The Card Apprentice

Qiu Shanyu was silent while deep in thought. Chen Mu also had many doubts but chose to comment no further in consideration of her. Many hours passed, yet her eyebrows remained furrowed. She had a pair of thin, long eyebrows, which usually complemented her overall features. At that moment, however, her eyebrows looked like two curved blades, exuding a swift ferocity.

Chen Mu didn’t disturb her. He knew he had given his best during the battle earlier. He was physically and mentally drained and thus needed to rest. Although he was eager to know Qiu Shanyu’s way of finding the demonic woman, he knew it wouldn’t be an easy way. He then quickly sank into a state of deep tranquility.

As he opened his eyes, a flash of light appeared before him, and he felt a surge of energy coursing through his body. Suddenly, his face revealed a slightly startled expression. But he quickly closed his eyes to check on his perception. He was pleasantly surprised. He hadn’t expected his perception to have enhanced tremendously through the battle.

His perceptual power had always been his weakness and hence was his constant worry. His perception accuracy index was now rather high. Unfortunately, with limited perceptual power, he was unable to use cards that demanded more perception.

He’d had no idea how incredibly fast his improvements had been! He suppressed the joy he felt and started to reflect on the battle. Reflecting on his wins and losses after every battle had become a habit of his.

He’d learned a lot through that battle, especially when Wei-ah had fought head to head with the bronze-masked man. He was blown away by their impressive strength. Moreover, he had just realized Wei-ah didn’t showcase his true powers during their practices. If so, he would have been defeated in the first round.

Wei-ah’s air skills were unbelievable, but the bronze-masked man’s card skills were just as amazing and deadly. Chen Mu could still clearly recall the bronze-masked man’s vast sense of perception. It had given Chen Mu an illusion of being on a small wooden boat floating on raging waves. The feeling of helplessness had made Chen Mu truly understand the gap between himself and a top card artisan.

The bronze-masked man’s card skills were gorgeous and ever-changing. It reminded him of a beautiful painting that left no trace of feelings. It had been Chen Mu’s first time encountering such card skills. The only person he knew with similar standards of skills had been Qiao Yuan. Qiao Yuan’s card skills had been far less complex, yet he’d had complete control over his accuracy and speed—simple but straightforward.

Flower World—Chen Mu could remember the bronze-masked man’s humming. He had no idea what the bronze-masked man’s card was. Only a genius with amazing perceptual control would have been able to handle the countless petals! Chen Mu was rather dumbfounded now that he thought of it. He specialized in fine perceptual skill, but he couldn’t control so many blades at a time with his current level of ability.

The blades had become much more aggressive under the transformation of the Flower World. The energy blades had turned from peach-colored to snow-white, which represented a change in their structure. To control a released body of energy and to change its structure required powerful perceptual control. That made Chen Mu feel a sense of admiration once again.

Wei-ah’s power had also taken Chen Mu by surprise; he could use all of his limbs to release air waves simultaneously. Besides that, the three-phase compression trick at the last part had been so impressive that Chen Mu had no words to describe Wei-ah.

As he recalled their fight together, Chen Mu couldn’t help but feel extremely excited. Even so, he remained calm. Their battle had been an eye-opening experience for him and had given him much inspiration. However, the level of the battle was what mattered to him now. On a deeper level, it gave him direction. He understood that aiming big without practicality was a fool’s plan, and doing things in moderation would hasten the process of improvement. He put his thoughts back to the battle, exposing many problems that had happened.

The Bipolar Card in State Zero had tremendously increased power, but it consumed perception twice as fast. Moreover, he wouldn’t have made it until the end of the battle if he had used the jet stream card instead of the explosive power of his body.

Perceptual strength! It made his head hurt, and he still hadn’t found a way to solve that problem.

Among his few cards, the Hundred Changes consumed the least perception but lacked power. The Golden Word Shackle and the Bipolar Card consumed an enormous amount of perception, making them unviable in long battles. The Patterned Shuttle also had amazing power, but its obvious weakness was how situational its usage was.

That made him feel rather helpless. Although he had some decent ideas running through his mind, the lack of materials needed for making the card had forced him to give up for the moment. All he could do now was find out more about his cards’ combat power.

Night came, and both of them were still deep within their own thoughts. Qiu Shanyu was exhausted, leaning on the training equipment before sleep embraced her.

Chen Mu, on the other hand, would train his perception diligently as usual. He would then recover using deep tranquility before continuing his training. He persevered and trained until 5 o’clock in the morning before he stopped to get some rest.

Chen Mu woke up on time at 7 o’clock. He opened his eyes to find Qiu Shanyu staring at him.

