The Card Apprentice

“Someone’s here,” Wei-ah said expressionlessly. After he said it, he shot over to Sang Hanshui’s side and used his right hand to give him a light chop to the back of the neck. Before poor Sang Hanshui could react, his eyes went blank, and he went unconscious. In the blink of an eye, Wei-ah picked Sang Hanshui up and disappeared with Bu Mo.

At just that time, there was a knock on the door.

Chen Mu still didn’t understand how Wei-ah could discover someone at such a distance. He was actually pretty advanced himself in that regard, his ability to perceive physical objects having surpassed his sensitivity to energy. Even though that was the case, Wei-ah’s range of detection was still a lot bigger than his. He would only be stronger than Wei-ah if he were to use the Snake Lens.

He opened the door to see Ah Sang with a young, pretty woman standing behind her.

“This is Miss Lin Yao from Moon Frost Island, Mr. Qiao. She hopes for a brief meeting with you,” Ah Sang said cautiously.

In people’s eyes, Moon Frost Island was unreachable, and they basically would never dare to be insubordinate. So, when Lin Yao had brought up her request, Ah Sang could only lead her in even though she knew it would likely be displeasing to Qiao Yuan.

The influence of Moon Frost Island was so ingrained among the people of the Heavenly Drum Village District. That had built up across hundreds of years. Such imposing power was far beyond what any other card artisans could compare with.

Chen Mu surprisingly didn’t show any displeasure, understanding quite well how helpless Ah Sang was. Ever since his youth, when he had been at the lowest reaches of society, he had a pretty thorough understanding of society’s various rules.

“What’s up?” He didn’t embarrass Ah Sang and cast his gaze toward Lin Yao behind her.

Lin Yao was wearing a perfectly fresh and delightful light green battle suit, looking rather comfortable. Given that she was a card artisan and had undergone systematic training, she had a great body. Her bright eyes, white teeth, and sharp chin in her perfect oval face were delicate and captivating.

She made a respectful, slight bow and said a little pathetically, “We’ve run into some trouble, Mr. Qiao. I hope you can help us out, if you please.”

“Trouble?” Chen Mu didn’t immediately reply.

“Yes. I believe you know there has been a sudden gathering of large numbers of card artisans in Zargan, with no shortage of good ones. Although we still don’t know what their goal is, some troops that were being sent to our school were ambushed. We suspect they are coming after Moon Frost Island.” Lin Yao’s speech was crisp and well-spoken.

Seeing that Qiao Yuan hadn’t been affected, her eyes flashed a look of nervousness, though she kept her cool. “If you could lend us a hand this time, Mr. Qiao, you would earn Moon Frost Island’s friendship. If Mr. Qiao doesn’t want to get caught up with us, you may still run into some troublesome issues later. For you to have another choice would give you another way out.

“Senior classmate Zeng had been intending to come himself, but there was a sudden change in the situation. So, there was no other choice but for me to come. As I was about to leave, senior classmate Zeng brought up to me that if Mr. Qiao requires anything, he may just ask. I believe since Mr. Qiao was willing to assist Miss Ah Sang for ten days, he might be willing to help us for a few days.”

Lin Yao had plenty of ability to persuade Qiao Yuan. Before coming, she had already made a thorough investigation. As she saw it, if even Ah Sang could persuade Qiao Yuan to work for her, they should have plenty of chips to attract him. They could even bring out some nice cards and legacies, which would have a fatal attraction for any card artisan. If Qiao Yuan craved wealth and liked Oudi, that would be far simpler still.

As she saw it, the reason Qiao Yuan still hadn’t agreed was nothing more than holding out for the right price. So long as she opened with a sufficiently superior price, he would have no reason not to agree.

Unexpectedly, however, Chen Mu simply shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I’m not interested.”

Lin Yao was taken aback, and there flashed a hint of fury in her eyes. “Why doesn’t Mr. Qiao think about it for a while? Perhaps in Mr. Qiao’s eyes, Moon Frost Island is not so worthy of assistance as a trading firm.”

Once she said that, the look on Ah Sang’s face became pretty ugly. Lin Yao felt a little bad about it herself. By then, though, she felt nervous enough that she couldn’t pay attention to such details, and she stared firmly at Qiao Yuan. In her eyes, that incredibly ugly face had become still more detestable.

Chen Mu was indifferent to her displeased tone, such things not being worth his getting upset about. Then, remembering his current identity as Qiao Yuan, he drummed up a displeased expression and said coldly, “I don’t require Miss Lin to make these sorts of decisions for me. Pardon me, but I have to train.”

Having said that, and before Lin Yao could react, he slammed the door shut. There was no way she wouldn’t have affected any other card artisan. But, as far as Chen Mu was concerned, Zargan was a big whirlpool just then. He was afraid he might not be able to stay clear of it, so why would he take the initiative to dive right into it? He certainly wasn’t worried about how deep the water was since there wouldn’t even be any dregs left for him. He hadn’t gotten carried away by his last few victories, and he knew his own weight very well. He had never wanted to get the attention of the Big Six, so why would he take the initiative to trust Moon Frost Island now?

With the conflict seeming to be about to begin, Chen Mu was considering whether he should leave a little early; it wouldn’t be good if he were to be caught up in its spread.

A sudden burst of noise then came from outside.

