengming and the others supporting him. There shouldn't be any problems," Wei Zhao replied.
"Ku Zhongle as Third Pavilion Master? Pavilion Master Yu Zhenyang actually agreed?" Lu Bianren was shocked all over again at this news.
The position of Third Pavilion Master of the Welcome Pavilion, no matter who ultimately took it up, had to be personally approved by Yu Zhenyang, the Pavilion Master of the Qingyun Pavilion. Ku Zhongle on his own could never have earned the esteem of a figure as great as Yu Zhenyang. It went without saying—the credit behind this must belong to Wei Zhao!
The look Lu Bianren turned on Wei Zhao could not help but carry a few more degrees of astonishment. As Pavilion Master of the Qingyun Pavilion, Yu Zhenyang's eye for talent was hardly inferior to Shangguan Tianxia's. That his own junior brother could command such esteem from even Yu Zhenyang—a heaven-defying genius indeed!
Had he known that Wei Zhao was not merely esteemed by Yu Zhenyang but was held in the highest regard by Shangguan Tianxia, Pavilion Master of the Chongtian Pavilion, and even treated on equal footing with Gongyang Jun of old, Lu Bianren would likely have been stunned into a dead faint on the spot.
"That's right, so the rest of us are all doing well. You needn't worry, Senior Brother Lu." Wei Zhao nodded, then asked, "But let's talk about you instead. How exactly did the Central Merchants' Association capture you in the first place?"
He had asked this question before, back in the dungeon. At the time Lu Bianren had not known it was Wei Zhao and had refused to go into detail, and Wei Zhao naturally had not pressed him—too many ears, too many mouths. But now there was no such worry.
"Junior Brother Wei Zhao, since you learned of my whereabouts from Pavilion Master Yu, then you must also know what I came here to do, don't you?" Lu Bianren answered with a question of his own.
"I know. You came under the pretext of a mission, Senior Brother Lu, and if I'm not mistaken, it must have been to search for news of Vice Pavilion Master Yao," Wei Zhao said with a nod.