The Card Apprentice

“We’ve discovered that Qiao Yuan boarded the vessel at Wen Bu. He was riding on one of the vessels we lost! He then entered the city alone from the forest with a large quantity of wild animal pelts on his back.” Yan Pei was flushed red, and his voice was as clear as a bell. After so many days with no progress, the old man had become distraught. Now, to suddenly have found a clue, the old man’s spirits were stirred.

While Zeng Yushan had been looking at the description of Qiao Yuan in the Black-Line Star Listing, he had wondered whether he had any connection to the snow shuttle vessels being seized. An ace suddenly showing up among the top 100 in the Black-Line Star Listing had gotten his attention. When he had told his suspicions to Yan Pei, Yan Pei had immediately organized a party to investigate the matter.

Qiao Yuan certainly knows what actually happened! Zeng Yushan and Yan Pei had the same thought simultaneously.

Zeng Yushan’s gaze glinted. As though something were on his mind, he said, “If I haven’t guessed wrong, the one secretly against us should be Constellation. This issue of the Black-Line Star Listing says Qiao Yuan killed Mo Ta and heavily wounded Jin Yin. Whether by time or place, it’s all too coincidental!”

“There hasn’t been anything between us and Constellation, so why would they?” The old man’s expression was puzzled as he looked at Zeng Yushan. He really valued Zeng Yushan for the wisdom he showed; whenever he ran into problems, he would unconsciously ask Zeng Yushan for advice.

Zeng Yushan shook his head. “I too find it strange. It looks like if we want to know, we’ll have to go ask Qiao Yuan to see if we can find any clues.”

“Qiao Yuan…” The old man sneered. If it were anyone else, he was afraid he would have long since grabbed him to ask him outright. But that Qiao Yuan was an ace on the Black-Line Star Listing and was flourishing in the limelight with no one to compare to. Those days, wave after wave of people were wanting to woo him and were all summarily rejected.

“Relax, old man; I’ll go ask him.” Zeng Yushan smiled steadily. “Presumably, Moon Frost Island will give this Qiao Yuan a little of our face.” He was as mild as water when he said that, though he did show a little bit of pride.

* * *

Opening his eyes, they glowed with a cold, clear flow, and there was an outpouring of joy from Chen Mu’s face. The state of deep serenity was wonderful, after all. In just an hour, he had completely restored all the perception he had just used up.

That gave him a lot of benefits. Unlocking required a lot of perception, so deep serenity could enable Chen Mu’s efficiency to greatly increase by decreasing the time he needed to rest.

Still, he had no way to enter into the state of deep serenity every time. Thinking about it, deep serenity inevitably made Chen Mu think about breath control. It had been a long time since he’d used breath control. If there was some similarity between breath control and deep serenity, he really couldn’t think of any huge side effects that were like the suicidal breath control.

Chen Mu didn’t realize that putting breath control on the back shelf wasn’t because he was more scared of death than before; it was because he was stronger. His current battle moves were who-knew-how-many times richer than before. If he ran into a problem, he didn’t even need to use breath control to resolve it. Moreover, if the problem exceeded the scope of his current ability, using breath control wouldn’t be able to resolve it, either.

He could only maintain breath control for a very short time, and the phenomenon of weakness from vomiting afterward limited its usefulness. To put it another way, it was no longer suited to Chen Mu’s abilities in battle. By comparison, deep serenity was a simple recovery technique that was much more useful than breath control.

Chen Mu’s greatest accomplishment for those last few days was that he had found another two words. He had now mastered five kinds of skills with the Golden Word Shackle! His battle strength had been further enhanced.

He still didn’t know where Wei-ah had gone. He was getting more and more mysterious, and Chen Mu had started to gradually get used to it. Still, Chen Mu had been doing a lot of practicing and was too busy looking after himself.

In a few calls with Bogner later on, Bogner kept telling Chen Mu that battle power was his own greatest guarantee. He was in the full limelight just then, and the possibility of running into trouble had greatly increased. If he could maintain his current ranking until he could get to the Tai-shus of Dongrui, they would certainly extend an olive branch to him.

Chen Mu took what Bogner said into deep consideration. He would have to get better; he had to incessantly improve for his success to grow.

Thinking of that, Chen Mu’s spirits were stirred. Just as he was about to continue with another round of practice, he suddenly heard a voice from afar.

“Zeng Yushan of Moon Frost Island requests a meeting with Mr. Qiao Yuan.”

With no edge to it, the voice was steady and humbly respectful.

The were so many people surrounding where Chen Mu was living, and all of the firms’ numerous spies were among them. When they heard the name Moon Frost Island, there was an uproar. The name Zeng Yushan also caused the hearts of quite a few people to shiver.

