The Card Apprentice

The first jade-green starfish touched the golden energy cloak so lightly that it seemed like a cloud, sticking to the energy cloak like cotton candy the moment it made contact. At the same time, the spots of silver within the jade-green starfish suddenly brightened, and the dazzling silver light blanketed the rich jade-green entirely. Under the silver light, countless starfish ceaselessly attached themselves to Chen Mu’s energy cloak.

The intense silver light was so dazzling that Chen Mu couldn’t open his eyes. Thankfully, though, he didn’t need to. His perception could discern any bit of change.

His expression then changed unexpectedly. The speed of the flow of energy in the apparatus had abruptly increased!

The increase in speed was a common thing. Different battle tactics and different energy constructions each called for different energy consumptions, so the rate of energy flow in an apparatus would never be fixed. However, the current speed of flow was vastly different from other times in the past.

Within a second or two, the speed of energy flow in the apparatus increased by eight times, which was a terrifying figure! If that rate were to persist, it wouldn’t take long for all of the energy in the apparatus’s power card to be used up. Once the energy was used up, unless the power card could be replaced, Chen Mu would lose almost all of his battle capabilities!

Though Chen Mu was alarmed, he wasn’t panicking and drew aside a strand of perception to go along with the flow of energy. He wanted to find out precisely where the energy was being used.

Chen Mu’s eyes suddenly flew open, wholly disregarding the blinding silver brilliance. It was the starfish energy bodies stuck on the energy cloak! Inconceivably, they were sucking away the energy!

Chen Mu’s heart grew cold for a moment. Beneath the cute appearance of those jade-green starfish energy bodies was actually such a frightening feature! As the number of starfish on the energy cloak increased, the rate of energy consumption also increased at an astonishing speed. That tactic was vicious enough!

In battles between card artisans, energy cloaks were the most common tactical equipment. The target of Dang Han’s maneuver was not the energy cloak, but the power card in the apparatus instead. Once the adversary’s power card was exhausted, it could only end in the adversary’s surrender. It was indeed striking at the root of the problem.

No wonder Dang Han had a cold smile hanging on his face all the time, looking confident and well-prepared. Deciding on the spot, Chen Mu grunted and deactivated the energy cloak.

The energy starfish, which had lost their support, approached to stick to Chen Mu one after another. How could Chen Mu dare to let them make any contact? Lightly flicking his wrist, his energy chain whipped up and down, covering him in the center. The Big Mudfish launched simultaneously. His whole body, like a mudfish, shook and twisted continuously for a few times, narrowly making its way out from the encirclement of the energy starfish.

The gaps between the energy starfish were minute, and the space for turning and moving couldn’t have been smaller. Being able to escape so simply and deftly, Chen Mu’s remarkable evasion technique was in full display. Amongst the surrounding crowd, regardless of whether they could appreciate the move, gasps were heard all around.

Zeng Yushan, much pleased by what he saw, was singing endless praises. “Qiao Yuan’s abilities are really bizarre and unpredictable. It seems like there’s more to come next.”

The other few already had their eyes glued to the scene. They had seen many similar imaginative and unfathomable performances in school, but that was their first time seeing such a splendid evasion in combat. A real battle and a performance were of two natures. For performances, you had sufficient time for practice and preparation; in a battle, you needed to decide on the next move in a fleeting instant without hesitating. Once there was any failure, the most probable end would be death.

Being capable of executing so wonderful a series of evasion moves in combat, Chen Mu conquered the heart of those Moon Frost Island students in one go.

Dang Han’s expression changed slightly. He, too, hadn’t expected that Chen Mu could really dash out of such a thick encirclement. Nonetheless, he calmed down quickly, and the cold smile returned to his face.

Though he was temporarily out of danger, Chen Mu felt no excitement in his heart. A moment ago, to escape the encirclement of the energy starfish, his energy chain had bumped into one of them. No trace could be seen on the exterior of the energy chain, but Chen Mu knew the stability of the energy construction of the section that had touched the energy starfish had been greatly reduced.

That was a pitfall. For highly intricate energy bodies like the energy chain, any bit of structural damage could potentially bring about massive changes. What made him feel worse was that even though the escape had been timely, the amount of energy left in the power card in his apparatus was not even half of the original. That also meant he had to make it a quick and decisive battle to end it before the power card was exhausted.

He hadn’t expected that a seemingly effortless move of the adversary’s could promptly put him in a dangerous position. Although Chen Mu was laughing bitterly at heart, his will didn’t waver in the slightest. He was like a lit barrel of gasoline at the moment. The heat of the battle left his body somewhat trembling and pushed the sensitivity of his perception to a height unimaginable in usual times.

Staring at the cold smile at the corner of Dang Han’s lips, Chen Mu had a sudden idea, and his eyes contracted instantly. Hovering in midair and with no point to exert force on, he unleashed it without any warning—wave-shaped, high-frequency evasion!

