The Card Apprentice

Because he was in a state of disbelief, Chen Mu simply remained silent.

Caesar was emitting his murderous aura without the least misgivings, which had quickly cleared the streets. It wasn’t like everyone in the five flourishing districts was a card artisan, but everyone had learned perception since they were small. Such a dense murderous aura and such brutal breath had long since scared everyone away. Even the garrison card artisans hid discreetly far off. In such a huge street, Chen Mu and Caesar were actually the only two there.

The garrison card artisans gathered at least two kilometers away. “Sheesh, where did this nut come from? I hadn’t heard there were such people in Dongrui!”

“Yeah. He must have killed lots of people with such a powerful murderous aura!”

“Powerful people will be powerful, after all, and plenty arrogant!”

While they were muttering, someone suddenly said in a low voice, “Here comes the boss!” Everyone then shut their mouths and straightened back up into a team.

A card artisan wearing the standard combat suit of the garrison dropped down from midair. He was Rong Ming, the garrison chief for the Dongrui garrison. Rong Ming had a square face with thick, black eyebrows and an awe-inspiring presence. He had been able to rise to that position when he was 35, whether based on his personal strength or as a person; it was all one piece.

Once he landed, he paid no attention to those ramrod-stiff subordinates but instead watched the two on the street in the distance in some surprise.

“It’s just two people?” He didn’t take his eyes off of them as he asked. He had just happened to be taking care of something in the vicinity that day and had heard his subordinate’s report about some incredibly powerful guys showing up. He had raced over as fast as he could.

The team captain of the small team rushed to respond, “Yes, Chief. We got the alert that there were two people flying at excessive speed through the low-altitude flight zone, nearly causing several accidents, so we came over and saw the two of them. The one emitting the murderous aura is that card artisan wearing the brown mask. His connection to the one wearing the white mask is unknown. Both of them have brilliant flight skills, though they haven’t shown their power in any other regard.”

As Rong Ming watched the two masked card artisans from a distance, there was no way to hear what they were saying. But if those under him had judged accurately, if they were to use an eavesdropping card, those two would easily detect it. Brutal ace card artisans were the adversaries the garrison card artisans least wanted to offend. Although the garrison was responsible for public security, they had a lot less battle power than the military. True ace card artisans never really paid attention to them.

Then, there were those damned masks! Rong Ming didn’t know how many times he had cursed that Qiao Yuan to himself. If it hadn’t been for that jerk’s huge battle, there would never have been such a rage for masks. As far as the garrison was concerned, the increased popularity of masks was really an awful thing. The difficulty of their work had shot right up. The more people wore masks, the more hidden dangers that would bring for public security.

As a card artisan with perception at level seven, of course he could see how dangerous those two card artisans were. Any thoughtless move could bring down a disaster upon their heads. When he thought of that, he couldn’t help but sneer. The garrison watching over that scene went no further than hoping to survive being caught in the middle of it.

His gaze was mostly on the card artisan wearing the brown mask, who seemed to have noticed him and was glancing their way. That glance gave Rong Ming a scare, and he couldn’t help but feel horrified! The first thing that popped into Rong Ming’s head was that he couldn’t afford to make an enemy of that guy!

After pondering for moment, he gave some orders. “Don’t offend them. Do some investigation about where they came from.” But he knew in his mind that it would all be in vain. The two of them were both wearing masks. He didn’t know what their faces looked like and basically couldn’t find out.

Rong Ming then suddenly thought of something and added, “Record what their masks look like, and find out what shops they bought them from. Then, find out which big families might have recently recruited new card artisans. Give me the results as soon as you get them.”

“Yes, sir.”

Looking again at the two of them, Rong Ming didn’t wish to make trouble. He waved his hands and said, “Withdraw.”

Caesar looked at Chen Mu coldly. “I don’t wish to waste words with you. If you agree, say so. If you don’t, say so. Don’t think you’ve got some ace beside you, kid, or that I won’t kill you. Ha ha. I don’t need to make any moves; I only have to say you studied the Materials Refinement Code, and I won’t have to do a thing. You’ll just be waiting for the Federation Comprehensive Academy to come after you and kill you!”

Chen Mu frowned, though he remained calm. “Why don’t you go looking for Tang Hanpei yourself?” That was what Chen Mu least understood; Caesar was a lot more powerful than he was. Why wouldn’t Caesar just go instead of putting all his hopes on such a mediocre card artisan like himself? It didn’t make sense!

What Chen Mu said seemed to have stung Caesar. His gaze went cold, but his murderous aura surged. His brutal breath suddenly filled the sky and covered the earth with such oppression that Chen Mu couldn’t breathe!

Caesar’s tyrannical speech had incited the staunch obstinance that was in Chen Mu’s very bones. He stifled his groan and said nothing, his perception whirling like mad. He didn’t avoid doggedly shouldering Caesar’s murderous aura in the least.

