The Card Apprentice

“Report! The 76th squadron responsible for sealing off Snow Edge Valley has met with enemies who have been identified as the Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team after investigation. Squadron leader Chai Jun has forced them to retreat into the valley.”

“Oh.” Su Heiming narrowed his bewitching brown eyes, smiling as he turned to the middle-aged man next to him and said, “This Chai Jun is quite opinionated.”

The middle-aged man smiled, “It’s fine. Young people need the experience anyways.”

The middle-aged man was of a large built and standing behind him was a group of about ten young men wearing the same clothes. The difference between their clothes and Su Heiming’s clothes were rather obvious, being that it was not in the style of the Heavenly Federation combat uniforms but were simple short-sleeved or sleeveless clothes. Their feet were either bare or clad in blackish-green sandals. Their build were all of a similar type and all of them looked strong and healthy as they emanated a steady and mature air naturally just by simply standing there.

Even Su Heiming’s personal Iron Guard, Zhu Heng who stood to one side, would pause involuntarily every time his eyes scanned this group of people.

Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team…

Su Heiming suddenly thought of the image he had seen the other time, his interest peaking at the thought of that kind of Fiery Rain card. He paused, and then raising his voice, he said, “Tell Chai Jun that he is not to let any single one of them go free, especially their cards. Bring all of them to me with no exceptions.”

“Yes, sir!”

“After this, you will be the first person to own two Districts, Lord Su.” The middle-aged man’s voice radiated both marvel and revelation. “You have my admiration! The Heavenly Federation truly is the birthplace of heroes. The Mohadi Domain certainly cannot compare on this.”

Su Heiming shook his head as he smiled, “Now that’s not true. Your lord is one of the greatest man I have ever known and he is no less a hero than any one of them.”

Hearing his words, Benji nodded in agreement, “That’s right, only heroes are deserving of friendship. How could cowards ever have the right to be mentioned together with heroes? Every time my Lord mentions you, he is full of praises. Even when most of the Elders opposed to an alliance with you, my Lord went ahead with it anyway.”

“Don’t worry, the seed we’ve planted has already started to sprout. I believe nobody will ever doubt this decision your Lord has made soon enough,” said Su Heiming with a faint smile.

Benji smiled as he nodded in agreement.

In the depths of the eerie and dark valley, a cluster of glowing orbs radiating warm light was followed closely by a squad of people.

Chen Mu and his squad no longer had any other choice, not only did they have to get through the Snow Edge Valley, they had to get through it as fast as possible. Everyone was tense and cautious as they knew that the enemy must have laid a trap for them by allowing them to enter the valley.

Yet they had not met with any attack ever since they started flying. This itself was a cause for suspicion.

At this very moment, a shadow suddenly flashed past them, the sound of air being cut was constantly rushing by their ears.

Chen Mu’s expression changed with shock!

Airskill!

This was the special sound of the Airskill! His mind buzzed with realization as he saw a mass amount of shadows crouching against the walls of the valley! The source of the constant sound of cutting air came exactly from these shadows.

Yet how could there be so many cardless sects equipped with the Airskill? As the thought appeared in his mind, it was already too late to dwell on it as he finally realized what the enemy wanted to do to them.

Ping! Ping! Ping!

While they were unprepared and unready, the sounds of numerous power shields breaking echoed in the valley as many card artisans were hit with Air Wave Blades! The painful groans of card artisans could be heard constantly!

Moreover, the valley was scattered with strange rocks on a complex terrain, making it extremely suitable for the cardless sects to shine.

Without any time to waste, Chen Mu got behind Wei-ya and charged forward!

Wei-ya’s quick movements were different from the usual unpredictability. Today he was like a streak of black lightning and an extremely violent one at that!

Noticing something amiss with Wei-ya, it seemed to Chen Mu that Wei-ya was attacking with more ferocity than normal!

In a flash, Wei-ya had moved close to his opponent, his right fist landing heavily on the opponent’s chest.

Bang!

The resounding thud the blow had created made Chen Mu’s heart skip a beat. If this person’s body was ever autopsied, they would probably have found that all the bones of this person had been entirely fractured by Wei-ya’s blow!

With no time to think of the reason behind Wei-ya’s sudden ferocity, Chen Mu plunged into battle and Demonic Woman and Little Bu Mo did the same without any hesitation.

In quick movements, Chen Mu managed to narrowly avoid an Air Wave Blade as the lethally sharp Air Wave Blade swept close to his face. Without turning to look back, he threw an Air Wave Blade behind him as well!

Unexpecting of Chen Mu’s knowledge of the Airskill, his opponent, not being able to avoid, was struck by the Air Wave Blade and fell from the wall of the valley with a cry.

Upon realizing the situation, the enemy came flying towards Chen Mu without a second thought.

What!

Wait, how would these cardless sects know how to fly?

Chen Mu could hardly believe his eyes as these cardless sects flew towards him as if they were regular card artisans!

Impossible!

His eyes scanned the hands of these people and noticed meters! These people are card artisans!

