The Card Apprentice

The Golden Word Shackle was one of the most powerful weapons Chen Mu had in his hands. Not only that, but it had increased in importance for him because of the need to do everything he could to cover his identity. Moreover, since his fame in his identity as Qiao Yuan continued to rise, the need for Chen Mu to increase his skill with the Golden Word Shackle had gotten more urgent.

Chen Mu’s eyes lit up. Glass was an energy composition he had never seen before, and he became quite interested in it. But he quickly pulled back since that wasn’t the time to do any refining and pondering. He put aside the glass with some reluctance, strongly repressing the urge to plunge into researching it. His gaze fell again onto Sang Hanshui.

He had already mastered the other five single-syllable words. Hoop was actually rather similar to bind, except bind was directed at a single objective while hoop aimed at several objectives. But hoop’s power wasn’t up to bind’s.

Seeing Sang Hanshui’s gaze so full of fear, Chen Mu still found him a little strange. Still, he did think of another question. “Are you familiar with all the cards through history?”

Sang Hanshui’s expression had recovered somewhat. He didn’t know if it was because that blow just then had been a little harsh, but his voice had deepened. “There are incalculable numbers of cards that have come down through history. Who would ever dare to say he was familiar with all of them? Even the Federation Comprehensive Academy and the Star Academy wouldn’t dare to boast about harboring them all; never mind a freelancer like me with no roots or support.”

However, he immediately displayed a look of pride, and his voice got louder. “Still, humph, while I have no way to enjoy such a nice situation as I would have at the Big Six, my years of research could still be considered pretty satisfying.”

“Why are you so interested in researching these cards?” That was the part Chen Mu couldn’t figure out no matter how hard he tried.

“Why?” Sang Hanshui looked like he had heard something funny, and his expression became abruptly excited. “What else can I do? The Big Six! The damned Big Six! I don’t know your background, but if a freelancer like me wants to get a truly first-rate card, it’s almost impossible! Don’t you realize that after the first 100 to 150 names on the Black-Line Star Listing, at least half are there because they don’t have a first-rate card in their hands and not because they don’t have enough power? Ha! I’m one of them. The Big Six basically monopolize more than 70 percent of the first-rate cards. The other various academies and the big firms cover another 20 percent, and another few legacies hidden in the card artisan dynasties have five percent in their hands. The other five percent might fall into the hands of card artisans like me.

“The scholars in the Big Six get such a headache just choosing among the legacies, while we can only purchase the common cards that are on the market. Humph! If you want to get a good card, fine! Give your life over to the Big Six!”

By that point, his breath had somewhat calmed. Chen Mu could feel Sang Hanshui’s abhorrence of the Big Six, along with his lonely indignation. Chen Mu did actually rather understand those sorts of feelings. Freelance card artisans would seldom have good feelings toward the Big Six. For those past few years, by virtue of their power, the Big Six had continually squeezed out the space for the other powers and the freelance card artisans to even exist, which naturally invited fierce revulsion from everyone.

In people’s minds, the Big Six had always had the attitude that they were so high and mighty! Even Chen Mu himself had no good feelings toward the Big Six.

Sang Hanshui let out a couple of laughs. “Too bad the world is so big. The Big Six are always thinking they can get whatever they want. Ha ha! Even Heiner Van Sant back in the day had no way to cover the sky with only his hand. Didn’t some of the sectarians from the age of the sects pass things down? As for the good cards that were scattered all over the federation, there weren’t so few of those, either. But what a pity that nobody knows where the legacies went for so many of the cards. People now assume the power that could be played out once they got such a card would be limited.

“The legacies of the Big Six were well-preserved. Moreover, with the help of the cards and legacies they looted from each of the sects, they kept developing and expanding. Still, the legacies that come from the Big Six aren’t even worth my thinking about. The reason I do my research into the cards from the age of the sects is to find a card from that period.”

Although Chen Mu had already roughly guessed the reason, it still felt a little inconceivable when he heard it from Sang Hanshui’s own mouth. It was hard to imagine one person wanting to spend decades in search of a single good card and then poring through piles of old books to find it.

“What do you want with a card from the age of the sects?”

Sang Hanshui looked at Chen Mu as though he were an idiot, finding it hard to imagine he had asked such a stupid question. “What else is there to do? Just get stronger! Live a free and easy life!”

Chen Mu shook his head. “Given your strength, if you were to spend ten years on a single card, that would be enough for you to figure out quite a few things.”

What he said did have a point. There were people like Qiao Yuan from the Central Repository of the Classics who used the Four-Pronged Caltrop, which was no high-level card. He had previously insisted on using an even more ordinary three-star card, the Triangular Steely Blade. But the Four-Pronged Caltrop, which had nothing special about it, had played out a terrifying amount of power after his dozens of years of drilling down into it. It was by virtue of that that he had become listed among the top aces in the entire federation.

