The Card Apprentice

“We’re returning to Eastern Shang-Wei City.” Copper was nostalgic about the good old days.

“Yes!” Chen Mu looked at Eastern Shang-Wei City, not far away, and had mixed feelings about his return. He grew up in the city, and once thought that he would never leave the place. He didn’t know where his real homeland was, but in his mind, Eastern Shang-Wei City was his homeland.

Unfortunately, he had no relatives here.

They didn’t declare who they were when they entered the city. Fortunately, no one dared to cross them. In Eastern Shang-Wei City, card artisans’ perception was no more than Grade Three or Four; card artisans of Grade Seven were tantamount to legends. To avoid unnecessary troubles, a few of their Grade Seven card artisans actively exhibited their strength; so they had an easy time entering the city.

Eastern Shang-Wei City was like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered in front of their formidable powers. They could take over the city if they want.

However, Eastern Shang-Wei City had a large organization: Elemental Fantasy Card Club. The club owned an Elemental Fantasy Platform which was second only to Heavenly Federation Official Platform in terms of viewership. Elemental Fantasy Platform’s headquarter was based in Eastern Shang-Wei City. The knowledgeable staff from Elemental Fantasy Platform immediately realized the strength and the imminent danger posed by the team. Almost instantly, all the forces in Eastern Shang-Wei City received notifications and warnings: do not provoke Chen Mu’s team.

Even rogues loitering around were banned from going out. They assumed that card artisans of higher grades were all easily annoyed with strange tempers. Once they attacked, they could easily erase Eastern Shang-Wei City from the Heavenly Federation.

Chen Mu and Copper returned to the house they used to live in, only to find that the house had been rebuilt. They were disappointed. Next, Chen Mu went to the store where Uncle Shu used to be, but there was a new owner. The new owner knew nothing about Uncle Shu. Chen Mu sighed.

On the other hand, some of Lan Feng’s relatives were still there.

Chen Mu also sent a Grade Seven card artisan to Eastern Row’s Ning family. He remembered that he owed Mark Victor a request. The Ning family, of course, were sensible and very cooperative. However, Mark Victor died two years ago in a mission, and he didn’t have any relatives. Chen Mu was once again dejected.

He started to realize that all the people he knew were no longer where they were. He was saddened by his realization.

Elemental Fantasy Card Club and Eastern Row’s Ning family were no longer a challenge for Chen Mu. He could wipe out both if he wanted to. But after so many years, the old grievances had faded, and Chen Mu didn’t want to get entangled in petty resentment.

It suddenly occurred to Chen Mu that he wasn’t far from Lower City; it was within the communication range of ‘thousand-kilometer card.’ The first ‘thousand-kilometer card’ was made by him, and he remembered its frequency very well. There was no essential difference between the structure of ‘thousand-kilometer card’ used by the Wood Battalion and the structure of the ‘thousand-kilometer card’ he made in Lower City; the newer version of the card just had a series of optimizations. If the new card was tuned to the same frequency as the old card, communication should theoretically be possible.

“I wonder how Li Duhong and the group are doing?” he thought.

He was excited at the thought of it.

“Wei-ah! Wei-ah!” Chen Mu found Wei-ah who was training Little Bu Mo.

Wei-ah stopped what he was doing and looked at Chen Mu with a confused face.

“Follow me.” Chen Mu ran towards the communication van.

Wei-ah appeared beside Chen Mu, and asked with an expressionless face, “What’s the matter?”

Chen Mu and Wei-ah got onto the communication van. The staff inside were befuddled at their arrival. “There is no war right now, why are they here?” they thought.

Chen Mu didn’t bother to explain but told the staff to get off the communication van. Wei-ah watched him in silence.

They waited for everyone to leave the communication van. Chen Mu then explained, “It occurred to me, we can contact Li Duhong and his clan. We’re pretty near to Lower City, and it should be within the communication range.”

Wei-ah’s poker-face finally twitched a little when he heard Li Duhong’s name.

Chen Mu started to work on the screen as he added, “Of course, if they didn’t change their frequency.”

* * *

Lower City

Alfonso was conducting his research. As the head of the research department of Moqi Clan, his daily work was extremely arduous since he was a research madman. Once he started his work, he abhorred any disturbance. Even if Li Duhong, the chief of the clan, came to him, he would be cursed out for disrupting his concentration.

He was adjusting the mechanics of a card and showed great talent at the task. Although the knowledge Chen Mu imparted to him was very fundamental, he made a lot of achievements relying on this basic knowledge. And as he went deeper into his research, he was increasingly fascinated by the technologies in Lower City. Over the years, thanks to his continuous study, Moqi Clan had widened their sphere of activity in the jungle.

