The Card Apprentice

“Ha ha! Your good luck has come to an end, Qiao Yuan! Tsk, tsk. What a waste for the Golden Word Shackle to have fallen into your hands! I’m telling you that if it wasn’t for not having a good card, I would long since have been among the top 100 on the Black-Line Star Listing, or even possibly among the top 50. The heavens took pity, and I am finally going to have a good card!”

A ferocious light glinted from Sang Hanshui’s triangular eyes, his demeanor incredibly pleased.

With a start, Ah Sang screamed, “I remember! Sang Hanshui is 122nd on the Black-Line Star Listing!”

“Hmph! That number will soon be history,” Sang Hanshui said darkly. He put on a merciful look and said to Chen Mu, “You probably wouldn’t have imagined, Qiao Yuan, how much trouble you would get into starting from when you killed Mo Ta. That idiot Dang Han thought he was the only one who knew about the Golden Word Shackle’s magic. Hmph. How could he know how much energy I’ve expended to find the right card? Nearly every time an awesome card has appeared in the entire history of the federation, I’ve researched it. Ha ha! Wen gave information about you to Dang Han to take advantage of him to get rid of you. Who would have thought the ever-boasting and exhaustively scheming Wen would have his own day of losses?”

Saying that, he became still more satisfied. “Ha ha! This really is providence! Wen has big plans, and he wouldn’t want to disrupt the situation because of you. He let me off easy in vain! You might be considered awesome, but with the Golden Word Shackle having fallen into your hands for such a short time, you’ve only been able to master five or six of its uses. That’s still a lot cleverer than that idiot Mo Ta! Given time, who knows if you might be able to bring the ultimate power of the Golden Word Shackle into play? Unfortunately, I’m the one who’s going to fulfill that wish for you.”

Chen Mu remained silent, his mind in a froth. He had absolutely never thought he would encounter all that he had or that someone had been fanning the flames in the dark!

He couldn’t help but feel curious about what Constellation was really trying to do. Sang Hanshui seemed to know a little, but their plans were so big that it would have to be somewhat generalized. That thought went flashing through his mind to be quickly replaced by other issues.

“You know how to use the Golden Word Shackle?” Chen Mu suddenly opened his mouth to ask.

Sang Hanshui said with a look of satisfaction, “Of course!” His narrow face then displayed anger and hostility. “Hmph! You people don’t know anything about the difficulties of those of us without good cards. In order to find a card that suits me, I’ve spent more than ten years consulting countless materials and ancient texts. I’ve expended endless effort to finally determine that this is the card most suited to me. The Golden Word Shackle has 12 single-syllable words altogether, and they can be composed into a complete ring of single-syllable words with no order to their power. Besides those 12 single-syllable words, there are still 36 double-syllable words, which can become rather complex. Only an ultimate ace can activate the circle of double-syllable words. There was no one who didn’t know of or wasn’t aware of the prestige of the Golden Word Shackle during the age of the sects. It was just too bad that this sect didn’t keep up with the appearance of Heiner Van Sant and mysteriously disappeared. Even Heiner Van Sant didn’t know about this card. The reason Dang Han knew about it was because I deliberately leaked it. I’d thought he would find Mo Ta at a comparatively high level. I never thought that guy would be such a gutless type and would be afraid of Wen and Yuchi Bai. Hmph. What a waste of my scheming.”

He quickly raised his eyebrows. “That idiot never thought he’d be outwitted by Wen. Still, if it wasn’t that way, I wouldn’t have had any way to pick up this ready-made bargain! Now that I mention it, it’s still thanks to Zeng Yushan. If he hadn’t stuck out, it wouldn’t be my turn. Everyone’s afraid of Moon Frost Island. Ha ha! Probably even Zeng Yushan never thought their troubles were only just beginning.”

When he got to that point, Chen Mu was utterly rattled by Sang Hanshui. For one person to be able to plan deliberately for so many years for a single thing, that all-out effort alone was something to admire.

Sang Hanshui’s triangular eyes flashed menacingly as he stared at Chen Mu and slowed the speed of his speech. “I only want the Golden Word Shackle and have no interest in your life. So long as you turn over the Golden Word Shackle, you may safely leave. Your current perception isn’t even half of what it is normally, so for you to fight with me in your current state could only lead to death. You’d better think about that clearly.”

Sang Hanshui showed great caution. To have gotten to their level, they would generally seldom force someone else to the point of death unless there was some great enmity. No one wanted to tempt a card artisan to blow himself up—especially not one at Chen Mu’s level.

All of the blood had drained from Miao Hongbo’s face, and he said in an urgent voice, “Sir…”

“Hmph!” Some ruthless heat flashed past Sang Hanshui’s gaze. Two glowing lines burst forth suddenly from his hand and sank into Miao Hongbo’s and Miao Xuan’s hearts. The two of them clutched their chests. They sputtered but couldn’t get anything out as fresh blood spurted wildly from between their fingers.

Ah Sang covered her mouth hard with both hands and watched in terror as the two of them slowly fell, her face pallid.

“Have you considered it?” Sang Hanshui returned his gaze to Chen Mu as though he had done something simple.

Chen Mu remained silent.

With a slight frown, Sang Hanshui’s ruthless, dark voice was permeated with a hint of impatience. “Don’t expect any miracles. I’m giving you ten seconds before I make my own move. So, you want to delay? That scheme will come to nothing!”

