The Card Apprentice

Chapter 143: A Bitter Battle

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

Card artisans really hated that kind of powerful creature, since they were really hard to deal with. The spinulosa wheel that the brilliant apes threw had terrifying power which could even smash through a three-star energy cloak card. Even if you were grazed by it, if it didn’t kill you it would disable you. The brilliant ape had a very strong territorial sense, and if any other wild beast were to enter their territory, they would become powerfully aggressive.

Failure!

Failure!

Another failure!

Chen Mu couldn’t quite adjust the frequency to where he could enter the state of breath control.

Every step taken by the apes had a lot of power, and when they stepped on the ground Chen Mu could feel it shake. They were getting closer and closer to where he was! Chen Mu forced himself to remain calm as he carefully brought the frequency of the vibrations to what was specifically required to enter the state of breath control.

Bo Wen’s color had already returned to normal. The brilliant ape was certainly very difficult to oppose, but he would just have to brace himself. That was also a good opportunity to test whether Chen Mu’s strength had been damaged. If it had been, Bo Wen would kill him without any hesitation! Bo Wen had always wanted to get rid of Chen Mu as quickly as he could, but the reason that he hadn’t killed him was that he needed Chen Mu’s strength to get through the crisis together. But if his power had been damaged, Chen Mu didn’t have any value for him.

Bo Wen and Cheng Ying split up to hide behind some trees, and while floating in midair they could already see the hideous face of one of the brilliant apes.

Just at that time, Chen Mu opened his eyes!

What kind of eyes were those? Indifferent, cold, chilly like the gods glaring at creation, without any emotional color.

Bo Wen’s body was jolted, as his heart tightened, and he said over and over to himself, So that’s how it is! That’s how it is! That’s how Chen Mu looked that day!

Although Chen Mu hadn’t had any expression on his face those past few days, Bo Wen hadn’t ever found that terrified feeling that Chen Mu had given him that day. That was an important reason he doubted whether Chen Mu’s power had been damaged. He felt that the ordinary Chen Mu and the one that day were two different people.

Seeing Chen Mu in front of him, all of what Bo Wen had been thinking went up in smoke as he looked at Chen Mu carefully and guardedly. He faintly anticipated that that guy would finally make his move.

Cheng Ying had also noticed Chen Mu’s transformation, but she wasn’t the same as Bo Wen, since her disturbed heart immediately calmed, as Chen Mu was finally going to start showing how strong he was!

Li Duhong shivered when his eyes made contact with Chen Mu’s, and he looked at him in some fear, his instincts telling him that the person in front of him was very dangerous.

Looking over everyone with indifference, Chen Mu jumped up into midair without any warning, having entered the state of breath control, with the whole action many times slicker with its overall nimbleness than his normal plodding.

Bo Wen was trying to understand what Chen Mu had been doing showing such modest power when he was so strong. Had he been trying to hide his power? There wasn’t any need to do that, since Bo Wen and Cheng Ying had already seen it, so there wasn’t anything to hide.

Could it be that Chen Mu’s power wasn’t only limited to those aspects they had seen? Once that thought had surfaced, it wouldn’t go away. Bo Wen’s mouth was dry and his heart was beating, as he swallowed hard forcing himself to calm down.

Not paying any attention to Bo Wen, Chen Mu flew toward Cheng Ying. Her face brightened since she would be a lot safer with Chen Mu at her side.

Chen Mu stopped right in front of her, showing extremely strong perceptual control by going to full stop from such a high speed. Bo Wen nearly hung his head in shame to look at that, since he had thought that Chen Mu’s perception had been injured. Did that look like injury? Never mind an injury, that kind of precise control was far beyond his ability. While it was something Bo Wen could do with a great deal of effort, he would never be able to do it so gracefully.

That was what was most distasteful to Bo Wen, always having boasted about his discernment, while every time he looked at Chen Mu it made him depressed. Like a strong man proud of his power being bowled over by some youth who wasn’t very strong over and over again, that would naturally suck.

Chen Mu didn’t care if it sucked for Bo Wen or not, as he stopped calmly in front of Cheng Ying.

Seeing someone charging toward him suddenly stop without any warning about two meters away was something really striking. It was clearly the first time Li Duhong had seen anything like it and it had obviously shocked him. His mouth hung open as he stared dumbly at Chen Mu, his expression frozen.