“Do you dare to show off a little skill?” Caesar grinned as the chill in his gaze deepened. His murderous aura still hadn’t even half converged as he then released all of it!

Rong Ming suddenly held off as he was just planning to leave. He turned around in disbelief to watch the two of them on the street in terror, his face drained of blood. He took off in a panic a few seconds later after returning to his senses.

His lips had turned white from biting them too hard, and Chen Mu had a pretty ugly expression. Beads of sweat the size of beans were dripping from his forehead along the tips of his hair to the ground. The terrifying murderous aura was pervasive, and every slightest change or fluctuation in Caesar’s shocking perception came on as a storm! Chen Mu was a little sampan being tossed by the storm, and he could fall apart at any moment.

Chen Mu had never thought anyone could deploy a murderous aura to the point of such perfection. Especially when Caesar combined his murderous aura with perception, the formless and invisible combination of the two was not as simple as one plus one! Wei-ah’s murderous aura was also terrifying but a lot simpler.

As the time passed bit by bit, Chen Mu’s appearance became increasingly miserable, though he never did collapse from start to finish. A strange look flashed through Caesar’s eyes. Chen Mu’s toughness had exceeded his expectations. That was his unique, secret skill, and the card artisans he’d dispatched that way were too numerous to count. Among them had been many who were much more powerful than Chen Mu. But Chen Mu was resisting it straight-out even though he looked like he was just barely making it.

After a few more minutes, Chen Mu still hadn’t shown any signs of collapse. The look of surprise in Caesar’s eyes deepened, so he stepped up his perception!

Chen Mu only felt the pressure increase to the point where he almost couldn’t resist it. The terrifying pressure pervasively flooded his surroundings as though it would pulverize every bone in his body.

That scene seemed rather familiar to him. Almost unconsciously, he started to adjust his breathing rhythm! The extreme training method had started from the simple water world and had then gone to the pool and to the snow pit. Weren’t they all the same form of environment? Without the lease hindrance, he started the rhythm of breathing he had long since developed the skill for. He started to meticulously drill his perception—even at a time like that!

Caesar’s added strength only made Chen Mu’s body shake, but he quickly stabilized. Caesar was then really surprised. It was obvious to him how strong Chen Mu was. No card artisan at that level could reasonably bear that degree of perceptual attack. There was a glint in Caesar’s eyes as though he had thought of some issue.

By the time Chen Mu came back to his senses, the storm had suddenly dispersed, and he felt his whole body relax. All of the pressure just disappeared. It was like he had been fished out of the water, his whole body soaked through with sweat. He looked around in a daze; the resistance just then had nearly exhausted all of his energy and had left his brain in a dull state.

He had been able to maintain some clarity to his consciousness at first, but his mind finally went blank. After half a minute, he came back to his senses. He startled himself when he thought about what had just happened. He had actually just drilled his perception…

The more Chen Mu thought about it, the more he felt afraid after the fact, by then profoundly understanding how far apart the two of them were. But he quickly resumed his calm; fortunately, he was still alive. That was something worth being glad about. Having returned to normal, Chen Mu started to check out his situation.

Yikes! My perception seems to have increased. Chen Mu was stunned and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Despite the increase to his perception, the exhaustion of his body went through him like a tide. His strong fighting spirit had just barely kept him from looking like he was about to collapse.

Just then, Caesar slowly opened his mouth, his tone clearly a lot kindlier than before. “Not bad, kid. Not bad. You’ve surprised me.” He paused before resuming in a self-mocking way, “You just asked what I’m doing by not going myself? I couldn’t beat him! Pavchek wasn’t my equal that year. Hmph. Never mind now. But I saw Tang Hanpei once not too long ago, and I knew then that I couldn’t beat him.”

“If my elder can’t beat him, it’s not worth thinking about me.” Chen Mu was as calm as ever.

He hadn’t thought Caesar would shake his head. “You’re wrong, kid. The reason this old guy can’t beat him is that I’m old. That year, when I was run down by Pavchek and his men, I was left with a lot of wounds. For these past few years, I’ve gotten wounded still more in order to force an increase to my strength. Two years ago, I felt my body start to go downhill. I knew then that I wouldn’t have any hope of defeating Tang Hanpei in this life.”

Although Caesar was admittedly old, Chen Mu heard some grief in what he said.

Caesar suddenly turned his head to the sky with a big, edgy laugh and snapped, “Ha ha! I’ve killed so many people, and they’re dead and gone. Hmph! But I remain defiant! I killed so many people that year, and wasn’t it by order of the college president? That old bastard turned around and sold me out. I’m the only one left in my household. Ha ha! As the heavens have eyes, I haven’t died yet!”

The laughter stopped, and he turned around to stare at Chen Mu, not the least bit of nervousness showing in his eyes through the mask. Calmly and with no warmth, he said, “I have no way to beat him, but that doesn’t mean you can’t!”