The Card Apprentice

The card artisan who had just entered the snow shuttle vessel suddenly came flying out without uttering a word. In the blink of an eye, he went plunging headlong into all the card artisans before they could scatter. The card artisans were watching like some stupid monks who were out of touch with their brains as their comrade came inexplicably flying out from the vessel.

“What happened, Ah Jiang?” one of the card artisans asked, looking weirded out. Ah Jiang had always been straightforward about taking orders. Could there be some enemy inside the vessel? Everyone’s gaze turned helplessly toward the snow shuttle vessel.

The look on the lead card artisan shifted, and he shouted, “Look out!”

A figure suddenly shot out from the young card artisan’s chest area. It was too sudden and unexpected, leaving no room for anyone to respond. There wasn’t even a second to do so.

Still, Chen Mu had found a great opportunity within that second. Like a cheetah sprung for the pounce, he suddenly exploded with all of his power! His muscles abruptly stretched tight, just like a steel bowstring that had been plucked. Under the impulse of such power, his entire body shot out like an arrow from a bow.

The scene became twisted under such high-speed actions, but Chen Mu had long become used to that. In his violently shaking field of view, he had still accurately locked in on his adversary’s vitals—his neck!

He lightly dropped the palm of his right hand, where there appeared a light glow, vaguely like a poisonous snake silently staring down its prey in the dark. Seeing his adversary’s expression suddenly enlarge in his eyes, Chen Mu didn’t have the least bit of excitement or timidity. There was no fluctuation in his mind at all; he was as cool and calm as if his bones were made of crystalline ice.

He made a few pendulum-like sways with the top half of his body, which made his body image more fluttery and harder to grasp. That was a trick he had learned from Wei-ah’s body moves. It wasn’t too fancy, though it was practical. It could change him into a series of residual shadows that would interfere greatly with the enemy’s judgment.

Too bad his speed was far from Wei-ah’s. But Chen Mu had spent a lot of hard work on that move; by then, even Wei-ah would have some headaches if he were doing it.

His adversary’s gaze was stunned, terrified, and flustered, but Chen Mu didn’t slow down. His right hand shot up, and he slightly straightened his elbow to fluidly and lightly touch his adversary’s neck.

His gaze fell to behind the card artisans, which was the place he chose for his breakout. Before he could remove his hand from his adversary’s throat, however, a powerful energy fluctuation came from behind him, which suddenly raised his sense of danger.

Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Mu threw the card artisan in his hands to behind the other card artisans while rapidly taking a roll on the ground himself.

Pu, pu, pu! Glowing silvery shuttles penetrated that poor card artisan’s body, sending snow flying from the ground.

Without looking at who had made the move from behind him, Chen Mu didn’t get up but stayed stuck to the snow. He made some S-shaped slides to behind a tree in a flash. Right after he first moved, the place where he had just been was blown to smithereens.

What a quick reaction! Chen Mu felt shocked. He was afraid everything would have turned into a hornet’s nest if he had been the least bit slower. But his own reactions were just as fast. In the instant he flashed behind the tree, he jerked his feet against the trunk, folding his body forward. He then shot out to his right like lightning!

Pa, pa, pa! Wood chips from the ten-meter-diameter tree trunk went flying as three or four beams of glowing silvery shuttles penetrated it before disappearing far into the forest. His adversary’s silvery energy shuttles were like the maggots on a bone before the soul had departed.

The one releasing the silver energy shuttles was the lead card artisan of the gang, who was the most seasoned among them. He was the first to realize something was wrong. He had already sensed something was wrong when Ah Jiang flew out from the snow shuttle vessel, but he had never expected his adversary to be so powerful!

That incredibly quick move could be called dizzyingly fast. It shocked him as nothing had before. His adversary’s body moved like a demon. Along with his weird moves, it brought a chill straight to his heart. The two of them weren’t 20 meters apart. He had never failed across multiple attacks in such a short distance. That would require incredibly reactive nerves!

In his horror, he didn’t relax his hands in the least. Once such a guy successfully broke free, he was afraid they would never be able to rest peacefully. He had seen quite a few card artisan assassins, among whom there was no shortage of worldly fame. But not one of them could turn his heart cold the way the one in front of him just had.

He didn’t even know how his own comrade had been killed, not having been able to see it clearly. He hadn’t felt any energy fluctuations or perceptual fluctuations. His adversary’s moves and style of battle seemed more dependent on muscle strength. Could he have been an ace of the cardless sects? His enemy sticking to the ground like a snake and wandering off had made him draw in a cold breath of air. That seemed to affirm his guess. His adversary’s body was lithe as though it had no bones. Only cardless sect aces would be able to make such a move that was contrary to the laws of the human body. Only cardless sect aces would drill their bodies to that extent.

