The Card Apprentice

For no reason, Chen Mu had a feeling that if he made a move to fight back, Ba Luojia would kill him without a second thought. He had no idea why the thought had crossed his mind; Ba Luojia was always taciturn, giving people a sense of kindness. But the thought was so strong that it felt real.

Chen Mu’s mind was unexpectedly calm. He’d had such strong intuition before, and it had been strangely accurate each time. His body was pinned down by the vibration, and he looked as if he’d already lost his ability to resist. Fundamentally, Ba Luojia’s sound wave had reached his body through the vibration of air, which had caused every cell in his body to be in a state of vibration. Thus, he had no control over his body.

Nonetheless, only one part of Chen Mu’s body was not affected by the vibration, and that was his perception. Perception took no form nor shape. It was a kind of mental fluctuation, so it wouldn’t be affected by the air vibration. Therefore, even though his body was out of control, he could still control his perception.

A wavy blade formed in Ba Luojia’s hands as his wide-open eyes filled with the intention of killing. After the nurturing in the hands of masters like Wei-ah and Caesar, Chen Mu could sense a murderous aura from a mile away. Ba Luojia was going to kill him!

Suddenly, a horrible, enormous murderous aura swept across the arena, including where the audience was sitting, like a storm. The murderous aura came with no warning whatsoever. Everyone in the stands looked pale, and all traces of noise seemed to have vanished instantly. They hadn’t been at all prepared to be thrown into the center of a storm, and the overwhelming tension made everyone breathless. They felt like they were right under a rain of swords as the murderous aura grazed their skin!

Pressure! It was one of the techniques recorded in the card Caesar had given Chen Mu. Caesar had used that skill to test Chen Mu in the past. Pressure was a skill that combined perception and a murderous aura. Caesar had killed countless people; his murderous aura was so strong that only a few people from the federation could reach his level. Card artisans were sensitive toward murderous auras. Caesar had taken advantage of that and had combined it with perception, which had created pressure! Perception combined with a murderous aura produced a much greater effect.

Chen Mu didn’t have a strong murderous aura, but it wasn’t weak. Before that, he had lived a life in the wild and thus had great combat experience. The fight with Jin Yin and Dang Han, especially, had greatly changed him.

In the stands, Rong Ming’s expression was dignified. He was not surprised; he had felt that before. Even though it had only been a glance from afar, the opponent’s gaze had made his hair stand on end. Although the White Commander also had a strong murderous aura, if it was compared to that of the master who had worn a brown mask from the other day, he still had a long way to go. Rong Ming became more and more convinced that there was a deep relationship between the two, as their techniques were quite similar. Maybe the White Commander was an apprentice of that master.

Tai-shu Cheng’s face went pale under such a horrible murderous aura. His legs were shaking as he remembered the rumors about the White Commander that had spread around the building. It looked like the rumors were true, after all! Tai-shu Zheng and Tai-shu Shen next to him had even paler faces. They had always doubted the strength of the White Commander, but they now realized that fellow was a devil who killed people without mercy! Masters were not intimidating, but what really was intimidating were the masters who didn’t play by the rules—especially those devils who killed without batting an eye.

Tan Yumin and Xu Jia reacted more calmly, although their faces had turned a shade whiter. They could barely hold their composure.

Ba Luojia was the most tragic among them. He’d thought he’d been at the end of the battle and that it would only take one final blow to finish off Chen Mu. Instead, he got hit in the face. He was the closest to Chen Mu, so pressure had the most impact on him. Chen Mu went all-out at that dangerous and crucial moment. Ba Luojia, who’d had his guard down at that time, felt like his heart had been struck by a hammer. His first response was to retreat after the sudden attack.

Is it a trap? The thought popped into his mind out of nowhere. Feeling uneasy, he could only retreat hastily, risking his chance at defeating his opponent. It was all a blur in the eyes of the audience. When they finally had a clear view, though, Ba Luojia and Chen Mu had already pulled far away from each other.

Actually, Chen Mu was only bluffing; if Ba Luojia had attacked right then, Chen Mu wouldn’t have been able to defend himself. Who would have thought someone who could liberate such a murderous aura couldn’t even move a muscle at that moment? Ba Luojia’s retreat bought Chen Mu some time.

Chen Mu was no stranger to sound wave attacks. He had been studying that field when he’d previously taught Lu Xiaoru how to use the Sound Beam. Ba Luojia’s sound wave attack was way stronger than Lu Xiaoru’s, but both of the attacks didn’t differ much, theoretically. But that was still not enough for Chen Mu to recover fully.

Suddenly, the murderous aura subsided and disappeared without a trace, and Chen Mu’s face went pale. Pressure was compressed into a needle under Chen Mu’s perceptual control, and the target of the needle was none other than himself! He hummed as the blood circulation of his whole body heightened. After a burst of pain came a moment of relaxation, and he finally regained control of his body.

