The Card Apprentice

Wei Lan felt dearly for the Song Chengyan she was watching. As his adjutant, she was aware of how terrible the body condition of that prodigy was. Behind the heavy black spectacle frame, the eyes that had glimmered with wisdom were presently bloodshot, and even his face was as white as a sheet of paper. He had not shut an eye in three days. In those three days, he had been calculating non-stop. The amount of time he’d rested didn’t add up to even two hours.

“Sir, have a rest,” Wei Lan couldn’t help but say, biting her lips. She was three years older than Song Chengyan and had mature manners and outstanding looks.

“Will be done soon!” Song Chengyan’s voice revealed hints of his poor health, which he had tried hard to conceal. Perhaps he had understood the concern in Wei Lan’s words. He raised his pale face and smiled with an effort.

At that moment, the apparatus on Wei Lan’s wrist sounded. She picked up at once, promptly resuming a professional attitude, short and simple in speech and straight to the point in replies. Though Wei Lan was beautiful, no one in the whole army dared to have ideas on her. She was Song Chengyan’s adjutant!

In the beginning, the heads of the private armies from the rich and powerful families had neither liking nor interest in that weak youth, who had been hailed as a genius. Soon, however, they had a taste of his ingenuity. With the help of the card artisan guard transferred from Tang Hanpei’s side and using a stick-and-carrot approach, he had swiftly gained control over that army. The troublemakers kicked out had been deported back to the capital. It was said that before they had been able to bewail to their master, they had been stripped of everything by their outraged master, and their end had been extremely pitiful.

After that, the heads were in awe of that genteel youth and no longer dared to respond half-heartedly.

When Song Chengyan had first gained control by means of continuously piercing through the front line, he had swiftly secured his foothold. The Central Repository of the Classics and Faya, which had been smashing into their adversary’s territory, had been unknowingly dragged into the vortex.

If the earlier maneuvers had only made the heads of private armies feel fearful, the incessant small wins every day won their respect. Song Chengyan had always treated Wei Lan specially and with a completely different attitude, so they naturally didn’t dare to be reckless.

After some dealings with Wei Lan, people began to realize how outstanding her professional capability was and that she was always clear-cut and decisive in her ways. Remarkably, even when those old men faced that beautiful girl, they were cautious.

“The 11th division has just sent back news that they’ve already bitten down on the Central Repository of the Classics’ left wing. But they have suffered many injuries and deaths and urgently need reinforcements!” Wei Lan reported without a hint of emotion.

Song Chengyan couldn’t refrain from smiling bitterly. When it came to work, Wei Lan would always look cold.

Nonetheless, that piece of news lifted Song Chengyan’s spirit. That point was the key to his stratagem. Maybe it was due to the stimulation of the good news that his mind was strangely clear at the moment. He commanded decisively, “Order the seventh division to head over and to reinforce at once, and be sure to hold the Central Repository of the Classics’ left wing back until 12:00 noon tomorrow! The first, second, sixth, eighth, tenth and 13th divisions should assemble at once, and execute plan ‘B!'”

“Yes, sir!” Wei Lan’s lovely face remained expressionless.

Finally, it’s almost time to counterattack! Casting a glance at the battle plan, for which he had taken great pains, Song Chengyan surprisingly didn’t feel much joy nor any of the anxiety preceding a great battle. He only felt a faint sense of desolation and of having a weight lifted off his mind. His eyes seemed complicated and hard to read.

Big Brother Tang, I can finally return to you what I’ve owed!

Suddenly, a strong sense of dizziness overtook him, and he merely felt his legs go weak.

Crash! The table was overturned, and the papers on which the battle plan was recorded fluttered in the air like snowflakes.

“Chengyan!” Wei Lan could no longer keep up her apathy and cried out in sorrow!

The Upper Gan District had the most beautiful scenery among the five flourishing districts. Its weather was mild and comfortable, seeming like spring year-round. Its jade-green mountains and many rivers gave rise to the Upper Gan District’s unique culture.

The people of the capital and the five flourishing districts each had their distinctive features. Those of the Heavenly Drum Village District were tenacious, those of the Northern Reaches District were violent, those of the Heterodox Brilliance District were astute, those of the Fanasi District were pious, and those of the capital were haughty. The people of the Upper Gan District too had their unique feature, and that was gentleness. As the one with the richest cultural heritage among the five flourishing districts, the Upper Gan District was the most favored place of the wealthy who enjoyed pleasure.

Central Repository City was located at the center of the Upper Gan District in the fertile basin of the Jize River.

The war between the Central Repository of the Classics and the Federation Comprehensive Academy was concentrated in the border region between the capital and the Upper Gan District. Located in the hinterland of the Upper Gan District, Central Repository City was naturally not affected by much. The commerce there was still as prosperous as ever, and people swarmed in the streets.

The Central Repository of the Classics was situated in the northwestern corner of Central Repository City. After the management of generations of masters, it had become a sizeable park covering hundreds of thousands of square kilometers.

The students coming and going on the scenic campus had the unique vitality and confidence of youth glowing on their faces. They had enough reason to be confident; the ones capable of being admitted to that school were elites among the elites.

At the gate of the Central Repository of the Classics, a middle-aged man dressed in a long, smoky-gray overcoat squinted his eyes and scrutinized the five large words, “Central Repository of the Classics,” calligraphed by the hand of the first master.

