The Card Apprentice

There were many doubts in Qiu Shanyu’s heart. Since the beginning, Qiao Yuan had shown his unmistakable hatred toward her. She knew the hatred hadn’t come from her provoking him to fight one on two. After going through several guesses, she found the answer even surprising to herself—Qiao Yuan hadn’t taken on the competition because of her provoking words; it had been because of his enmity toward her! That was how that bet had happened!

Thinking of that, she involuntarily touched her own lips. She couldn’t forget the humiliation of Qiao Yuan biting her lips in public! Killing him wouldn’t suppress even a tiny bit of her anger! She had tried searching for Qiao Yuan after the incident, pulling all of her stops, but Qiao Yuan seemed to have vanished without a single trace.

However, she hadn’t expected that Qiao Yuan, who had disappeared, would launch a surprise attack on their station!

Qiu Shanyu was confused. How had Qiao Yuan found out she was in Dongrui? How had he known where she was staying? Why would he launch an attack when the risk was so high? Who was that man who’d fought with Uncle? Most importantly, what had made that man hate her so much? There were too many questions circling in her mind.

“Reward?” Chen Mu curled the corner of his lips upward, but Qiu Shanyu knew it wasn’t a genuine smile.

Her heart sank. Does he really have an irreconcilable hatred toward me? She couldn’t help it and said, “Mr. Qiao, I have a question for you. Do you mind?”

“Please. Go ahead,” Chen Mu replied calmly.

After considering it for a while, Qiu Shanyu finally said, “I can sense the hostility coming from you, Mr. Qiao, but I am confused. This is only my second time meeting you. I might have offended you the last time, but I believe a man of your magnanimity wouldn’t hold a grudge against a woman like me.”

“Second time?” Chen Mu smiled. Qiu Shanyu thought she saw a hint of anguish in his smile, but she wasn’t given enough time to understand the pain. She asked anxiously, “Is this not the second time?”

“Do you remember… Pomelo?” Chen Mu asked.

“Pomelo!” Qiu Shanyu exclaimed. She instantly felt something was wrong! After he made it clear that something had happened in Pomelo, she was convinced that there probably was a reasonable grudge. She forced a smile. “I did go to Pomelo, but it was only to host some Faya Foundation affairs. I can’t recall meeting you before. I would have definitely heard about an expert like you if you had been in Pomelo!” She tried her best, but she couldn’t recall seeing Qiao Yuan. As a matter of fact, a card artisan of Qiao Yuan’s caliber must have been the best in Pomelo. It’s impossible that I haven’t heard about him.

After thinking for a moment, Chen Mu nodded slowly. “It is true that you didn’t see me there.”

Qiu Shanyu let out a sigh of relief. Before she could rejoice, however, Chen Mu’s next sentence shattered her into pieces.

“But I saw you with Hugo and Butchie.”

Qiu Shanyu’s heart sank even deeper.

“Do you still remember the Yang Clan Auction House?” Chen Mu said slowly. “If you do, you must remember the owner, Yang An. I forgot to tell you that he was my friend. Besides, I believe you can still recall that my name is… Cao Dong.”

Qiu Shanyu’s face turned white instantly. She couldn’t believe her ears. “You… You are Cao Dong?”

“That’s right.” Chen Mu had a straight face, but the killing intent in his eyes slowly intensified.

Qiu Shanyu took several deep breaths. Though her face was still pale, she managed to keep her expression composed. She nodded her head calmly. “So, it was you! We had conducted a thorough investigation beforehand. We were targeting you, but our plan was scrapped because of the sudden change in the situation. Also…”

Her eyes were fixed on Chen Mu, as sharp as arrows. “Should I address you as the numbered series card master instead, Mr. Qiao? I mean, the creator of the numbered series of cards, Mr. Cao Dong!”

Chen Mu acknowledged her dryly. “You got me. It’s amazing you guys could find out about me.”

“Ha ha.” Qiu Shanyu’s face was pale, and there wasn’t a trace of joy in her laughter. “The reason we knew about the Yang Clan Auction House was thanks to the help of your numbered series of cards. It wasn’t only me; everyone was looking for the mysterious card master behind the Yang Clan Auction House. Faya was lucky enough to be the first. It was a shame Yang An didn’t cooperate, so we didn’t obtain the results as we had wanted.” She looked at Chen Mu. “Your identity as a card artisan has always been misleading. Heh. Never could I have imagined that after Heiner Van Sant, there is finally another person who is a card artisan and a card master at the same time! Losing to you, Mr. Cao, I have no complaints.”

She raised her head suddenly. “From our investigation, we detected a more matured communication signal in Pomelo besides the Central Island Firm’s jungle communication technology. It must have been your masterpiece, Mr. Cao?”

Before Chen Mu could answer, she nodded to herself. “I’m sure it was. The key to jungle communication technology is still in the card. Only one person is capable of making it happen in Pomelo, and it is definitely you! Never had I realized that you even excel in card appliances. It came to me as a surprise!”

