The Card Apprentice

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The intense cold made Chen Mu's mind surprisingly clear. He was so close to Butchie that he could reach out and touch her. He was too close; he saw the terror in her gaze clearly through the mask, though he felt no satisfaction in his heart. Chen Mu brandished his fists almost unconsciously!

A light green glow enveloped his right hand and formed into a green energy cone around his fist. Because the ice wing, which he had originally had no way to deconstruct, was now so near, it finally appeared complete in fine detail in his black and white world. Chen Mu's fist crashed hard to block the blue ice wing in front of Butchie.

Everyone felt like their own brains seemed a little deficient. Chen Mu's previous series of exquisite moves had made them gasp in amazement. They could be called a classic flow of skill. However, after beating his brains out with such great difficulty to get the advantage—and just when everyone was expecting him to use a still more gorgeous skill to resolve the contest—he instead used the crudest and most direct move, which contained the least skill.

Quite a few people were secretly sorry that after establishing his advantage with such great difficulty, the White Commander would be left with nothing after that reckless move. Even though he had revised the energy body into a cone, no one believed that fist of Chen Mu's could pose any threat to Butchie. That was the Floating Wings of Blue Ice, after all! Every energy blade on the Floating Wings of Blue Ice had shocking power. Among the marvels created by each generation of owners, there had been no lack of cases where depending on its superior defensive capabilities had allowed them finally to survive.

The Floating Wings of Blue Ice combined offense and defense and could greatly increase the speed of the user's movements. The power of the attacks combined with its bone-penetrating chill, which was also why it was recognized as a superb five-star card in the federation. Its every characteristic was perfectly useful, and it became a fantastic card when they were put together!

It was said that the native defensive capabilities of the Floating Wings of Blue Ice were superior to most four-star energy cloaks. There was basically no way for a fist alone to constitute any threat to it.

After going through her initial panic, Butchie saw that her adversary was actually using his fist to attack the Floating Wings of Blue Ice, and she immediately calmed down. She couldn't hide the look of ridicule in her eyes. Everyone knew about the excellent protection the Floating Wings of Blue Ice provided, but they would often forget about its icy chill!

If it weren't for the Floating Wings of Blue Ice being able to protect the card artisan who used it, no one would be able to use it. Any living thing that came in contact with it would freeze solid within a short time, causing tissue necrosis and death. If the energy blades weren't removed in the first instant once was attacked by them, the cold could quickly spread to the whole body, finally turning it into an ice sculpture. The energy blades were their coldest when they were still on the ice wings.

That was obviously the act of an adversary looking to die. No wonder Butchie looked like she was gloating. She hadn't thought that guy would actually not even know about the Floating Wings of Blue Ice. She simply didn't move and waited for her adversary's fist.

Chen Mu's right fist, which was wrapped in an energy cone, accurately hit the ice wing blocking the front of Butchie. In the instant his fist made contact with the ice wing, Butchie—who still had that card up her sleeve—abruptly looked terrified!

Peng!

She was like a soundly deflated ball, crashing to the ground by that fist of Chen Mu's. Hong! The dust splashed from the ground, and the floor shook. Some women couldn't help but scream.

She felt her back hit the floor hard, followed by sharp pain. Butchie involuntarily spit out a mouthful of fresh blood. She was wounded. However, what she was terrified of wasn't the wound to her body; it was the ice wing in front of her.

By then, only the right wing fully remained of the crystal-clear ice wings. Less than one-third remained of the left wing, and what caused her to panic still more was that the left wing had already completely lost control. Energy blades came peeling off from time to time and fell to the ground, emitting a brittle ding. Within a few seconds, it would become a shredded glowing blue tent.

How can this be? Her panic was spreading like toxic weeds in her mind, crawling into her heart in the blink of an eye and eroding her very nerves. How could this happen? It's the Floating Wings of Blue Ice…

During the battle with Qiao Yuan, Faya had suffered heavy losses. Card 013, which she hadn't had for very long, had been destroyed, and she had also been heavily injured. Big brother Hugo had staked his own life in order to save her. She had trained desperately as never before after recovering from her wounds, and her power had increased at a stunning rate. She had become one of the most important aces of her generation at Faya. No one knew why she was so desperate.

