The Card Apprentice

Chapter 141: Head to Head

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Chen Mu followed close behind the three of them, closely watching every move of Li Duhong. Bo Wen kept trying to get some good information out of Li Duhong’s mouth, not knowing how slick he was. Li Duhong took advantage of being the little one who didn’t know anything with his absurd muddled responses. Meanwhile, he was getting a lot of things out of Bo Wen, and Cheng Ying couldn’t be counted on at all, since every time the little guy used that innocent tone to ask her something, she would always answer him right away.

That little kid was even more amazing than Chen Mu had been when he was small! Chen Mu was quietly keeping up his guard while betraying nothing with his expression. After Li Duhong kept coming up with nothing he had lost patience with Chen Mu. He wrapped himself around Cheng Ying and Bo Wen instead, asking them about this and that and taking Chen Mu as so much air.

The direction in which Li Duhong was leading them was quite close to the direction they had been taking. The four of them kept going ahead according to the little boy’s guidance. He was showing amazing qualities by then, with strength equal to an adult, and able to shuttle through the forest freely, as calmly as though he were playing in his family garden. He could find water very quickly and knew what was edible and what was poison, and even what kinds of wild beasts would be where. He could even swing along on the vines like a monkey at a speed not much slower than Bo Wen and the rest could fly.

The three of them were starting to understand how Li Duhong could exist alone in the jungle. He really was so familiar with it. They all believed that he had always lived there, including Chen Mu. To have become that familiar with it, he must have lived there since he was small.

It surprised the three of them that there were actually people who could survive in the desolate and sinister jungle. What did the people in the jungle live on? And how did they deal with the terrifying wild beasts? And how did they have enough power to live so freely in such a dangerous place?

Bo Wen had become quiet. Those kinds of questions had naturally drawn the vigilant attention of someone so astute about politics as that offspring of a wealthy clan. If the village that Li Duhong had talked about really had enough aces to face most of the beasts in the jungle, then the three of them together didn’t add up to much. It would be very dangerous for them if it were like that. People were more dangerous than wild animals much of the time.

Given Bo Wen’s silence and Chen Mu putting on his block of wood look, most of their time along the way was filled with the occasional laughter of Cheng Ying and Li Duhong.

“What’s up with you big brother Bo Wen?” Li Duhong looked at him with his shiny black eyes, puzzled.

Bo Wen barely smiled to say, “It’s nothing. I’m just thinking over a few things.”

“What things?” Cheng Ying had a questioning look, having also noticed Bo Wen’s worried look. Although she didn’t really think much of Bo Wen’s character, she didn’t question his ability. What was he worried about? Could there be something wrong?

Bo Wen gave his little smile, “It’s nothing, just that I’m a little homesick.”

Once he said it, Cheng Ying went silent, though she immediately gave a smile, while her eyes flashed a little sadness, as she said, “I’m fine though. Being on my own, I don’t have to think about those things.”

Bo Wen was taken aback, and apologized, “Sorry.”

Cheng Ying transformed into a smile, “What is there to be sorry about? It has nothing to do with you.”

She turned around to look at Chen Mu, “What about you Chen Mu?”

“Me?” Chen Mu looked calm, “I’ve always been on my own.”

When Chen Mu was very small, his parents were killed in a disaster where he was the only survivor. Without any relatives, he had to live by scavenging as one among an army of street punks.

Bo Wen didn’t have any good feelings toward Chen Mu on his face, as he smiled coldly, “Someone coming from the “night of the cross” wouldn’t’ have any humanity, so how could you have a family?” In the annals of the Ning family, the training of the “night of the cross” card artisans was extremely cruel. For example, the mysterious breath control technique required being in the dark for a large part of their lives, and the training to become a gifted card artisan required five years of training, or even more. A card artisan who had gone through such training would have become ruthless and dehumanized.

That classic dark look in Chen Mu’s eyes was characteristic of someone who had gone through breath control training. Bo Wen assumed that Chen Mu was a card artisan from the “night of the cross,” which was why he said those things.

Chen Mu was stunned that Bo Wen actually knew about the “night of the cross!” What else did he know? Chen Mu suddenly turned his head and stared brightly at Bo Wen.

He hadn’t told anyone about the mysterious card, and nothing was ever leaked. How did Bo Wen know about the “night of the cross?” Chen Mu’s knowledge of it was limited to breath control. But in his mind the mysterious card was the thing he cared the most about and was his most closely guarded secret. Of course, it was shocking for someone so suddenly to call out what had been recorded there.

