The Card Apprentice

The electric net had come into contact with his clothes. There was a puff of charred smoke from where a corner of his clothes had been immediately turned to ash. There was no more time to even try any of the other compositions. After a second—no, perhaps only half a second—he would be turned to ash like that corner of his clothes.

Everything in front of him seemed to have suddenly slowed. With the stimulus of danger, his perception turned over like crazy at a speed it had never had before. Oddly enough, Chen Mu was feeling quite calm. He felt even calmer than he did when he was in the water training his perception with his breath held.

If an onlooker were to closely examine him, he would see everything that was happening. But, in reality, the danger he was then encountering was 100 times worse than when he was dozens of meters underwater training his perception.

Hong! A change seemed to have taken place with his perception, and everything around him was suddenly quite a bit clearer. He could even perceive the electric sparks’ fork-like compositions that were nearly stuck to his face, with every branch so very clear.

Just then, Chen Mu couldn’t help but show another bitter smile. Who could have thought he would have a breakthrough with his perception at the final moment of his life? What made him sneer was that this perceptual breakthrough wasn’t going to help him in the least.

The bitter smile suddenly froze on his face.

The glowing amber ball in front of him abruptly scattered into a kind of energy wave Chen Mu had never encountered before. That was just as the streams of light had finished scanning once around.

The compressed electric net suddenly stopped as it was compressing toward the middle, with the nearest sparking only a centimeter away from Chen Mu. The electric net then seemed to suddenly be fixed in midair. Before Chen Mu could blink, the orderly electric net started to distort like a formless hand was twisting it.

“Yikes!” The white-haired man’s voice no longer had that soft feeling but had some powerful surprise instead.

The electric beam closest to the glowing ball had started to enter it. Very quickly, the glowing ball became like a dark cave as it sucked in the net of electric beams piece by piece.

As Chen Mu saw it, the entire process seemed quite slow, though it wasn’t actually more than the blink of an eye before the entire electric net was sucked into the glowing ball. The glowing ball then turned from an amber color to a silvery white, still floating in midair without moving at all.

What would happen next? Chen Mu didn’t know, though his reaction was fast. In the instant that net of electric beams disappeared, he swapped out his card as swiftly as possible.

He couldn’t bear something happening with that glowing ball, but Chen Mu decisively exchanged the card with the tailless shuttle card, which he was most familiar with. Although he had swapped out the Wheel, the glowing ball didn’t disappear. It was still floating as before. Chen Mu was finally able to relax.

When Chen Mu raised his head again, his eyes looked murderously cold. No matter who it was, nobody could look as if nothing were happening in that kind of situation. His adversary’s insolent behavior had utterly enraged Chen Mu, and with no hesitation, there were several tailless shuttles as he raised his hand. His feet moved nimbly, and his body pounced on his adversary in a flash.

The strange whistling sound abruptly filled the entire base!

Both Bogner’s and Xi Ping’s expressions changed in the middle of busily enriching themselves. They were familiar with that sound, which was the sound of the boss in battle!

“Assemble! Assemble the whole team!” Bogner’s eyes were red, and he was yelling at the top of his voice. If you were standing nearby, you could see the crazed fire flash through his eyes. By that time, Bogner was like an enraged lion looking for someone to devour.

Hearing that shrill whistle, everyone was immediately in motion. Crow Feather and Happy Padding reacted the quickest. Seventh floor! A flash of rage passed through both of their eyes. At the same time, there was a cold cry, and they pounced toward the seventh floor without the slightest hesitation.

Lucky Xi plunged after them from Sue Lochiro’s healing room, rising up into the air.

A shadow-like smoke appeared in front of everyone, sticking to the guardrail on the wall and flipping up to the seventh floor like a ghost. It was Wei-ah.

“An ace from some cardless sect? Crap, are there really any more such awesome aces from the cardless sects these days?” There was no shortage of people with good vision among the crowd, and that one couldn’t help but call out.

Someone made a sharp retort. “Cardless sect? I say, you’re out of your mind! How many years has it been since the cardless sects have been eliminated? How could there be any aces? He’s certainly using some sort of jet stream card, so what’s all the fuss?”

The five small teams of card artisans had already assembled with a bustle. By that time, Bogner had actually calmed down. “The first, second and third small teams, go immediately to the seventh floor. The rest of you should prepare to support them as you see fit.”

Just as everyone was considering what to do, a person’s shadow suddenly came shooting straight out from the seventh floor escalator with an empty shadow following behind him.

“Stop playing! Stop playing!” The one in front was yelling desperately, anxious to lose that dark shadow behind him. The empty shadow was like sticky candy; no matter how he changed direction, he couldn’t shake it.

Those below all raised their faces to watch the two above, dumbstruck.

“That… Isn’t that Xiaobo? Am I seeing things?” someone mumbled.

