The Card Apprentice

It had been two days and there was no news of Chen Mu. Everyone was nervous. However, they didn’t dare to barge in and could only wait. Wei-ah kept his silence, looked up at the sky, and vanished out of sight.

The heavy rain was interwoven with lightning. The world was in complete darkness.

It was impossible to fly under such conditions. The strongest power shield was no match for the energy hidden in the tyrannical lightning; this was the power of nature. The sky was pitch-black, and a sudden clap of thunder struck the sky. It felt like doomsday.

“Damn it. Why did we have to run into this weather?” a card artisan from Cang Jiang Military Force grumbled.

Another card artisan, still in a state of shock, looked at the thick clouds in the sky. A moment before, the night sky had been severely torn apart by the lightning. Despite being an experienced card artisan, he couldn’t help but fear the power of nature.

“You’re right. What horrible weather. I’ve never encountered such horrid weather. Wood Word Camp is in luck. If it wasn’t for this, we could have caught up with them today.”

“Hmph. They’re at their last breath. Do you think they could travel under such weather? When the freezing rain starts to pour, all living things cease to exist and it’s difficult to move a single step. If we’re stuck, they’re no better off.” replied the card artisan.

Bean-sized raindrops dropped heavily onto their power shield-like stones. The rain that splattered off their power shield condensed into small crystals and fell to the ground, causing a series of crackling sounds.

The two had no choice but to increase the temperature of their power shield to prevent the formation of ice from the rain drops. Otherwise, both of them would have turned into bricks of ice. However, they could feel the energy within their apparatus was being depleted faster than usual.

“That’s true. With this freezing rain, if there was no power shield, one could only freeze to death. But this is advantageous to us. It would have been tough to guard against those people. We would be tired!”

The other card artisan laughed and agreed, “Yes, we just need to look out for rays of light beaming off of any power shield.”

“There’s been no war in the past two years and no way to gain credits. Look, so many soldiers on the team remained stagnant in their positions. It’s such a rare opportunity to take up this mission. I thought it would be an easy task. Who would have expected such horrible weather?” This card artisan had despair written all over his face.

“It’s all right. This freezing rain won’t last long,” the other card artisan comforted him. Suddenly, he asked in a curious voice, “What is this Wood Word Camp? Which technology did they steal? Boss Yan looked murderous.”

“Who cares? Whoever Boss Yan asks us to kill, we’ll kill. Don’t ask so many questions.”

“You’re not curious at all? The aces of the Great Four Coalition Army of the Underworld were sent out. Tut-tut, not just anyone receives such extraordinary treatment.”

…

They didn’t notice that a dark shadow near them had quietly flashed past.

The cold, icy rain hit Wei-ah, yet his expression remained unchanged, as though he felt nothing. He could hear the conversation between the two card artisans very clearly. Where was this team from? Which army was it? He was wary of the two card artisans but indifferent to the news they leaked.

In times of danger, Wei-ah had an extraordinary intuition that was comparable to that of a wild beast. Inside Wei-ah’s indifferent eyes, the intent to kill flashed and vanished quickly.

Wei-ah kept low to the ground, taking cover under the night sky. He moved quietly like a ghost towards the base camp of the Cang Jiang Military Force.

The base camp of the Cang Jiang Military Force was spectacular, with thousands of people holding up their power shields. To save time, Yan Yu ordered the advancing army to carry lights, which was to say, they brought nothing else except food.

The sudden encounter of such horrid weather left the unprepared Cang Jiang Military Force trapped. No one dared to fly in such weather. Anything in the sky could be struck by lightning. There was little chance of survival.

Yan Yu’s gloomy expression was an exact replica of the horrid weather. He felt that the weather was a bad beginning of the chase, and he was frustrated. All the card artisans chose to stay far away from him. When Yan Yu was in bad mood, it was a rule of thumb to stay far away from him. Yan Yu was a capricious and ruthless man; all the men working under him were afraid of him.

In the dark, Wei-ah snuck into the base camp of the Cang Jiang Military Force. The visibility was extremely low, and with their power shields covered with splattering rain, card artisans were basically blind to their surroundings. In addition, the card artisans didn’t imagine the possibility of someone walking through the bad weather without a power shield.

Wei-ah’s movements were gentle and silent.

In Chen Mu’s mind, the demonic woman was the number one killer and Wei-ah was the number one wild beast! The demonic woman was an expert in manipulating darkness and environments to her advantage. Her countless strange and foul strategies were fresh in Chen Mu’s mind. In contrast to Wei-ah’s attack style, his was simple and direct. Yet his attacks were filled with power and violence so that no one could avoid his barbaric attacks.