Crisp, clear popping sounds were heard everywhere, and Chen Mu left a trail of half-discernible shadows behind him. The instant he had begun moving, two green beams had suddenly shot out from the ground. As though he had foreseen them, Chen Mu evaded them narrowly.

That battle tactic, which had once cost Mo Ta and Jin Yin bitterly, again astounded the crowd. Dang Han, who had maintained his composure all along, finally changed his expression, and his figure backed away rapidly!

Two figures slashed across the sky one after another. The sound of air popping left people’s ears numb, and continuous, ghost-like shadow trails were so plainly visible in the sunshine that people’s hearts were chilled.

Every pop of the air allowed Chen Mu’s speed to pick up slightly. His speed grew faster and faster, and he was like a fierce, overbearing bolt of black lightning slashing the sky open!

That ugly face was enlarging in Dang Han’s view with astounding speed, and some panic flashed across his sinister eyes. He let out a bellow, and a round jade-green energy shield swiftly appeared between him and Chen Mu.

“Bind!”

It was like a sound from beyond the skies, indifferent yet full of oppression, and energy fluctuations in the air abruptly rose up! The energy chain surrounding Chen Mu’s body danced about wildly like a shark smelling blood and transformed into dozens of rays of golden light rolling toward Dang Han.

Dang Han grunted, and the jade-green energy shield spun at high speed, just like a rapidly rotating grinding wheel. The moment the energy chain made contact with the rapidly spinning energy shield, it would be bounced away.

From that, it was clear how rich Dang Han’s battle experience was. The perception and energy consumed in the maneuver was minimal, but, regardless of timing or orientation, it was just right. Hiding behind the energy shield, he hugged his knees, curled into a ball, and shifted his body now and then to avoid the attacks from behind.

Chen Mu wasn’t disheartened. Instead, his eyes brightened at once. A chance!

While it looked as though Dang Han’s move was clever to the utmost, Chen Mu spotted his weakness in the first instant! As Dang Han was huddled up, he had to use the rotating energy shield as cover, which also caused his speed to be incredibly slow.

A section of the energy chain was stealthily drawn away by Chen Mu. Looking solemn, he closed the fingers of his right hand together into a cone and boomed, “Stab!”

The golden light that had filled the sky swiftly gathered into a ray of sharp light and gave rise to a strange whistling sound. The shrill whistling was different from the crisp and highly frequent popping a moment ago, and it seemed to dive straight into people’s ears. That was one of the two new techniques he had figured out during his period at the Chichi Trading Firm.

The power of that move was like the unstoppable rush of water in a large river, and the expression of the people around changed all at once! Zeng Yushan and his gang each widened their eyes and watched the scene closely.

Dang Han’s face was ghastly. He had already been securely locked on to by Chen Mu’s perception. If he were to back away at that moment, he would definitely be pierced through completely. A trace of viciousness flashed across his eyes, and his pupils abruptly dilated. Pop, pop, pop! Two clouds of blood suddenly erupted at his collarbone.

Spots of blood covered his face, looking extremely sinister. Provoked by that, his perception became extremely turbulent, and the sense of helplessness from a moment ago lightened instantly. He hesitated no more and set up another layer of energy shield swiftly in front of himself behind the first layer.

Layer after layer, he did not have the slightest pause, as though he was dead-set on creating a wall of iron and steel in front of him!

The ray of golden light that tore the sky apart hit the exact center of the outermost layer of the shield with extreme accuracy.

Ping! A crisp sound, and the shield instantly shattered into a shower of jade-green fragments mixed with speckles of silver, looking rather pretty. In that shower of glittering fragments, the golden light, still going strong, came into contact with the second shield layer.

Ping! Ping! Ping! The sound of shattering even closer and crisper than the popping of air earlier seemed to be mocking at how useless and in vain Dang Han’s actions were. He didn’t seem to have been affected and was still madly setting up energy shields, but a strange light, so faint it was undetected, flashed across his eyes.

That time, he set up two layers of energy shields at the same time, and the ninth and tenth shield layer appeared together. Just as he finished, the golden light had already penetrated the eighth layer of energy shield and had touched the ninth! What a powerful stab!

The spectating crowd was terror-stricken. What a fearsome power it was to be able to penetrate eight layers of energy shields in one go! In their eyes, Dang Han’s moves were but the final struggle. One could imagine the energy chain would undoubtedly pierce through the last two layers of energy shield and would deftly stab through Dang Han.

The time left wasn’t enough for Dang Han to set up another energy shield! The ace of a generation was about to perish right in front of everyone. Some were sorry, some were excited, some were terrified, and some were indifferent.

Yet, the crisp shatter people had expected did not appear. Instead came the resounding sound of an explosion! The loud explosion made the unprepared crowd jump.

The blast spread out in waves! The sudden explosion gave Chen Mu no time for putting up a defense, and the power shockwave pushed him back fiercely. At the same time, a figure made use of the powerful shockwave to disappear into the distance like a released arrow.

Some sharp-eyed people would discover in that glimpse that in front of the escaping Dang Han, injured all over and looking rather sorry, there still hovered half of a thin layer of energy shield!