Bo Wen and Cheng Ying had both gotten the wrong impression. Chen Mu wasn’t doing something meaningless. They found that Chen Mu’s gaze had stunningly fallen onto Li Duhong, remaining as if he were a lifeless object, calmly indifferent.

Could it be . . .

“If you make any more mischief I’ll kill you.”

The calm and unmodulated voice seemed to mechanically elaborate some entirely ordinary matter. Even such a bold person as Bo Wen shivered to hear such talk, while Cheng Ying had just lost her color.

Li Duhong whom she was holding close was trembling and his lips were quivering, with his body in a chill. He was really scared then, as he looked at Chen Mu in terror, doing everything he could to avoid meeting his gaze. He didn’t have any thoughts about making excuses, feeling as though all the blood in his body had congealed, leaving his brain blank and his body trembling.

He was really just a seven or eight-year-old kid; no matter how weird he was, he was only a child.

Wu Wu Wu!

Roar after roar were coming from the brilliant apes, who were coming at them in a half-circle array.

Xiu xiu xiu! They started to throw their spinulosa wheels from about fifty meters away. The heavy wheels made a terrifying wailing sound as they flew through the air, and although they’d already heard it, now that they were facing those terrifying killing devices, everyone’s face changed.

The only one who didn’t react was Chen Mu, whose stare still lingered on Li Duhong being held by Cheng Ying.

Dong Dong Dong! The heavy hurtling spinulosa wheels all hit the big tree in front of them sending splinters everywhere with shocking momentum. The wheels were almost entirely embedded in the tree, showing how stunningly powerful they were. Each of the brilliant apes had quite a few spinulosa wheels, which didn’t seem to have any impact on their movements.

Without any hesitation, Bo Wen fired off three fist sized bright red wavy blades, accurately sinking in to a brilliant ape’s skull, spewing blood everywhere! Bo Wen’s triple shot was enough to kill the cruel iron salamander, so how would a brilliant ape which had less protection than the salamander be spared? The ape that had been hit howled, as he fell softly down.

By that time Cheng Ying had figured out the brilliant ape. Although the canopy of floating bright spots that had been formed in front of her wasn’t so powerful, it covered a large range. And that time there happened to be some colorful spritzes going into one of the apes’ eyes. That ape was immediately writhing on the ground, screaming in agony.

Bo Wen and Cheng Ying had calmed down, since those apes didn’t seem as scary as the legends. Of course, Bo Wen had never run into a brilliant ape before, and even Cheng Ying who had a rich experience hadn’t ever encountered that king of creature. What they knew of them was limited to the stories they had heard and the knowledge from books.

But they very quickly found out that they had underestimated the power of the brilliant apes!

They immediately heard the howling, with the remaining apes seeming to have been provoked by the death of their comrade, as they became quite agitated.

They threw more of the spinulosa wheels that they carried, but that time all of their firepower was aimed directly at Bo Wen!

The scene would be hard to describe. The heavy wheels came roaring at them like rain covering the sky and darkening it. Bo Wen couldn’t even raise his head against such firepower which sounded relentlessly in his ears, never mind making any counter attack. He could only switch to his energy cloak for protection first, before doing anything else.

The sound of wood cracking made the teeth itch with acid, as the huge tree which had been protecting the three of them was splintered by that rain of spinulosa wheels.

Bo Wen couldn’t dodge or hide, as one of the wheels smashed into him. Although he had raised his energy shield, the power was far greater than he had estimated. He was sent flying by the direct hit, falling hard a long way off.

There was blood coming from Bo Wen’s mouth, and his throat was burning. He had been injured! He had never been so seriously wounded in his life, even fighting that day with Chen Mu where he’d been bested, he’d come through intact.

He’d actually been injured that day!

Bo Wen who had been crawling on the ground suddenly leapt up with fury in his eyes. All of the blood had gone to his head, and his eyes were crimson.

The brilliant apes were extremely clever, and they knew how to hit a person when he was down.

Under the command of an ape with dark fur, the howling of the spinulosa wheels again sounded, all of it moving toward Bo Wen who was crawling on the ground, like rain to hide the sky. Cheng Ying had gone white, and hurried to send out her colorful spray, wanting to stop the wheels. But there wasn’t enough power in the colorful spray, and although it pitted all of the wheels, it had no way to stop those powerful and momentous weapons.

A ruthless look flashed across Bo Wen’s eyes, as he yanked off the energy shield around him, and flew up into the sky like an arrow.