Card artisans with the ability to use Airskill? He was somewhat confused as he had never seen any card artisan who was able to use the Airskill except himself. If they were able to use the Airskill, this would mean that the body strength of these card artisans had reached an extremely high level, also implying that these card artisans were able to resist higher flight pressure and that they had a higher reaction speed…

Such card artisans were strikingly similar to the current Chen Mu!

However, as the fight went on, Chen Mu realized something new. The enemy were not entirely card artisans where despite the fact that a large part of them were card artisans, there was still a minor portion of them that did not wear any meters in their wrists, they were the real cardless sects! The Airskills used by both parties could also be differentiated as the Airskills used by the card artisans were considerably weaker than the cardless sects’.

In fact, these cardless sects were the real masters! While they looked extremely young as if they were in their twenties, their skills were extremely good and only slightly behind Little Bu Mo’s skills. This came as a shock to Chen Mu as Little Bu Mo’s skills were already very polished to the point where even Chen Mu was not even sure he could beat Little Bu Mo without the aid of his meter.

Such a difference in skill could mean either life or death in the battlefield.

The Demonic Woman’s Black Vine that was deeply imprinted in Chen Mu’s head could only be described as phantomly. It was as if she was naturally born for the darkness, where the darkness did not stand as an obstacle to her but rather allowed her to unleash the full extent of her capabilities. The Black Vine which was as thick as a thumb could change to be both soft as a rope yet hard as a gun; in the dark, its lethality flashed in silence and in an unpredictable manner.

It went without saying that such small scale battles favored individual combat skills and the sheer amount of highly-skilled elites on Chen Mu’s side had clearly been unexpected by the other side.

Yangshan Fei’s entire figure became a blur as lightning crackled around him, shielding him completely as if it was an armor made of lightning. In the dark, his presence could not have been more noticeable as he appeared like a god descending from the heavens. His blows were dominating as lightning crackled with his movements. Sometimes, he would even bulldoze towards the enemy as if he was a canon. Undoubtedly, all of his opponents were left with bodies as dark as charcoal.

In comparison, Sue’s strikes were seemingly gentler. The energy finger sleeves on her fingers radiated 10 different colors and as she waved them in combat, they formed an image of beauty filled with rhythm. Yet hidden beneath this beauty was fatal lethality as the card artisans surrounding her ended up paling and spitting out blood to their deaths!

Sound Wave Card! Chen Mu gasped internally, knowing that Sue’s Sound Wave Card was definitely not lower that Level Six.

Although Jiao Si’s heavy strikes looked easy, he was actually using a three star card Chen Mu had made long ago — Folding Yanbo! However, if Chen Mu had not known earlier, he would not have believed that it was only a three star card. The blood red blade used was no longer the rough fold it was at first and instead looked more like a true Fire Swallow. These Fire Swallows no bigger than a clenched fist and had immense power with explosive properties that Chen Mu could not accurately judge. When they took flight, they left cinders behind them that was just as fatal. They were also able to spit out energy thorns unsuspectingly when flying in close proximity to the enemy.

Dozens of Fire Swallows circled Jiao Si while they flew gracefully, stopping anyone who would even think to come near him!

While Qing Qing’s blows were dealt nonchalantly, every time she struck, it would be a deadly blow.

Meanwhile Fang Shi forcefully weaved an illusion that was both beautiful and haunting in the dark with petals of pink blades sharp enough to dice anyone’s body.

Yet the most absurd one was Caesar.

Everyone finally understood why he was called Caesar, the God of Slaughter!

He was an actual God of Slaughter, carrying with him an immense crescent-shaped Light Chopper as red as blood and nothing could stand in his way! No matter if it was a card artisan or cardless sect, those who stood before him were severed at the waist with his Bloody Light Chopper which was longer than a human, sometimes even killing multiple people at the same time.

Those who were cut in half did not die immediately and were left to wail and scream in pain. Even the faces of Caesar’s card artisan comrades who were beside him paled. Caesar’s expression was unbothered as he walked forward, sweeping all obstacles. Despite being equipped with the Airskill, these card artisans were simply no match for Caesar as they were as weak as paper paste.

Every time the Bloody Light Chopper was raised, its lethality gave the illusion of being drowned in a sea of blood. Thus, no one dared to step within a 10 meter radius around him.

Chai Jun had never thought that Chen Mu’s squad would have so many highly-skilled elites amongst them!

Even with the strong capabilities of the Great Six, it was hard to match up to the sheer array in this squad, what more a mere squadron from the Desert Camp!

In no time, almost all of the Desert Camp card artisans in the valley had been wiped out. All that were left were the real cardless sects!

Even so, the cardless sects chose not to surrender and fought relentlessly albeit with grimaced faces. However, elites like Caesar and Jiao Si had already stopped fighting considering that their enemies were only left with such a small amount of fighters.

At this moment, all eyes were on one person, Wei-ya.

Wei-ya was still very much on a killing rampage!

The cardless sects who would have been able to face normal card artisans could not even stand one blow from Wei-ya. They were like a herd of helpless sheep in the face of Wei-ya.

Suddenly, a young cardless sect pointed at Wei-ya and using a language Chen Mu had never heard before, started shouting in panic. The remaining cardless sects all turned to look at Wei-ya with fear, an expression that had never appeared on their faces until now.

Wei-ya suddenly stopped fighting.