Each day in the training room, she would tell herself that her very life half belonged to big brother Hugo. The biggest hope in Hugo's heart had been to become stronger, and she wanted to carry on his will to realize that hope. She wanted to become stronger, half for her own sake and half for big brother Hugo's!

That seeming self-torture of hard training had quickly helped her get her prize—the Floating Wings of Blue Ice! She had heard about the prestige of that card more than once. Starting from the first day she had gotten the card, she had started to train like crazy! With the Floating Wings of Blue Ice, her power had grown by leaps and bounds. For the first time, she could say with certainty that she would realize big brother Hugo's dreams.

But the ice wings that had always filled her with confidence had actually been blown in half by a fist. Nothing but a fist! And, she couldn't even be concerned about that because of her wounds.

Was she still that weak after getting the Floating Wings of Blue Ice? Was having the Floating Wings of Blue Ice still not enough to make her stronger? A look of loss and hopelessness flashed through her eyes!

How powerful was Chen Mu's fist? He wasn't too clear about that, but he did know that he hadn't seen anyone stronger than himself, apart from Wei-ah and the demonic woman, when it came to individual strength. Having gone through the transformation of the gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus, his power and control of his muscles had achieved another breakthrough. That could be seen in part from his completely resorting to air skill. That fist had concentrated the power of his entire body!

However, the biggest reason he had been able to achieve such stunning battle results wasn't because of his strength; it was State Zero! At about the same time he had established the model of the ice wings, Chen Mu had vaguely found its weak point. His punch, which had been utterly without flair, had accurately hit the weak spot determined by State Zero. His own physical strength was better than ever, and all of it had been focused on the tip of the energy cone on his hand. The damage value of the explosion was unrivaled.

Chen Mu was looking at the battered Butchie from midair, though he didn't deliver the coup de grâce! It looked like he certainly had the upper hand to deliver that blow, but his face under the mask was a sheet of white. His right hand…

From his fingers to his shoulder, his right arm had lost all feeling!

While his gaze was filled with an attitude of condescending victory, no one could see its flaw! Those ice wings were impressive, after all! Even though he was in State Zero, his mind was dismayed. His entire right arm had actually been frozen solid in that brief amount of time. The depth of cold from that ice wing was really terrifying!

Taking a look at Butchie on the floor, he could tell her situation was even more unbearable. A shallow pit had been smashed right into the hard floor, making it clear how scary the power of Chen Mu's punch had been. Although she'd had the protection of the ice wings, such a high-speed blow had injured Butchie's body seriously. Not every card artisan's body was as strong as Chen Mu's.

He had a full view of the loss and hopelessness in Butchie's eyes. To give his adversary the fatal blow at such a time would be completely appropriate. It was just that his right hand was utterly not taking orders. It was as though his entire right arm was plunged bare into icy snow for too long and had lost any feeling. No matter, if he were to let such an opportunity slip away, then everything he had planned for that day would come to naught.

So long as Butchie died, the situation in Dongrui City would become more chaotic, and Faya would disintegrate, and he wouldn't have to worry about the unpredictable time bomb of Qiu Shanyu!

Thinking of that, his eyes overflowed with murderousness, and without any further hesitation, his entire body became like an arrow leaving a bow and went shooting toward Butchie on the floor!

There was only one voice in Butchie's blank mind: could it be that her having the Floating Wings of Blue Ice couldn't allow her to complete big brother Hugo's wishes?

How could she . . . how could she . . . how could she complete big brother Hugo's wishes?

A hint of hopelessness flashed through Butchie's eyes as she lifted her head to stare at Chen Mu lunging toward her with a dark gaze!

Then she suddenly disappeared from where she was!

So fast! Still shocked, Rong Ming couldn't help his eyes twitching! That speed of Butchie's was actually faster than the naked eye could see. Such speed . . . was sure enough worthy of the Floating Wings of Blue Ice!

However his expression immediately changed - murderousness!