Sang Hanshui had rich battle experience. With Qiao Yuan having just fought a battle, the losses to his perception were very high, and he basically couldn’t restore them in such a short time. But why wasn’t he seeing any hint of panic in his counterpart’s eyes?

Sang Hanshui found it a little strange that Qiao Yuan’s incredibly ugly face seemed placid right from the beginning when he’d experienced the initial surprise. Could his counterpart be relying on something else? Sang Hanshui’s gaze was flashing, and the uneasiness he felt was growing stronger. He stared menacingly at Chen Mu and drew a line in his mind, deciding to make his move!

“I’ll count ten seconds. One, two…” Sang Hanshui raised his hand without warning when he got to two. Although he held an absolute advantage, he still chose a sneak attack.

Something really bad then happened right nearby. There was the crisp sound of an explosion in the air.

Pa!

The hairs on the back of Sang Hanshui’s neck abruptly stood up. Someone was behind him! Before he could react, however, there was a pain at the back of his neck. Everything went black in front of his eyes, and he didn’t know what was going on.

Ah Sang couldn’t take it and let out a scream! She felt like she was about to go crazy! Sang Hanshui, who had just been so ambitious, now plunked to the ground. She hadn’t seen anything hit Sang Hanshui, and Qiao Yuan hadn’t made a move. The scene in front of her was unspeakably weird to the point that it challenged her limits.

She felt that her heart—which wouldn’t be considered weak—would never be reliably safe under such a blow. She had actually fallen into hopelessness just then, even though Qiao Yuan had been steady all along. Still, from her point of view, it was nothing more than a bluff. Qiao Yuan had no moves he could use against Sang Hanshui.

At that time, no one was paying attention to whether she lived or died, no matter how gorgeous she was! She had a powerful urge to burst out something crude, but she suddenly discovered she had been immediately taken out of hell and brought back to the realm of men, which produced a powerfully surreal feeling.

After a moment, the panicked but somewhat determined Ah Sang watched Qiao Yuan walk over to Sang Hanshui’s body, which was unconscious on the ground, and unload the apparatus from his wrist with perfect facility. He meticulously searched Sang Hanshui’s whole body with perfectly professional motions.

Sure enough, every one of those guys on the Black-Line Star Listing was an ace at killing people for the booty!

Ah Sang couldn’t help her feelings, but she mostly felt curious. What means had Qiao Yuan used to knock Sang Hanshui down? She had seen it all clearly, and Qiao Yuan hadn’t made a move. She suddenly remembered that before Sang Hanshui went unconscious, there was a clear and crisp sound. Right. That boom had certainly done the trick! But what was it?

She couldn’t come up with it no matter how hard she thought. Her gaze fell onto Qiao Yuan, who had been calm from start to finish, and she felt even more how inscrutable he was. In such desperate straits, he was still harboring a trump card.

Chen Mu examined the unconscious Sang Hanshui. He would need at least three hours before he would come around. Wei-ah had been plenty tough that time to be so accurate from so far away. Wei-ah was even stronger than before now that he had recovered some of his memory. Chen Mu was still looking for a stout rope to tie Sang Hanshui securely, and he stuck tape over his mouth. He couldn’t help but sneer when he saw Miao Hongbo and Miao Xuan in their pools of blood.

He had originally wanted to come there to buy two kinds of materials, but he was now afraid things would be chaotic once they left the room.

Ah Sang approached Miao Hongbo’s body, struggling not to choke from the smell of blood. She crouched down and touched his corpse with her flawless hands for a moment and pulled out a golden card.

Looking at the card, Ah Sang showed a glimmer of joy. She quickly walked over to the image player and stuck the card into it. After a moment, she raised her head and said with pleasant surprise, “Mr. Qiao, I’ve found both of the materials. The mo-ah stone is in the V-7784 storeroom, and the speckled grass shellac is in the W-5534 storeroom, both on the 16th level underground.”

“Let’s go.” Chen Mu simply picked up the bound Sang Hanshui, having already decided that once the two kinds of materials were in his hands, he would leave Zargan. He had a feeling it was going to become the center of a whirlpool.

Ah Sang suggested, “Leave him here for now, and we’ll pick him up later. If we just take him out like this, we’ll draw a lot of attention.”

Chen Mu thought it over and felt that was right, so he put Sang Hanshui back on the floor. The two of them walked out of the room and casually closed the door as the staff outside the room welcomed them.

Ah Sang said to them naturally, “The Miaos, father and son, are having a discussion, so don’t disturb them.” The several staff members hurriedly stopped their footsteps and remained outside the door.

“We will take a stroll and will return after a while. Don’t bother to come with us.” Ah Sang rudely dropped that phrase as the two of them walked straight out. The staff looked at one another and spread out their hands helplessly. They had just seen Miao Xuan being polite to them, so how would they dare to offend them now?

Under Ah Sang’s direction, the two quickly found the mo-ah stone and the speckled grass shellac. That golden card was a top-level pass. They returned to the room with calm expressions, and Sang Hanshui was still lying there, which made Chen Mu breathe a sigh of relief.

Carrying Sang Hanshui in one hand while pulling Ah Sang along with the other, Chen Mu opened the window and flew straight into the air.