“You are. You’re seeing things…” the one beside him unconsciously murmured.

The great hall went dead silent, with only the screams of Xiaobo audible as he went miserably all over the place to dodge and evade.

Bogner was also struck dumb. He could see clearly who was behind that guy—the boss. It was their boss! Seeing his boss’s eyes so red and gnashing his teeth murderously, Bogner couldn’t help but shiver.

The boss was quite angry, the result of which would be rather serious! He couldn’t help but conjecture to himself about what that the guy in front of him had actually done to make the boss—who was always good tempered—so desperately want to chop him up.

After a full ten minutes, the people below finally responded, and boy did they suddenly burst open! Who was that guy chasing after Xiaobo?

Who was Xiaobo? He was nothing but one of the most powerful card artisans in the base—the super card artisan who would enter the jungle for half a year by himself before making the trip back! Was such a top-notch person now being chased by someone? And, the one being chased didn’t have any power to fight back?

How could that be the deadly card artisan Xiaobo? He looked battered and exhausted, his hair disheveled, and he was crying out loudly as he was chased. Was that really the ever-neat, personable, proud and aloof Xiaobo, who always exuded a powerful aura to make anyone in front of him not dare to anger him?

By that time, some of those below with sharp eyes had recognized Chen Mu.

“It’s that young boss!”

“It’s the lover of that medical card artisan!” Once that guy had seen her with him, he had never forgotten Sue Lochiro.

When he saw what was going on, the leader changed his expression and slapped the guy. “Shut up! If you don’t want to live, then at least stop bothering us! If someone can chase after Xiaobo, then how different would killing us be than killing a chicken?”

“A chicken can’t run the way we can, Chief!” The guy couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

His leader then lost it and kicked him to the ground, cursing him. “Run? Look up there! Xiaobo now looks like a flushed chicken! You can run better than Xiaobo? He’s nothing like a chicken right now, and you want to compare yourself to a chicken?”

For no reason, Chen Mu was hung up just as he exited the door. No matter who this might have happened to, he wouldn’t be getting along so well. A rage of malice had come from Chen Mu’s breast, making him want to incinerate that white-haired man in front of him!

His eyes had turned a deadly red. The physical accomplishment from the swordfish training played out to the extreme in his rage, on top of which were the skills from the demonic woman and from Wei-ah. He was now as fast as lightning—a bolt of black lighting. The breakthrough in his perception just then did greatly increase his battle power!

He dumped all the tailless shuttles in his hand toward the guy in front of him, going all-out. He wanted to turn that guy’s a** into a many-holed brush pen pot.

But Xiaobo, who could venture alone deep into the jungle for so long, had the same kind of incomparable power. It was just that Chen Mu’s style of battle was really giving him a headache. The speed of Chen Mu’s fighting cadence made Xiaobo charge like mad. He was so erratic, getting near and then far, suddenly firing from afar and suddenly wrestling him up close!

Where did such a freak come from? Is he from some f***ing cardless sect, or is he a card artisan? He doesn’t look like he has any muscle, so how could he have so much burst strength? Even though his perceptual acuity is actually quite a bit below mine, could genuine card artisans still be training to run these days? That energy shuttle in his hands is a little cruel, and my energy cloak can only take three shots! And, what is that strange ball that can suck energy in?

The deadliest was the guy’s special way of fighting on the move and the tricky damage it concealed. Not only couldn’t Xiaobo find a chance to make a move, but he had been spun dizzy enough to cry, with no room for tears.

Good grief, I don’t want to think I have lost my temper! We’re not going to get away from both sides losing!

Xiaobo gritted his teeth, his heart full of indignation. Just when he was about to turn around, he suddenly heard that whistle. It scared him right out of his wits, making him move faster than he ever thought he could. He slipped off to the distance in an instant. While he fled with high hopes, he kept drooping. No good! Run! Your life matters!

The jet stream card of the white-haired man in front was white-hot with speed. Up until then, apart from hitting some holes in his clothes, Chen Mu’s tailless shuttle hadn’t made any real progress.

His adversary’s perception was too sensitive, and he could feel his every energy fluctuation.

Everyone below had raised their heads to watch the two flying back and forth in the sky. To tell the truth, if they could learn a trick even halfway through, then such a brilliant back-and-forth performance of a chasing struggle could really benefit them a lot.

The one chasing was bizarrely erratic, taking advantage of the conditions to the limit. The one trying to escape was as slippery as oil. Although he looked miserable, he remained unscathed.

The card artisans under Chen Mu were all clucking their cheeks in admiration and sometimes sharing their thoughts. Crow Feather, Happy Padding, and Lucky Xi were all leaning against the guardrail and watching with relish.

“What’s going on?” Xiao Liqian was watching the black and white shadows in the sky with a good deal of surprise.