If he were to say that the previous murderousness was an undercurrent, now there was absolutely nothing hidden in those eyes! Both as sharp as a blade and like a cold wind they raged! The bad feeling in Rong Ming's heart grew more powerful, but at the same time he wasn't going to meddle. He believed that if he were to face the blows of the two of them at the same time, he would be the first to be killed!

In the black and white world, the lock that Chen Mu had on his target suddenly disappeared.

But unlike the disappearing into thin air that everyone else saw, a feeling of danger immediately arose in Chen Mu's heart in that black and white world. Without the least hesitation, Chen Mu made a sudden horizontal roll in his high-speed dive.

Xiu Xiu!

Two icy energy blades grazed Chen Mu's scalp, their cold making the hair on his whole body stand on end.

The two energy blades shot toward the guests below with their remaining energy. Rong Ming frowned and activated the apparatus on his wrist making a circle with his two hands, as a bout of energy waves was emitted. Those two energy blades looked as though they had crashed into an invisible wall. Rong Ming's expression changed slightly, as the energy came gushing out of his hands to effectively block those two energy blades!

How awesome the Floating Wings of Blue Ice was!

The woman looked very young to have so much power. She had endless potential! Still, when his gaze swept over the White Commander wearing the white mask, he didn't know how to describe his own shock, only able to lament about Caesar's good luck. Although the White Commander had never removed his mask, he could tell from his voice that he wasn't very old. That card artisan from Faya had already shocked him, but to be able to repress the card artisan from Faya for so long with an ordinary four-star card, such power would only be comparable to geniuses from the Big Six!

He yelled loudly, "All card artisans erect your energy cloaks, and the rest of you disperse!" The card artisans below all activated their energy cloaks. Of course, it was important for them to watch the excitement, but if they were to lose their lives from it, that wouldn't be worth it. When it come to the guests who didn't have any protection, they were all dispersed outside under the guidance of the servants.

Having said that, Rong Ming was full of worry as he raised his head to look at the two battling in midair.

Having received the chill to his scalp, there appeared a rare energy fluctuation in the zero state, as the black and white world in front of his eyes shuddered. Chen Mu was startled and made a wavy-moon turnabout without quite thinking about it, his whole person like a swimming mudfish, twisting weirdly as he executed that half moon arcing trajectory in a flash.

At nearly the same time, Butchie appeared at a spot only five meters from him, the blood from the corner of her mouth making her look even more murderous. Except that the three energy blades that she had emitted came up blank again. Her adversary's wavy-moon turnabout had exceeded her expectations, so it wasn't so strange for that blow to come up empty.

The black and white world in front of Chen Mu's eyes finally stabilized, and those lines which were changing with incredible complexity looked dazzling.

Chen Mu wasn't distracted by the transformations of those lines but relaxed his mind instead. It was strongly emphasized in the card that Caesar had given him that he should relax his mind. He considered that only by relaxing his mind could he bring the biggest power of the zero state into play. Chen Mu had tried it, and in the state of relaxing his mind, he certainly felt that he had become more astute, and that his intuition had become more accurate.

Was it really that those lines in front of his eyes were truly as Caesar had said, and didn't have any use?

That was the part that he had always doubted. Still, Caesar was the creator of the zero state, and was doubtless the authority, and moreover actual battles had proven in the same way how right he was.

That wasn't the time to refine anything, with Butchie's morale having suddenly soared, along with her battle-style becoming much more aggressive. The pressure on him had steeply increased.

Relax . . . relax . . .

Chen Mu's breathing became gentler, as though he were afraid of waking something up. His body having just conducted the fierce and very difficult wavy-moon turnabout, his breathing became suddenly as though it wasn't even there. A weird phenomenon showed up on his body at the same time.

The first strange thing that Butchie discovered was that her adversary seemed to expect her next move, and her own attacks actually didn't even graze her adversary's clothes. Her gaze suddenly fell onto Chen Mu's face, and when she saw Chen Mu close his eyes, her eyes went red.

Damn! She felt that she was like a mouse being toyed with by a cat. Her adversary could very easily dodge each one of her clearly locked-in attacks. Was he mocking her?

Butchie suddenly held her ground, and stood still in midair.