“Teacher! Teacher!”

Along with the shouting was the loud knocking sound on the door.

Alfonso’s hand trembled, and a part of the card fell out. He was immediately annoyed, raised his head, and shouted, “Why are you shouting! Didn’t you know I’m busy?”

“Knock-knock-knock!”

The knocking sound grew louder and stronger, and the shouting was still on, “Teacher! Teacher!”

“Shut up!” Alfonso ran to the door in a rage. He was determined to punish this fellow who dared to disturb his experiment.

He opened up the door. An elated face appeared in front of him, slightly quelling Alfonso’s anger. It was his favorite student. He was usually smart and not so insensible. He must have discovered something important to come forward to notify him.

“Teacher! Sir! Sir!” the student was thrilled to the point of incoherence.

“Sir? Which student?” Alfonso had all sorts of doubts and conjectures, but out of a sudden, he stood in amazement. There was only one person in Moqi Clan who could be addressed as “Sir”!

“Sir! Are you talking about Sir?” Alfonso was very worked up all of a sudden. He grabbed the student’s hand, “Where is he? Where is Sir?”

“‘Thousand-kilometer’! ‘Thousand-kilometer’!”

Alfonso let go of his hand and dashed out. His face was flushed, his feet fluttered, and his pace grew faster and faster.

Li Duhong was training. The child in the past had grown into a young man. He looked no different from a boy of seventeen or eighteen because of his continuous training.

With a determined expression, Li Duhong was sweating profusely on his training ground. He was no longer the naughty and mischievous boy.

His training was extremely tough; the training program was left behind by Wei-ah. Although he had completed the training plan, he insisted on training daily. Li Duhong suffered severe calamity and hardship from a young age; it forged his persistence and his recognition of the significance of his role as the patriarch. He strived to be a role model for the clan. He was reminded of Wei-ah and Chen Mu whenever he trained.

“Chief! Chief!” someone was frantically screaming outside of the training ground.

Li Duhong stopped his training and grabbed a towel on his side. He walked towards the man while wiping away his sweat. He asked in a composed manner, “Yes? What’s going on?”

“Sir! It’s Sir!”

“Sir!” Li Duhong froze, but a short moment after, he was ravished with joy.

Unconcerned with dressing, he jumped off the training ground barebacked. He asked anxiously, “Where is he?”

“‘Thousand-kilometer’! In ‘thousand-kilometer’!”

Soon, news of Chen Mu spread quickly in Moqi Clan. They stopped working immediately and rushed to the communication room.

Their hearts were full of gratitude for Chen Mu, who saved their clan in times of danger. Over the years, Moqi Clan, which almost got wiped out, had recovered their vitality. They had become the real master of the area. Everyone was worried when Chen Mu suddenly disappeared. Over the years, the clan was motivated to work tremendously hard, partly because they wanted to leave the jungle and go search for Chen Mu.

The communication room was maintained because they were hoping for the unlikely chance of locating Chen Mu.

They knew the hope was slim, but it did come true.

Benji was sitting in a shuttle car which he got from Su Heiming. Su Heiming had a long-faced when he knew of their sudden departure. But since the die had been cast and he was unwilling to offend his ally. He agreed to his departure.

Su Heiming arranged shuttle cars for their use, and Benji brought back nearly all the elites with him. Su Heiming swore in his heart, but upon seeing Benji’s determined expression, he swallowed his words.

At the same time, Benji’s serious attitude made Su Heiming curious of his arch-enemy. Benji was an outstanding card artisan; even the best card artisan from Desert Camp was no match for him. And the elites from cardless sect which he brought along with him were close to 500.

According to Benji, these people were the cream of the crop in his city too.

However, Benji spared no effort to use such force to deal with his arch-enemy. He made a decision to pursue his arch enemy even at the risk of destroying the alliance. That suggested the importance of this arch-enemy in Benji’s mind. It was enough to prove how fearful Benji was.

Chen Mu was an obvious target. Even with the vast amount of transportation shuttle cars, Benji’s pursuit wasn’t too arduous.

“They’ve stopped in Eastern Shang-Wei City, and haven’t moved elsewhere.” A card artisan from Desert Camp reported to Benji, as he immediately warned him, “According to our investigation, they’re with Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team and Wood Battalion. They’re very formidable!”

He emphasized their strength to remind Benji that relying on these people in his team wasn’t enough to launch a successful attack. Wood Battalion and Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team had impressive military successes.

The expression on Benji’s face didn’t change. He replied lightly, “Time to attack.”