Chen Mu was rather convinced of the point of view that cards couldn’t do everything. Qiao Yuan’s relentless perseverance in insisting on delving into his own card meant the Four-Pronged Caltrop, which wasn’t a famous card, had shone magnificently in his hands. While he was alive, he had even been planning to take what he had figured out about it himself and to set it up as a legacy. That was the true style of a powerful person.

It was as though Sang Hanshui had been struck by lightning as he stared blankly at the ceiling, his eyes devoid of spirit. He was mumbling something incomprehensible.

Seeing Sang Hanshui’s dazed look, Chen Mu couldn’t help but sigh. In that world, it was easy for everyone to be blinded by what was right in front of their eyes and to forget to explore its fundamentals. They might spend endless time and energy only to discover that what had looked so nearby when they had chosen their route was actually a long way down the road.

Regarding the discussion they were having, one only had to find old books related to cards or any student who had been involved in a card artisan curriculum, and they would easily explain the same thing. That point of view, though, which couldn’t be any more basic, was the one everyone forgot.

Sang Hanshui obviously didn’t lack for talent to have gotten to where he was. To be able to spend ten years in search of a card made it clear he was quite perseverant. But it was too bad he had chosen the wrong direction, finally landing someplace empty-handed and unable to even guarantee his own life. How could that not make Chen Mu feel for him?

After a while, Sang Hanshui finally came back to his spirits. But his triangular eyes had lost their spark, his face full of remorse and shame and his bruised lips quivering.

“I never thought… I never thought… that I would have forgotten even that most basic truth. But I really brought it on myself. I have only myself to blame!” Sang Hanshui’s voice sounded incredibly bitter.

Chen Mu remained silent.

“One word from your eminence wakes me from my dream. There’s an old saying that you can die in the evening from what you hear in the morning! You can’t fool me anymore!” Sang Hanshui was in awe and then said solemnly, “If there is anything your eminence wants to ask, I will tell what I know and will make a full report, not leaving anything out.”

Chen Mu had really lost any interest in questions. However, seeing Sang Hanshui’s earnest expression, he felt it would be best to ask a few more questions.

Speaking of cards, he didn’t lack much. It could be said that there was no shortage of treasures in his card wallet. Though he didn’t know where it had come from, there was the mysterious card, which had been meticulously camouflaged; the famous Sectional Succession, which had come from the Federation Comprehensive Academy, along with its legacy; the Bipolar Thunderball, about which he also didn’t know the origins; and the incredibly powerful Snake Lens detection card he had gotten in the forest…

What Chen Mu most wanted to find out about was the mysterious card. It was precisely because of that card that his fate had completely changed! Although he was fingering the mysterious card, he didn’t pull it out. That card had always been the bottom line in his mind, along with being his biggest secret. He wouldn’t dare to pull it out.

He finally pulled out the Bipolar Thunderball, which he’d had with him for a rather long time. He had even copied it to make Card 007 in the numbered series of cards, though he still hadn’t figured out where it had come from. The mature card making skills it demonstrated, along with its power, all showed its extraordinary origins.

“Do you know this card?” Chen Mu had casually pulled off the ropes that had been binding Sang Hanshui and put the Bipolar Thunderball in front of him. A card artisan without an apparatus was no threat unless he was the same as Chen Mu and knew some of the cardless sect skills. Moreover, Wei-ah was still in the training room, so Chen Mu absolutely didn’t have to worry about any unexpected situation.

“What is it called?” Sang Hanshui took the card, asking the question as he carefully examined it.

“Bipolar Thunderball. It must have a history,” Chen Mu responded. He was a card master; whether a card had some history and how many years it had gone through was something he could easily discern. The washing and polishing that different materials would undergo over time would present different colors and textures. Any card master would be sensitive to those erosions, still more so for such a leader among them as Chen Mu.

“Bipolar Thunderball?” Sang Hanshui frowned in hard thought, searching for that name in his mind. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find anything. He put the card back in front of Chen Mu, saying, “It’s possible someone changed the name. That’s a common situation. After passing through many years, quite a few cards lose their original name; most names get added on by people later on.”

Chen Mu put the Bipolar Thunderball into his apparatus.

Sang Hanshui’s spirits were jolted when the paired black and white thunderballs appeared around Chen Mu’s body. The way Chen Mu was using the Bipolar Thunderball was entirely different from when he had first used it. The previous thunderballs had all been one color, and he only later discovered the secret of “bipolar.” As long as there were two kinds of thunderballs, each of the same number, he could then achieve a balanced energy composition. The Go Cage of One Thousand Cuts he had later groped through was in the same category.

Following Chen Mu’s thorough demonstration, the look of joy on Sang Hanshui’s face deepened. When Chen Mu demonstrated the Go Cage of One Thousand Cuts, his face looked as though it would burst with joy.

Sang Hanshui’s expression made Chen Mu more certain than ever that there was a lot to the history of the Bipolar Thunderball.