Seeing that, Rong Ming felt more at peace, he had been about to open his mouth and say something to the two of them that there was only one move left of the ten.

Seeing Butchie suddenly stop, Chen Mu felt an abrupt breath of danger.

That bout of dangerous feeling was so fierce that the black and white world in front of his eyes became clearer than ever; the black and white more distinct! The feeling of shock made him immediately realize that his adversary's next blow would be extraordinary.

Then suddenly the sense from his right hand made him still more determined, as the feeling had started to come back. Although it still wasn't as free to exercise as normal, for him as he was then, it would be critical!

Butchie's face turned white with shocking speed, and the energy fluctuations in the air made the faces of the card artisans below all change! Rong Ming didn't say anything else, but grabbed his daughter by the hand, and swept her out! In the blink of an eye, there was no one to be seen below, where it had just been full of card artisans.

Chen Mu started to change his position endlessly.

Butchie's face was like a sheet of white paper, her eyes suffused with blood, but never leaving Chen Mu. Her lips suddenly turned up, as she smiled lightly toward Chen Mu which was unspeakably weird and made a person's hair stand on end!

Hong!

Without any warning, her left wing exploded!

Countless flakes of jewel-like energy blades blew apart, shooting in all directions. From nowhere, a feeling of danger enshrouded Chen Mu's mind, this time bursting into his heart and blowing up!

He suddenly found that he was surrounded by countless pure-blue energy blades, and that each one of those howling energy blades was exuding a deadly danger, as they came shooting toward Chen Mu from every direction!

How could that be? Chen Mu felt suddenly shocked!

Reasonably speaking, he should have been able to take energy blades from one direction after the explosion of Butchie's left wing! So why were there energy blades flying at him from every direction?

But he couldn't think about that just then.

The feeling of danger in his heart had already become as dense as an un-melted ink stick. That bout of the feeling of danger filled every cell in his body, and then every cell in his body autonomously started to tremble! Without any warning, his heartbeat suddenly became extremely rapid, to the point where he almost couldn't breathe. His body that was being controlled by his mind now seemed to have lost all control!

The energy blades converging from all directions blocked him in every direction!

From Rong Ming's angle, it could be more clearly seen that all of the energy blades constituted an extremely orderly sphere, and in the middle of that sphere was Chen Mu! The sphere was contracting with shocking speed, making it look like Chen Mu was about to be shot into a porcupine!

Rong Ming's brain went blank. If the White Commander were killed there, then would there be anyone left alive in Dongrui under Caesar's rage?

In that life and death crisis, Chen Mu took a deep breath, and powerfully repressed his quickly beating heart! Calm down! He had to calm down! Only then could he find any chance!

All of the problems and all of the stray thoughts were put out of his mind by that time. He closed his eyes and searched for that glimmer of a chance!

So long as there was a glimmer of a chance, he could certainly find it in the zero state.

Under the stimulus of death, all of his senses had become suddenly unusually acute, beyond even his normal standard. There was a greening in that black and white world as though everything had slowed, so slow that he could discover every slightest change!

Relax . . . relax . . .

It was as though he were hypnotizing himself, and his senses took another step forward under the hypnosis!

Then suddenly, Chen Mu opened his eyes! Energy came gushing from his hand to where it nearly sucked out all the energy from his energy card! At the same time, he advanced instead of retreating, raising his head to face the energy blades shooting toward him.

Seeing the energy blades shooting toward his face with such shocking speed, Chen Mu's pupils suddenly dilated - Now!

Pa! Pa! Pa!

So dense that it was like a single sound, which was immediately followed by a loud boom! The countless energy blades were all squeezed to a single point, causing the violent explosion! Sparks bloomed and hot waves suddenly spread all around.

A figure covered in blood came shooting out from the explosion, losing control, as the slowly falling Butchie staggered past. Pop! A blossom of blood suddenly burst open in midair, interspersed with a woman's groan. In her two wide open eyes was a look of disbelief, as her body fell helplessly like a sack of sand and dropped heavily onto the ground.

And that person covered in blood disappeared over the horizon in the blink of an eye.