Qiu Shanyu had mixed feelings. She hadn’t been completely asleep and had instead watched Chen Mu train. He had trained so hard that it had been difficult to watch! Exhaustion didn’t seem to mean anything to the man before her eyes. It wasn’t her first time seeing hard-working card artisans, but those card artisans were incomparable to that mysterious man. This damn fellow…

“I thought about what you said yesterday. According to what you said, the person who implanted the Green Mark disappeared after the battle with Qing Qing.” Qiu Shanyu thought for a moment and said, “Then, she must still be in the Heavenly Federation!”

“I guess so.” The Heavenly Federation was huge; Chen Mu knew it would be akin to looking for a needle in a haystack.

“If she’s in the Heavenly Federation, it’s possible for us to whip up a plan.” Qiu Shanyu was confident. “Since you’re a card master, producing a fantasy card ad should be a piece of cake, right?”

“A fantasy card ad?” Chen Mu hesitated. That term seemed rather far-fetched even though he had no idea what sort of plan she was up to, but he still nodded. “Yes. That’s not a problem.”

“That makes things simpler, then. All you need to do is turn the Green Mark on your wrist into a fantasy card ad. Then, we air it throughout the entire Heavenly Federation. If she really is still within the borders of the federation, there’s a high chance she would see the ad. Then, include the time and venue of the meeting in the ad…”

Chen Mu walked out of the training room, still turning over her idea in his mind. Her idea might just be their best shot. If the demonic woman was still within the federation, Chen Mu was sure he could find her through Qiu Shanyu’s method. Qiu Shanyu had made clear of the pros and cons, however. First off, a large sum of cash was needed to get things running. To air the ad throughout the whole federation, the fee was insane. Even she couldn’t estimate the total amount.

To top that off, not many people would recognize the Green Mark, but someone in the Big Six could. The ad would definitely attract people’s attention. Therefore, the possibility of them being traced would also increase.

“Good morning, White Commander.” Xu Jia smiled as she stood in front of Chen Mu.

Chen Mu was pulled out of his thoughts as he quickly greeted her. “Good morning, Miss Xu.”

“I heard the White Commander invited a beautiful woman over last night. No wonder you seem distracted this morning,” Xu Jia replied with a smile. Chen Mu could sense a cold chill, though.

The employees that passed by stole weird glances before hurrying off. Chen Mu was able to sense that Xu Jia wasn’t in a pleasant mood, but he felt it was unreasonable for her to be displeased. He wasn’t her subordinate; hence, he didn’t have to please her.

“How can I help you, Miss Xu?” He was rushing for time and didn’t beat around the bush.

Xu Jia choked. She would be lying if she said she wasn’t mad. She had called the White Commander so many times that her communication card had exploded. The White Commander was the one responsible in her mind, but he didn’t know a thing. She knew she was in no position to blame him.

“Nothing. Please go ahead, White Commander.” Xu Jia, who had been smiling moments ago, was stupefied on the spot. After a few seconds, she forced a smile and shifted to the side to make way. Chen Mu disappeared just as she finished her sentence, which made her terribly mad.

Chen Mu was rather anxious because Xiaobo had just arrived in Dongrui and had finally contacted him.

The high-speed flight elevated Chen Mu’s mood. Honestly speaking, he had been rather surprised when Xiaobo had voluntarily offered to help him. He had obviously been unwilling when Chen Mu had first tried to recruit him. Nevertheless, Xiaobo had agreed in the end because he couldn’t resist the temptation of the Wheel. It was unexpected of him to willingly travel so far just to help Chen Mu.

Xiaobo had still been in his retreat when Chen Mu had left the base. Now that he was out, Chen Mu wondered how much he had improved! Chen Mu had told Wei-ah to keep an eye on Qiu Shanyu in Wei-ah’s training room before rushing off.

Chen Mu landed at the entrance of Grand Hotel Abinia after flying for approximately ten minutes. Xiaobo was still so full of himself; he stood like a javelin at the entrance of the hotel and flashed a lazy smile. He had long white hair and wore a coat and boots. The most striking thing was the faintly glowing halo floating ten meters behind him. It was one meter wide, and light was extended from the center of the halo to its edge. The light slowly swept across the torus of the ring repeatedly, like a hand around a clock.

Xiaobo instantly recognized Chen Mu even though he wore a mask.

“Boss, your taste in fashion is horrible, as always! That mask is hideous!” Xiaobo sneered with a hint of cynicism.

“When did you arrive?” Chen Mu asked as he tried to suppress his excitement.

“Hmm. I’ve just arrived today.” He grinned and stretched his back lazily. “Boss, I heard you had a good fight here! Tsk, tsk. I’ve been eyeing rank 50 on the Black-Line Star Listing for a while now.”