Still, he had no spare time just then to think about it in any detail. He stared at his adversary like a falcon, and his pupils suddenly enlarged. What a great opportunity!

His adversary was about to leave from behind the tree. He would have no place against which to apply force while in midair. The greatest flaw for an ace of the cardless sects would be to have no place to apply force! But he wasn’t hasty, still not having locked in on his adversary. If he made a blind shot, his opportunity would slip through his fingers.

An ace like him didn’t even need a breath to be able to lock in on someone. He detected no energy fluctuations, which made locking in rather more difficult. He didn’t have ordinary power, however, and his battle experience was extremely rich. He wasn’t without some way.

Locking in on a moving person who had no energy fluctuations within less than 20 meters wasn’t that difficult for an ace card artisan who had received systematic education. Of course, his adversary was too fast, which caused him a little of trouble. But it was nothing more than a little bit of trouble. He had plenty of self-confidence about completing the attack.

—Now!

His adversary wasn’t half a meter off the ground. That was when it would be most difficult for him to adjust, as well as the time when his mind would be the most lax.

Five silvery energy shuttles with five silvery flashes shot off like long, pointy-headed fish knives. His perception was steady and precise. He had proven their power time and time again.

Just as he was about to make his move, though, his face suddenly shifted! In his trance, his perception appeared a little disordered. The originally strangely peaceful energy shuttles immediately became unstable, looking like they were about to lose control. That made him react. In a hurry, he threw the energy shuttles in his hand toward the swift, ghostly image.

As soon as they left his hand, there was a string of popping explosions as the five energy shuttles exploded three meters away in midair. He became abruptly desolate-looking as he reviewed the spread. But he wasn’t paying attention to the shuttles by then. He looked in a stunned trance in the direction where that mysterious ace had disappeared.

What had he just seen? His adversary had changed directions in midair! How did he do that? A jet stream card? But why hadn’t he detected any trace of energy fluctuation? If it wasn’t a jet stream card, what was it?

His adversary had also made a series of directional changes. They looked quite like a chain of directional changes. That was an extremely difficult tactical maneuver for a card artisan!

Their faces drained of color, all of the card artisans looked in silence in the direction where Chen Mu had disappeared. After a little while, the lead card artisan came back to his spirits. Ignoring the soot on his face and with a serious expression, he walked over to the corpse of the card artisan who had fallen.

By the time he saw the fine line of blood on the card artisan’s neck, he could hear the other card artisans drawing in their breath.

They turned over Ah Jiang’s corpse, where they found a similar fine, bloody mark where he had been. Those vicious card artisans were scared stiff by that fierce move. Their faces turned to clay, some of them unable to help but rub their own necks.

Seeing the chief looking so carefully, one of the card artisans was so bold as to cautiously ask, “Can you tell where he came from, Chief?”

“I can’t tell.” The lead card artisan shook his head as he spoke in a low voice. He lightly pressed beside the line of blood with his finger. With a pop, the blood that had been building in pressure foamed like a fountain from the blood-soaked line and came gushing out.

Having been caught off guard, it sprayed all over him.

“Too… too heinous!” one of the card artisans muttered through shivering teeth.

The face of the lead card artisan with fresh blood all over his body was hideously twisted as he said through clenched teeth, “Get the news back right away. If we don’t catch this guy, we won’t have much of a life afterward!”

Chen Mu was shuttling through the forest as fast as he could. The Big Mudfish’s outstanding directional-change capability was perfectly suited for such a complex topography as the forest. The Heavenly Drum Village District forests were snowy and very different from the southern brushy jungles. Here, there were mostly straight and upright tall trees, so there was little clutter in the forest. That was why the snow shuttle vessel could enter it.

Chen Mu scattered the whorled sniper shuttles that had been in his hands. He had assumed his adversary would certainly chase after him relentlessly, and he had prepared the whorled sniper shuttle to be used against them. How could he know his bizarre and sinister moves would have long since scared off that gang and that they weren’t about to chase after him?

Chen Mu flew for about ten more minutes before determining that no pursuers were behind him, and he slowed down. He needed to consider what to do next. He wasn’t worried about his safety by then. There weren’t many numerical advantages in the forest, and he could be more flexible alone. Moreover, he was completely used to fighting in the forest.

The issue in front of him was how to meet up with Wei-ah. He hadn’t expected to encounter a looting, so he hadn’t thought to bring any maps and that sort of thing with him. Getting to Zargan would be the dreamy ravings of a lunatic without the guidance of a map.

Fortunately, even though he didn’t have a map, he had prepared in other ways.