The Card Apprentice

Zuo Tianlin gave Wu Tuan a slap in the face, instantly leaving five bright red finger marks on his face.

“I really never thought that my own kind could be so worthless.” Zuo Tianlin sneered, “We’ve talked about this over and over. Obvious matters need to be dealt with using obvious methods.”

Although Wu Tuan was listening respectfully with is head bowed, he didn’t look very convinced.

Zuo Tianlin took a look at Wu Tuan, and said very carefully, “Do you think I’m grieving over a card artisan? Wrong! I’m angry about your vindictiveness, your narrow mindedness, and that you will never amount to anything. You fall very short of Tingyi.”

Wu Tuan calmly squeezed out through his gritted teeth, “Of course. He is named for your kind.”

Zuo Tianlin flicked his eyes, and lifted his hand to give Wu Tuan another slap. But seeing Wu Tuan sticking up his neck in that stubborn way stung his heart, and he let his hand fall.

Zuo Tianlin growled, “To be a superior person, you must have the attitude of a superior person. Look at what you’ve done this time. Is there anything superior about that? The death of Yu Xin is no great problem, the issue is that this was not worth dying for. Not only has no good come from it, we’ve also made an enemy. What do you think makes me the angriest? This was utterly unnecessary! We had no need to invite this kind of enemy! We’re not afraid of having enemies, but it’s stupid to make enemies over such a small matter!”

Seeing Wu Tuan as stubborn as ever, he grew quickly impatient, and waved him away with his hand, “Go away.”

After Wu Tuan had left, Zuo Tianlin opened his communicator, “Send in Ming Hui.”

Ming Hui was wearing gold wire-frame glasses, looking very cultivated, with a rather scholarly air.

“Have you found out who killed Yu Xin?” Zuo Tianlin asked calmly. Yu Xin had superb strength, and although it was a sneak attack, his adversary would have to be considered quite powerful to have managed to have killed him that time.

“His name is Chen Mu, a street punk when he was small, who used to make his living by making power cards. When his only buyer ‘Uncle Hua’ passed away, he stopped making one-star power cards. Since then, he’s been committed to making low grade fantasy cards. This has been determined based on his purchase records. He later lived together with ‘Raymond,’ and started to make the card plays “Chance Encounter” and “The Legend of Master Shi.” Not long ago, he joined the low-grade fantasy card club, where he demonstrated deep accomplishment with low-grade fantasy cards, earning the appreciation of Bai Zheyuan, and where he will soon serve as technical director.”

Zuo Tianlin showed some consternation, “He’s Bai Zheyuan’s man?”

“As far as we can tell at the moment, he is!” Ming Hui answered with a sneer.

Zuo Tianlin flew into a rage, “This piece of trash! What a f***king mess! Have Wu Tuan grounded for three months. No, five months!” His chest was heaving, being obviously agitated. Bai Zheyuan was among those who might be of any concern to him in Eastern Shang-Wei City. Among all his shortcomings, that one would be hard to make good on.

“Yes, sir!” Ming Hui responded, then pushed up his gold wireframe glasses, saying calmly, “That’s not the end of it! The first few of the card plays “Chance Encounter” and “The Legend of Master Shi” made by Chen Mu used a very distinctive technique, which we still have no way to crack. While young master Tingyi was the first to discover this, we had never been able to find out who the card maker was. We only discovered this clue after investigating Chen Mu this time.”

“Could you be a little more clear.” Zuo Tianlin frowned in dissatisfaction.

Ming Hui calmly looked straight at Zuo Tianlin, and raised his voice to say, “This is to say that Chen Mu is holding in his hands a kind of technique that is so advanced that none of us has any way to decipher it. This is a genius. Unfortunately, we have a grudge against a genius, and still more unfortunately, he’s still alive!”

“Damn!” The ever calm Zuo Tianlin let out a loud curse, while his chest heaved ever more violently.

“There’s more bad news.” Ming Hui’s voice remained cool, “Even though his killing of Yu Xin was a sneak attack, we have found that he had rented the basic training room at the training arena for just two months. Of course, no one could have gotten the skills to kill Yu Xin with only two months of training. He was essentially able to kill Yu Xin because he was using an incredible battle card. According to Daniel’s description, what our adversary shot had some kind of fine tube-type attack power, whose most unique quality was that its tail would continually dissipate, causing its speed to surge. We went through all the data, and didn’t find any card like it. Yu Xin’s chest was pierced right through, precisely at the heart.”

Zuo Tianlin’s expression had calmed.

“To summarize, we have become enemies with a genius low-grade card master who uses an exceedingly powerful battle card as a novice card artisan.” Ming Hui summed it up.

“Really stupid!” Zuo Tianlin seemed to be evaluating an entirely different matter.

“Certainly.” Ming Hui raised his eyebrows in agreement.

“Ground Wu Tuan for ten months”

“OK.”

“Oh, right, find that guy. It’s still relatively easy to kill a genius before he grows up.” Zuo Tianlin said faintly.

“What about Bai Zheyuan?” Ming Hui asked with an inquisitive look.

“I’ll give him a call, but I’m afraid there will be some blood this time.” Zuo Tianlin looked unperturbed.

* * *

Chen Mu frowned, a little puzzled, “Finding me is taking care of business? What do I have that would help you?” He could be forgiven for not getting it, since as far as he could tell, the demonic woman’s power exceeded his by several hundred-fold. In that time when power was respect, he certainly didn’t have the ability to accomplish what she couldn’t accomplish.

“Enter city.” The demonic woman said awkwardly.

“Enter city?” Chen Mu was a little uncertain, but he had a sudden epiphany. He hadn’t been paying attention to the demonic woman’s accent. He blurted out, “You’re not from the Federation.” Apart from the Federation, it could only be the House of a Hundred Depths or the Mohadi Realm. Remembering all kinds of legends about those two mysterious places, he could more or less guess where she came from.

The House of a Hundred Depths was a place full of darkness, rather like the manner of the demonic woman.

The chill concentrated in the demonic woman’s two eyes looking at Chen Mu.

“OK, I’ll take you into the city.” Chen Mu promised, having no room to choose, though he still sneered, “I have to tell you first that there are people who want to kill me.”

Sizing up Chen Mu, the demonic woman very directly said, “You. Too weak.”

“Indeed.” Chen Mu nodded, He had fully understood just how weak he was by then. He could be killed by practically any card artisan.

“Go!” Said the demonic woman.

“Where to?” Chen Mu asked.

His response was the black vine again, and Chen Mu was wrapped up before he could resist.