A cold smile bloomed from the corners of his lips, and the desire for battle suddenly surged in his mild jade eyes!

“Tang Hanpei wishes a battle against the master. Dare to grant it?”

Words arrogant, audacious, and sharp as a knife’s edge swept over the entire Central Repository of the Classics like a wind. The sounds of the bustling campus were as though abruptly cut off by those words, ceasing at once, and all was deathly silent. Even the birds, which were usually chattery, kept silent.

Tang Hanpei went straight into the Central Repository of the Classics alone to challenge the current master! The world was stunned!

* * *

In the forest, Chen Mu was spotted with blood all over and looked rather sorry. Nevertheless, scabs had formed over the wounds. They were the marks left from the fight against Jin Yin.

The card artisans lingering behind him were like wolves that had smelled blood and had been tailing him all along. If he hadn’t had the Snake Lens, he would have been surrounded by that group of card artisans long ago. He hadn’t detected any energy fluctuations similar to the Snake Lens, but the adversary could always find his general location, which bewildered him.

It was probable that the adversary had left some imprint on his body. Thinking it over carefully, the most likely culprit was the contact Jin Yin had made with his body the moment before his death.

Chen Mu was heavily injured from the fight against Jin Yin, but the benefits he had gained were similarly significant. Chen Mu had experienced plenty of previous battles, but exceedingly few had been like that confrontation. He had usually relied on his speed in claiming victory. That time, however, he had suddenly come up against a fellow whose speed had been no slower than his own and whose control over the jet stream card had been more masterful than his. He had nearly lost his life!

Only at that moment did he realize what a joke the so-called tactics he had designed were in facing an ace. The Patterned Shuttle, for example, an excellent weapon for assassination, would usually be unfit for use when encountering card artisans with sensitive perception.

Just like in the battle against Jin Yin, the Patterned Shuttle had no chance of being used. Launching the Patterned Shuttle required one’s perception to lock on to the target, which would immediately raise the adversary’s alarm. Not only would it be difficult to hit, but one’s position would also be exposed. Besides, even with Chen Mu’s excellent eyesight, aiming with accuracy was difficult in such a dark place.

Chen Mu was rather pleased with the Bipolar Thunderball. The Go Cage of One Thousand Cuts was mighty, but it still had loopholes. On the one hand, the range of the Go cage was limited. If the adversary detected it just a little earlier and escaped beyond the coverage of the cage, the technique would be useless.

Additionally, the magnetic field that disrupted perception would suddenly vanish at the instant before activating the killing attack. It was precisely that loophole that had given Jin Yin a chance and, in spite of the strong killing attack, had caused Chen Mu to be gravely injured.

The Go Cage of One Thousand Cuts was rather intriguing, and Chen Mu had spent a good deal of effort in figuring out its technique. As it had an extremely high demand for perception, he was incapable of any other action while using it. Otherwise, while the Go cage was active, the adversary could perhaps be finished off with merely a dagger.

Of course, that was just Chen Mu’s speculation. Usually, whether Chen Mu’s speculations were accurate or not, they always tended to the extreme. When it came to card making, his predictions were almost always accurate without exception, which often marveled Ru Qiu. When it came to using cards, though, instances in which his surmises had been beaten by reality were indeed innumerable.

The fact that the capability of the three-starred Bipolar Thunderball could reach such an extent was indeed shocking. However, a loss came with a gain in all things. Though its status was low and didn’t have many requirements for the user, that only concerned conventional techniques. Superior techniques like the Go Cage of One Thousand Cuts had demands on perception that could only be higher than ordinary four-star and five-star cards! If it hadn’t been for Chen Mu’s recent breakthrough in perception, he couldn’t have grasped such a high-class technique like the Go Cage of One Thousand Cuts.

The wounds on Chen Mu’s body had pretty much healed. He had merely overused his perception and overloaded his body. Should other card artisans have suffered such an injury, they might have needed to rest for months. Chen Mu’s body, on the other hand, couldn’t be compared against Wei-ah’s but was still incredibly sturdy and stunningly capable of recovery.

In the past few days, Chen Mu had been continually pursued by that bunch of card artisans. He had been inwardly suppressing a stomach full of rage.

Regardless of who it might be, to have been tracked so relentlessly for seven or eight days, he wouldn’t be in good humor. Moreover, Chen Mu’s temper wasn’t really mild to begin with.

After having led that group of card artisans around and around the forest for the past few days, Chen Mu had already gained some understanding as to the capabilities of the bunch of tails behind him. The strongest two card artisans among the group were rather inferior in comparison with the one he had gone up against.

Chen Mu felt some pity in not having found the black-line silver-inscribed card of that sinister and vicious card artisan. Otherwise, he could have learned some particulars about him. He was also inwardly lamenting, Constellation’s might is indeed great! Just two captains were already so powerful. He had thought Mo Ta had already been strong enough, but, unexpectedly, along came another even stronger than Mo Ta!

Pitiful Chen Mu. Until that moment, he still didn’t know the adversary had merely coincidentally made a breakthrough during the fight.

Lamentation was just lamentation. No matter how mighty Constellation was, it couldn’t improve the relations between the two sides. Since such was the case, why not give the adversary a painful blow? For every bit of the adversary’s power that was reduced, the gap between the two sides would decrease slightly.

Under the cover of foliage, Chen Mu’s eyes were stern with the intention to kill!