The Card Apprentice

Chapter 153: The Challenge

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Things quieted down all around right away, with all eyes falling on the youth in front of Chen Mu and those three. He had a shaved head, and the top half of his body was half naked, revealing his bronzed skin and powerful muscles. The other half of his upper body was wrapped in a strange ancient-style metal armor, which extended up from his waist to his left ribs. Combined with his grave expression, he had an impressive bearing. On his left shoulder he wore a metallic arm band.

The clan elder’s expression went cold, as he shouted without pleasure, “Colin, how can you be so rude?”

Colin saluted the elder, as he respectfully said, “Colin meant no offense, elder. I am only curious about what kind of person the one who was able to wound little Three is.”

Then his gaze fell onto Chen Mu and the three of them, finally focusing on Bo Wen. Among the three, Bo Wen was doubtless the one whose demeanor showed the most ability, and he was the most eye-catching.

The elder then laughed, “You are mistaken, Colin. The one who had the exchange with little Three is this Mr. Chen.”

Flabbergasted, Colin shifted his gaze to Chen Mu, carefully checking him out and not being able to help becoming somewhat crestfallen. He had thought that the one who’d wounded little Three would be some kind of outstanding person, never having considered that he would be such an ordinary youth without anything remarkable about him.

He quickly became somewhat moody. Seeing that, the elder smiled again, “Perhaps you don’t know, Colin. Mr. Chen is also proficient in card matters, and is about to compare notes with Alfonso on the art. Even the kid couldn’t resist staking it.”

“Oh!” Colin’s eyes lit up, taking a look at Li Duhong, “Who are you backing to win, kid?”

Li Duhong squinted at Colin, as he languidly said, “Of course I’m staking Mr. Chen. Why? Is big brother Colin interested? Would you like to make a stake?

Whereupon Colin mocked, “No, forget about it. I’m not interested in gambling.” Li Duhong was as clever as a fox, winning nine out of ten times, and he wasn’t going to look for trouble. Still, how could this youth who didn’t look like anything special gain the confidence of even the little kid. He must really have some ability.

His gaze went hot again.

Chen Mu met Colin’s gaze placidly, not understanding why he had suddenly become so interested in him.

“Each of you has been able to enter the jungle from outside, and you must therefore have great strength. Colin is just now itching to fight, and I wonder whether I might invite you to teach me a thing or two, to give me the chance to gain a little experience in the skills from the outside world.” Colin spoke slowly, in a steady vigorous tone, while his gaze burned into Chen Mu.

The clan elder and several other elders’ eyes glinted, with the atmosphere so suddenly heated.

“Come on, come on, give us a lesson!”

“That’s it, let us broaden our scope.”

“Could you be afraid?”

* * *

The hall had become rowdy, and many of the villagers’ faces had turned red, thickening their necks and waving their hands.

“Fight! Fight! Fight!” With two thousand voices raised together, it was like clapping thunder to hurt the eardrums.

As though sleeping, the clan elder had his eyes half closed, as though nothing were affecting him.

Bo Wen’s expression changed somewhat, as he couldn’t help groaning. Every since he was small, he had never had anyone dare to be so arrogant in front of him! He was almost ready to take up the challenge, when he heard a clear woman’s voice ring out, clearly audible in the raucous hall, “Since brother Colin is interested, how could we hurt his spirit? Your little sister is the weakest of the three, but I’ll summon the courage to fight a bout. I’m inviting brother Colin to look with favor on my play.”

Cheng Ying responded without being servile or overbearing, which when combined with her gorgeous appearance and her heroic manner, got many of the villagers’ approbation, who all cheered her on.

Hey, little sister, I’ll lick your shoes if you bowl Colin over!”

“Aren’t you taking advantage of Colin?”

“Haven’t you heard that you shouldn’t let your favors flow to outsiders? Cheating Colin is better than cheating someone else.”

“Would you like me to join you? I’m not someone else!”

“Oh, can you beat Colin?”

* * *

Colin’s expression quickly changed to something between crying or laughing, as he took a look at Chen Mu and Bo Wen, neither of whom had any expression.

“Ha ha, since both sides are eager, then why don’t we move to the trial arena where everyone can enjoy their fill.” The clan elder laughingly said, with his eyes flashing a look of satisfaction.

The three of them were all very clear that it looked as though the trial that day couldn’t be avoided. Bo Wen wasn’t actually afraid, wanting to see for himself how the strength in the village really was. He turned around to take a look, and saw Chen Mu full of calm, and his feelings settled. He had already determined for himself that Chen Mu was the most awesome of the three of them, and seeing him so unperturbed, he naturally felt a lot more confident.

If he had known what Chen Mu had been thinking, he would certainly have paled. What Chen Mu was thinking was very simple, that come what may, he was the weakest of the three, and so it wouldn’t turn on him. If he really had to compete, he would simply have to accept defeat.