For the card artisans of the Heavenly Drum Village District, Moon Frost Island was a place to look up to. Every year, the leaders in the academy would receive all kinds of attention. That also led to many of the students already being famous in the Heavenly Drum Village District before they even graduated. Some were even famous in the federation!

Zeng Yushan was the 60th on the Heavenly Drum Rolls. He had a steady character, and rumor had it that he had received guidance from Jia Yingxia himself. The Anti-Shield Strike that he studied had quite powerful defensive capabilities.

Everyone became spirited at once, wondering if there would be another good show. One was the 72nd on the Black-Line Star Listing, and the other was the 60th on the Heavenly Drum Rolls. Once the two sides made some fireworks, it would be a rare treat for their eyes.

The name Moon Frost Island carried so much weight in the Heavenly Drum Village District that no one could compare with it. How could people from Moon Frost Island show up in Zargan? Did they come for Qiao Yuan?

Now that they thought about it, it was strange because the relations between the aces on the Black-Line Star Listing and Moon Frost Island had always been perfectly messed up. Yin Shanfei was a living example. But it was seldom that anyone would dare to be so extreme as Yin Shanfei, not wanting to cooperate at all with Moon Frost Island.

Moon Frost Island? Chen Mu was a little surprised. He had never thought Moon Frost Island would come looking for him. After thinking it over, he rose into the air and flew out of his courtyard.

“I am Qiao Yuan. What’s your business?” Chen Mu stared at Zeng Yushan, getting right to the point and not wasting any words.

Zeng Yushan saluted Chen Mu. “It’s a great honor for Yushan to be able to see Mr. Qiao!”

Chen Mu looked at him indifferently, not saying a thing. He didn’t have such a bad feeling toward Moon Frost Island, but he wasn’t likely to have good feelings. In his mind, the Big Six were all jackals from the same tribe. Fortunately, his current identity as Qiao Yuan meant he didn’t need to conceal his alertness toward Moon Frost Island.

Zeng Yushan wasn’t at all concerned. He maintained his smile as ever, saying mildly, “Yushan has ventured to come this time wanting some advice on a few matters from Mr. Qiao Yuan. It’s rather noisy here. I wonder if Yushan could trouble Mr. Qiao for a cup of tea.”

What was Moon Frost Island doing looking or him? Chen Mu’s expression was as ever, but he was searching rapidly in his mind. He suddenly remembered what Bogner had said to him: The real backer of the Chum Salmon Passenger Company was probably Moon Frost Island.

Their conjecture was right, after all! Chen Mu suddenly understood. He was eager for Moon Frost Island and Constellation to get tangled up.

“Ok.” Chen Mu flew back into the courtyard after speaking, and Zeng Yushan followed him without changing his expression. That really disappointed those outside wanting to watch the commotion.

The two of them sat back down in the room, with Ah Sang serving them on the sidelines. She looked respectful while steeping the tea. After a moment, the Lanqing tea’s fragrance wafted through the room.

“Nice tea!” Zeng Yushan looked enchanted and clapped his hands in admiration.

Ah Sang bowed slightly, her sweet voice bashful and joyous. “For this tea to have gotten the praise of Prince Zeng fills Ah Sang with joy!” Her gaze never left Zeng Yushan’s body.

Zeng Yushan had a steady temperament. While his looks might not be called handsome, he was well worth a second look. His words, actions, and bearing were also impressive. When had Ah Sang ever seen such an outstanding man? The so-called suave Miao Xuan was like a clown in front of Zeng Yushan. She inevitably got some ideas.

Chen Mu thought nothing about Ah Sang ignoring him. Everyone loved beauty; wearing that ugly face himself, it would be strange for anyone to like him.

With a light smile, Zeng Yushan said, “The person is even better than the tea!”

Ah Sang felt still more joyful, but she was perfectly discreet and knew the two of them had things they needed to discuss. She curtseyed to both of them and left.

No one knew what they talked about. When Zeng Yushan emerged, however, his expression wasn’t so good. Even when Ah Sang greeted him, he was absent-minded, which put her at something of a loss.

The news of card artisans from Moon Frost Island coming to Zargan quickly spread all over the city. The secret talks between Zeng Yushan and Chen Mu had everyone guessing. The most interesting thing was that because of the appearance of Qiao Yuan and the Moon Frost Island card artisans, the public security in Zargan became better than it had ever been. It seemed like all the criminal elements had disappeared at once, and even the fancy-pants princelings had been forced by their parents to stay home.

Many people had the sense that something big was going to happen, and it was just the calm before the storm.