If the demonic woman and Wei-ah were to duel, Chen Mu wouldn’t hesitate to announce Wei-ah’s victory. Wei-ah had incredible instincts during duels and could keep his composure throughout a fight. Basically, Chen Mu hadn’t ever seen Wei-ah’s eyes flicker, not even when facing Faya’s Bronze Masked Man. Even then, Wei-ah’s glare was more than serious.

The number of card artisans in the base camp was a little too large. Wei-ah scanned the surroundings. The field was filled with power shields. If one looked from above, it would look like thousands of glowing eggs. Power shields could emit a dim light, but not one strong enough to light up its surroundings. On the contrary, card artisans who were inside their glowing power shields had difficulty seeing their dark surroundings.

Beasts were always full of intrinsic intelligence.

Chen Mu had a profound and unforgettable experience of this. It was someone else’s turn to experience it. It would be impractical and absurd for him to kill all the card artisans all by himself.

Notify the rest? He looked at the clouds. Perhaps others couldn’t spot the difference, but he knew the clouds were thinner than before, and the sky was a little brighter. These minute changes were hard to spot, but Wei-ah detected them flawlessly. He abandoned the idea.

Woody was clearing his stage; this was the first issue that jumped into his mind. He didn’t understand the craft of a card artisan, yet he clearly knew that Woody was at a serious stage and these people apparently were waiting for the moment, too.

He wouldn’t let these people interrupt Woody.

His movements were softer while he coldly gazed at and examined the camp from time to time. Wei-ah was searching for a victim, one that would cause sufficient damage to the Cang Jiang Military Force. From his understanding, these people were like a herd of animals, and all he would need to do was hunt the king of the herd! As long as the leader of the herd was killed, the rest would scatter!

He remained hidden and stayed in place. Wei-ah was in the best location. The closest card artisans were fifteen feet away, and he was in a blind spot.

Wei-ah searched patiently for his target. His expression was consistent though he was fully drenched in the rain. The rain on him froze into ice. Wei-ah laid on his stomach, looking like a puddle of water from far. He didn’t get rid of the ice on him; the sound of the ice breaking would attract unwanted attention.

In a short span, the ice accumulated on his body became thicker and thicker. However, it was to his advantage for hiding out, as from the outside, he didn’t look the least bit like a human form. Only a pair of eyes weren’t covered in ice.

Wei-ah’s gaze was fixed on a child-like man not far away.

Nobody would recognize Yan Yu as the chief commander if they hadn’t known him in the first place. That baby face and short stature were the best cover-up. What chief commander would look like a child?

But Wei-ah’s gaze never moved since he first fixed his eyes on him. Wei-ah had found the leader of the team!

There was no one around this seemingly child-like card artisan. The other card artisans seemed very afraid of him.

What attracted Wei-ah’s attention was this person’s murderous aura. Wei-ah’s was sensitiveto such a murderous aura. Even Chen Mu would candidly admit defeat. This card artisan looked like a child, yet giving off a murderous aura, along with his piercing gaze, proved that he wasn’t a simple man.

Wei-ah didn’t attack immediately. He searched with his gaze once more, but there were no other suspicious targets. When his eyes were locked on Yan Yu again, he was ready to attack!

Yan Yu looked at the thick clouds and felt less frustrated than before. The sky was filled with lightning and the sounds of thunder raged, but the weather was getting better. It wouldn’t be long before the weather became good enough to immediately catch up with the Wood Word Camp.

In fact, when the White Commander had been recruiting card artisans, many different forces had planted spies. He had also intervened. It was unintentional, but it was unexpected that his unintended action had brought him such amazing benefits in return. He felt excited just thinking of the reported information from his spies.

Yan Yu wasn’t interested in seeking hegemony. He only enjoyed fighting and killing! However, his brother wanted power and that was enough reason for him to do anything for him.

Although he wasn’t interested in power, it didn’t mean he was foolish. Being able to enter the top ten of “The Black Line Star List,” his talent was undoubtedly astonishing, and he was definitely clever. If the reported information was true, it would surely be enough to shock the Heavenly Federation.

He didn’t care if it was going to be shocking. What he cared about was the White Commander! He was Caesar’s student, the student of Caesar, the God of Slaughter! What was more exciting than this?

A cruel and fanatical smile lifted the corners of his mouth, and his whole body shuddered involuntarily. The surging intent to fight echoed in his chest. Any thought of the fight nearly made him howl with anticipation.

All of a sudden, he stopped all his movements, and his expression darkened.

It felt like someone had thrown a wet blanket over him. His outpouring will to fight faded in a moment. He began to tremble instinctively.

A cold wind seized him and chilled his spine; he sensed a murderous aura. It was overwhelming!