* * *

Old Wang’s heart was beating rapidly, but he relaxed a little when he saw his comrade beside him.

Another comrade, Old Lu, said in a trembling voice, “Where are we now, Old Wang?” The two had been partners for a long time. They were part of a group of reporters who had been preparing to conduct an interview when they had run into an attack, and the two had both been knocked out. By the time they came to, they were in an utterly strange place.

“I don’t know.” Old Wang was trying hard to keep his voice calm. He had already noticed that apart from his partner and himself, a lot of strangers were gathered around. Still, to be a reporter, Old Wang had to have well-seasoned insight. The rest of the people were reporters just like they were, and he recognized a few among them. Practically all of the larger platforms were there, and Lao Wang seemed to sense some intrigue among them.

Someone suddenly pushed in the door, and a card artisan with an icy expression walked in. He was exuding a chill from his whole body, and his gloomy gaze made everyone unconsciously decide to keep their mouths shut. The first thing any reporter had to do was to learn how to get the sense of a scene.

“I don’t believe I have to explain anything. This is Zargan, everyone, where there are about to be a lot of big things happening. I believe everyone will most certainly be interested. Don’t waste time talking with me since I don’t have the patience. You need only to faithfully report everything that happens here, and I believe your editors and your platforms will surely be interested. You might even get a prize for it. Oh, and you might even become famous from it. I do believe you will certainly enjoy the program to follow. Of course, I won’t have much patience for any uncooperative jerks. Hmph. All the materials you might need are in your hands. While you may not value your own lives, you won’t wish to burden your families with burying you.”

There was suddenly a lot of commotion among the reporters, all of them looking quite angry, though no one opened their mouth.

“Enough!” the card artisan grunted coldly, his gloomy gaze sweeping slowly over everyone. “Among the guys bringing you food will be people to take you where you should go.”

Then, Old Wang and his partner, Old Lu, were immediately led clumsily off somewhere. He raised his head to take a look and found that it was a trading firm called the Chichi Trading Firm. Even given his rich experience, he had never heard that firm’s name and thought it must not be a well-known one. He was curious about why they would take them to some little-known firm. After noticing that the surroundings of the firm were full of people in a sea of black, he wondered what they were all doing.

“Hurry up! Don’t f****ng jerk around! Set up your equipment!” The card artisans beside them were impatiently urging them along.

Old Wang and Old Lu looked at one another and sensibly set up their equipment. They had found that theirs wasn’t the only platform there; quite a few platforms’ reporters were there, all of them setting up their equipment with no choice in the matter.

In an instant, many of the platforms in the entire federation were showing a weird scene as the name of the Chichi Trading Firm appeared on all of the channels. The first line of reporters all said with practically the same words that there was about to be a huge happening and so forth. That immediately whetted the appetites of all of the citizens of the Heavenly Federation.

In an unassuming corner of the crowd outside the doors to the Chichi Trading Firm, a madam wearing a veil was blending in with the crowd. A tall man wearing a bronze mask stood next to her. The mask was a gorgeous color and was both sinister and quaint. The people nearby unconsciously distanced themselves from him. On his other side was a man whose long hair was clasped by a silver ring. Amazingly, it was Dang Han, who had escaped from Chen Mu a few days before.

Dang Han’s face looked rather haggard, and his gaze would helplessly exude deep fear every time it made contact with the man in the bronze mask next to him.

The Madam said with a light laugh, “I never thought the opening scene would unfold here. Tsk, tsk. This move from Constellation is quite creative. It’s just that this Qiao Yuan is bad luck. I’ve heard there’s some enmity between them.”

Dang Han rushed to answer respectfully. “Indeed, Madam. Qiao Yuan killed Mo Ta, the captain of one of Constellation’s small teams, and took from him the Golden Word Shackle. He also seriously injured another of the captains, Jin Yin.”

“Oh, no wonder. It’s been said that this Golden Word Shackle is quite impressive.” The Madam seemed to be speaking casually.

Dang Han’s heart skipped a beat, and the sweat started to soak his back in an instant. “This is something my insignificant self heard inadvertently from the mouth of a card artisan: This Golden Word Shackle is a very powerful card that has come down from the age of the sects.”

“Since that’s the case, this card can’t fall into the hands of Constellation,” the Madam said lightly. “If you do your job well, I would never be stingy about a card.” Between her words was a lot of confidence, as though the card had already fallen into her hands.

Dang Han was glad. “I’m grateful for the Madam’s kindness. This insignificant man offers to sacrifice himself. I pledge my loyalty to the Madam!”

“You are such a surprisingly discreet man.” The madam laughed lightly and then turned back around. “Let’s watch the show. If I haven’t guessed wrong, Constellation will certainly be taking Qiao Yuan’s head off for some reason or another.”

Before her voice fell, the crowd was shouting and rushing the Chichi Trading Firm with a roar. Under attack from the crowd, the Chichi Trading Firm guards were impossibly fragile and immediately collapsed.

Everyone followed the psychology of the crowd. While many of them had already seen how awesome Qiao Yuan was and didn’t want to go too wild, the more people there were, the more they forgot themselves in the heat of the moment and went rushing in.

The Madam struggled to go in with them, being rather interested, while Dang Han rushed to clear the way in front of her. The bronze-masked man then went blindly along with the group, behind the Madam.