The trial arena was specifically used for such competitions by the villagers, and the entire arena was made of tall highly hardened steel and stone walls, which made Bo Wen envious on sight.

The arena was entirely covered by a huge energy cover, which divided it from the viewing stands.

The card appliances had really developed there. Seated in the stands, Chen Mu evaluated the huge transparent energy cover, which stunned him. He had never come in contact with such a huge card appliance. If it simply used cards, it would be very difficult to achieve such a stunning result.

In such a large-scale piece of equipment, the card would be its most essential component. If it were to simply rely on cards, what kind of huge card would it require for such a huge energy cover? Once a card became too big, the card master would basically be powerless toward the composition on its face. No one could use a pen that was several meters long, never mind attaching one’s perception to it.

The energy cloak which covered the entire trials arena forced a completely new understanding of cards and card appliances on Chen Mu.

Cards couldn’t do everything, and card appliances couldn’t either, all having their own strengths and weaknesses.

Within the trials arena, Colin and Cheng Ying were facing off. Because of the divide of the energy cover, they had no way to hear the commotion outside.

“Please!”

“Please!”

Since it wasn’t a life and death duel, the two of them were appearing rather courteous.

Just about when the voices died, there appeared several dozen multi-colored glowing balls in front of Cheng Ying. Every one of them was about the size of a thumb, and they seemed to be in some rhythm as they floated all around her.

“Wow!”

To see the villagers in the stands suddenly sound off their surprise, it was clear that it was their first time to see such a scene. Cheng Ying, who had charmed them with her beauty all along, looked still more beguiling set-off by those cute glowing balls.

Colin, who had been rather relaxed, immediately became cautious. He had never seen such a strange method of attack.

With a slight sound, the metallic hoop on his left arm suddenly emitted a ray of light-white light, which formed into a slightly white-colored glowing shield on his left arm. At the same time, he pulled out a hollow metallic staff from the side of his waist.

Zi! The top of the metallic staff abruptly shot out a dark red glow, which quickly transformed into a beam of light as thick as the staff, whose tip compressed back into a dark red spear.

The shield was held on Colin’s left arm while he held the spear in his right and pointed it straight at Cheng Ying in a defensive posture.

Seeing that Colin wasn’t going to make the first move, she smiled sweetly, “Then I’ll attack!”

Colin readily assented, having wanted all along to see Cheng Ying’s mode of attack, “OK.”

Up in the stands, Li Duhong curled his mouth, “Colin will be out of luck!” Bafu gave him a look from the side, “Nonsense, has it even started yet? Are you being a brat again?”

Li Duhong lifted his head to laugh, “Papa Bafu, how about we make a little bet.”

As soon as he heard the word bet, Bafu grunted and quickly turned away, acting as though he hadn’t heard a thing.

“A real weakling!” Li Duhong quietly mumbled. Just then, Kang Lade gave him a warning look, and Li Duhong rushed to put on a properly red face.

All the other villagers in the stands were encouraging Cheng Ying, since as they saw it, it wasn’t easy for a woman like Cheng Ying to be brave enough to challenge Colin. And after those glowing balls appeared in front of her to make the crowd so restless at once, they quickly calmed back down. They really looked forward to Cheng Ying’s next blow.

Cheng Ying’s expression was grave, which caused Colin to shiver inwardly, as the glowing shield emitted from the metallic arm band on his left arm elongated to protect his entire body.

Then all the glowing balls in front of Cheng Ying each shot into a single light beam, all of which then toward a single point. That point was not far away in front of Cheng Ying.

The eye-piercing glow suddenly lit up.

No-one could help calling out in surprise and involuntarily closing their eyes.

By the time they opened them and turned their gaze again to the trials arena, everyone in the stands had become of a piece.

“What just happened?”

“I don’t know! I didn’t see it clearly either!”

“Colin took a big loss! Tsk Tsk, This little girl sure isn’t someone else’s riches. She’s hot, and you all had better be careful!”

* * *

The clan elder’s expression had changed a little, but the one whose expression had changed the most severely was Bafu. Colin had made him proud as his disciple, and he always had adversaries when he was young. If it weren’t for Wei-ah, he would certainly have become the top ace among the younger generation.

Kang Lade squinted to heat up his gaze and then his ever-calm eyes flashed something strange.

The calmest was Wei-ah, whose expression remained as calm as though he were watching something perfectly ordinary.

In the trials arena, the metallic ring on Colin’s arm had cracked into dozens of pieces, and the armor over half his body had also become covered in cracks. His expression had turned ugly, as his blue veins burst out holding the dark red glowing staff.

“Yow!” He suddenly called, as he quickly threw the dark red glowing staff in his hand.

The glowing staff transformed into a red shaft of light, which flew toward Cheng Ying. His attack was quite abrupt, making everyone think that the situation had been decided. Bo Wen couldn’t help standing, causing several villagers unconsciously to surround him.

The muscles in Bo Wen’s cheeks started to twitch, as his gaze remained fixed on the field.