From afar, Ba Luojia looked at Chen Mu, bewildered and confused. The murderous aura had come without a sign and had disappeared unexpectedly. His round eyes, which had been filled with craftiness due to his successful attack, became serious and astonished. For card artisans, a murderous aura was no mystery. As long as they had been through combats, they would more or less have some murderous aura on their body.

However, that was the first time Ba Luojia had met a card artisan with such a strong murderous aura. What made him shiver more was the opponent’s incredible control of the aura. Only top aces could control their murderous auras freely!

Even though he looked like a tall and bulky fellow, his scheming wouldn’t even be the slightest loss to Huo Jiang. His heart was filled with surprise and doubt. But, after giving it some thought, he decided to be mindful about it. If the White Commander was really powerful enough to control the murderous aura with his heart, why would such a master be willing to work under Tai-shu Cheng?

The opponent must have had a unique way to control the murderous aura, Ba Luojia judged secretly.

By that time, Chen Mu had already fully recovered, and the two confronted each other yet again. The previous encounter had only lasted a few seconds, but it had been extremely thrilling in the eyes of the masters who sat in the stands.

Ba Luojia was a mysterious person, and he handled the attack skillfully. Many asked themselves what they would do in such a situation, and most figured they would probably lose. However, the trick pulled by the White Commander sent a shiver down everyone’s spines. Even though Ba Luojia had handled it greatly, at least his skills could be read; on the other hand, the trick of the White Commander couldn’t be read at all!

Both sides were back in confrontation, not one willing to look away. It was seemingly calm in the arena, yet everyone knew that was just the calm before the storm!

Chen Mu’s eyes looked peaceful. A moment ago, he had used the murderous aura to stimulate his recovery as quickly as possible, but it had come with some self-injuries. However, others couldn’t see the effects because of the mask covering his face. His gaze was also sharp and steady, which was quite hard to read.

It was as if time stood still during the confrontation. After more than ten seconds, Chen Mu decided not to drag it on. He suddenly closed his eyes.

His action once again surprised everyone! Although perception was known as the second pair of eyes by the card artisan, people would seldom close their eyes in a battle. The dignity in Ba Luojia’s eyes intensified. He hadn’t attacked Chen Mu when he’d had the chance, so Chen Mu’s trick made him more vigilant. Unconsciously, he was in full defensive mode.

The surroundings appeared clearly in Chen Mu’s mind. During the fight with Jin Yin and Dang Han, even though he had been seriously injured, he’d still made an unprecedented breakthrough in his strength—especially his perception. Other than that, the card Caesar had given him had helped him open a brand new path. Gradually, he’d started to understand how to use his perception correctly.

In his world of perception, everything was less colorful. Each object was structured by lines, simple yet three-dimensional, like a bunch of models stacked together. Ba Luojia became a curved humanoid model composed entirely of lines. The distance between Chen Mu and Ba Luojia was filled with countless lines, which were thin and fine like spider webs and changed shape continuously. If anyone could see it, they would be shocked to find out it was actually the flow of air.

Caesar’s theory was simple. Since the Materials Refinement Code of perception was more sensitive toward power rather than material objects, he used that feature to its fullest. No matter what form the energy took, as long as it could hover in the air, his perception could catch the air vibration precisely.

When Chen Mu had been facing Jin Yin, he’d used the Pointed Cloudburst. It was just that Caesar’s theory and methods were much more perfect. Besides, Caesar’s tactics and methods were the result of validations and improvements in many combats. Compared to Caesar’s, Chen Mu’s skill was only rudimentary.

Suddenly, Chen Mu moved. It was the same movements as before; his short body glided on the ground like a slithering snake, rushing toward Ba Luojia.

There was a hint of doubt in Ba Luojia’s eyes, but he couldn’t risk making the slightest mistake. The opponent must have his next moves up his sleeve! Ba Luojia’s eyes brightened for a second, but he didn’t plan to use the sound wave again. Instead, he soared high into the air toward the sky in the arena.

Although Ba Luojia had a huge body, he was flying fast! He was confident about his flying speed, which was a side of him that always made people wonder. His large body always gave people a misperception that he was a card artisan who fought by power alone. On the contrary, he was a card artisan who specialized in speed.

His face changed abruptly as he realized a green form of energy the size of a thumb was only ten centimeters away from his ankle!

When did that appear? He had almost neglected the undetectable energy fluctuation, but the sharpness of the energy form made him shiver! He didn’t doubt it could easily pierce his ankle.

The energy form was straight and ten meters long, like a long green sword, and the other end was held by the White Commander.

Ba Luojia knew clearly that his own flying speed was fast. However, the opponent’s attack had been faster. That situation could only have happened with one possibility; the opponent was able to prejudge his movements the moment he acted. Besides that, the opponent also needed to capture the timing precisely. Both of those requirements had to be fulfilled in order to create a successful attack, even if he attacked slightly late.

How is that possible? His face was filled with disbelief.