He had scoured the materials and had never found any information about the “night of the cross.” From that, he could tell that the “night of the cross” wasn’t a very well-known sect. How could Bo Wen know about it? And then Chen Mu suddenly thought about Bo Wen repeatedly trying to kill him, and he started to understand!

Bo Wen wanted to take the mysterious card! Although he didn’t know how Bo Wen knew about the mysterious card, that was the only thing which could explain it. It was the first time he’d considered that as the reason. Covetous crimes had never been rare since ancient times. Never mind the mysterious card, he’d seen quite a few people killed over a loaf of bread when he was a child.

In that marvelous world Chen Mu didn’t know about the feud between the Ning’s and the “night of the cross,” and Bo Wen didn’t know that Chen Mu hadn’t learned breath control form the “night of the cross” sect.

“What? Did I hit the nail on the head?” Bo Wen was still smiling coldly, full of hostility.

Chen Mu didn’t show his feelings, other than his eyes as sharp as swords staring straight at Bo Wen. And Bo Wen didn’t retract his own stare at Chen Mu.

Cheng Ying and Li Duhong were transfixed by the two of them crossing swords, still not understanding the situation. Cheng Ying had long known about the differences between Bo Wen and Chen Mu, but that unrestrained outbreak was far beyond anything she’d expected. She really wanted to intervene, but considering her own power, she very wisely kept silent. And she couldn’t help wondering about the “night of the cross” and what it really was. Why would Chen Mu react so strongly upon hearing of it?

And Li Duhong was looking at the two of them full of curiosity with a look of real interest.

The silence was explosive.

Just when Cheng Ying and Li Duhong were expecting a fight to break out, the two of them broke off their stares and their sprits calmed, as though nothing had happened.

Li Duhong’s mouth was opened wide in his expectation of a good show, as he looked at them stunned. His brain had short-circuited, not knowing what was going on with the two of them. And the uptight Cheng Ying finally breathed a sigh of relief, since if the two of them were to fight, it could only be a lose-lose situation, with nothing good for anyone. But after thinking it over, she felt that her worry was overblown, since neither Bo Wen or Chen Mu were impetuous people. On the contrary, they were both among the people who were chill to the bone, who would never let themselves get into a dangerous situation because of a battle of words.

Chen Mu became even more silent, and Bo Wen was also treating his words as gold, not letting anything out of his mouth for half the day. The atmosphere of the troops had gotten heavy, and even Li Duhong had shut his mouth, and wasn’t asking any more bizarre questions.

Li Duhong would be gathering things from time to time and putting them into the bag that was hanging from his waist, in which were all sorts of materials that he had gathered. Cheng Ying would also sometimes gather up seldom-seen precious materials, since it was such a rare opportunity to be so deep in the jungle. How could she face herself if she didn’t take the opportunity to gather them? If they were really able to get out of there, those precious materials all had sky high value. She only regretted that she didn’t have more knowledge, since she recognized too few precious materials.

Whenever she did it she would always lift her head in surprise at Chen Mu. She really couldn’t imagine how a card master with an “A” level of contribution points didn’t know the least thing about even the most basic raw materials. She found it incredible every time she saw him looking so indifferent, standing among such precious materials.

But she quickly got used to it, since however you looked at him, Chen Mu was not an ordinary person. Gifted geniuses like him did commonly have strange things about them. If they were the same as ordinary people, then that would be strange.

Sitting in the camp, their expressions were flickering in the light of the roaring campfire. Since Bo Wen and Chen Mu were out of sorts, there was only the lively chatting between Cheng Ying and Li Duhong. Cheng Ying really like him, so no matter what he asked, she would very patiently tell him about it in detail.

They had already walked for seven days since running into Li Duhong. But because of his guidance through the jungle, the quality of their lives during that time was as different as night from day compared to the time before then. Li Duhong had extremely rich experience in the jungle, knowing which animals’ meat was tasty, and where the sweet water was, and even sometimes picking some berries for Cheng Ying which had an extremely sweet flavor.

Chen Mu’s attention had been focused on Li Duhong all along. Although that little guy had been acting pretty normal during those seven days, he didn’t dare to drop his guard.

Chen Mu didn’t know that while he was paying attention to Li Duhong, Bo Wen was paying attention to him.

Bo Wen was full of doubt, since he felt more and more that he couldn’t read Chen Mu.