Chen Mu was shocked deep down; Qiu Shanyu’s reasoning abilities were incredible. However, he didn’t know she was more surprised than he was at that moment.

Hundreds of years have passed since the implementation of the Van Sant System. Not a single individual who is both a card master and a card artisan has emerged since. Who is this Cao Dong? He makes cards, uses card artisan techniques, and has even mastered the exclusive techniques of the cardless sects, and card appliances, too! In her eyes, the identity of the man standing before her was shrouded in mystery.

What else can he do? Who exactly is he?

She wasn’t quite so impressed with Chen Mu’s card artisan and cardless sect techniques; Faya wasn’t short of excellent card artisans. Nonetheless, his superb card making skills and jungle communication technology would make any company give up everything for him.

“Why did you attack the Tai-shu family?” Chen Mu got straight to the point, which had also been the true aim of that day’s mission.

“Because we need talking rights,” Qiu Shanyu replied simply, which wasn’t what Chen Mu had expected. He hadn’t imagined she would be that cooperative.

“Talking rights?” Chen Mu was confused. He couldn’t figure it out.

Qiu Shanyu didn’t conceal anything. “You should know Moon Frost Island is setting up a Heavenly Drum Village District Alliance. Though everyone is trying to stop them, thanks to Jia Yingxia, the alliance’s conception seemed unstoppable.” She shot a glance at Chen Mu and explained without a pause, “However, the Heavenly Drum Village District has countless influences among itself, so Moon Frost Island needs to mediate all of the conflicts. That was why they established the parliamentary system. Since the Tai-shu family is one of the most ancient families in the village, they were given the right to vote.”

“So, that was the reason you all wanted to kidnap the three young Tai-shu masters?” Chen Mu sneered.

Qiu Shanyu replied nonchalantly, “Tai-shu Yong rejected us straight away. He is too short-sighted for not understanding what is happening at the moment. He instead lingers on some glorious dream of the past! We had to give him some pressure.” She looked at Chen Mu with thoughts swirling her mind. “I never expected Mr. Cao would show such great interest in the Tai-shus. Ah. Now I remember. The mysterious card artisan called the White Commander from the Tai-shu household must be you, Mr. Cao. That’s why our mission failed. Our mission was destined to fail with someone as powerful as you on their side.”

Chen Mu was in awe. From merely a sentence of mine, Qiu Shanyu was able to guess my other identity. Her keen intelligence is terrifying.

Qiu Shanyu was clearly enjoying it. “I am just confused about something. As someone who is this unique, why are you interested in a declining family? Why were you willing to serve them? I’m intrigued.”

After acknowledging the fact that Qiu Shanyu’s aim had nothing to do with the demonic woman, Chen Mu was feeling worse. Going through the demonic woman was the safest route of removing the green thread in Chen Mu’s body. When he’d found out Faya had the same target as him, the Tai-shus, his first guess had been that they were after the same goal. It was with that thought that he had risked his life by sneaking into Faya’s base with Wei-ah that night. He realized it was all his own misunderstanding.

Chen Mu gave a wry smile in his heart and raised his arm. Looking at the green flower, which grew more dazzling by the day, he was obviously feeling down.

“The Green Mark!” Qiu Shanyu cried out when she saw the mark on Chen Mu’s arm.

He raised his head suddenly. “You know what this is?”

“The Green… It’s the Green Mark…” Qiu Shanyu was mumbling nervously, her eyes fixed on the green flower on Chen Mu’s arm. She completely ignored Chen Mu’s question.

“Someone is here,” Wei-ah announced, having kept silent all the while.

Just as he finished his words, they were already behind Chen Mu and Qiu Shanyu. Qiu Shanyu fell over and went unconscious after a heavy blow landed on her neck. Chen Mu smiled bitterly. These people picked the wrong time! Grabbing Qiu Shanyu, he let Wei-ah pick him up, and they left through the window together.

Under the cover of the night sky and the shadows of the buildings, Wei-ah successfully sneaked both Chen Mu and Qiu Shanyu out. Along the way, they found several groups of card artisans. The enemies were able to figure out their exact location in such a short time, so there must have been something on Qiu Shanyu that led them there.

“Wei-ah, let’s head to the Outer Reaches,” Chen Mu said suddenly. If something were to happen in the city, they would likely be exposed. But in the Outer Reaches, they would have less to worry about. Since Faya had just attacked the Tai-shus, they would keep a low profile to avoid being targeted.

Without a word, Wei-ah changed his direction immediately and rushed toward the Outer Reaches.

Dongrui had no city walls, but not many would go to the Outer Reaches at that time of night. They didn’t use the main road but instead walked their way through the forest.

Wild beasts had been cleared up long ago in a city like Dongrui. Deep in the forest, there would be a monitoring station every few miles, but they would only monitor the trail of a wild beast and would not interfere with the actions of card artisans. Nonetheless, Wei-ah still tried his best to avoid bumping into any monitoring stations.

After making sure they were deep in the forest, Wei-ah stopped and put down both Chen Mu and Qiu Shanyu.