The Card Apprentice

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

"Yes." Chen Mu answered firmly.

Tan Yumin was staring into Chen Mu's eyes but Chen Mu did not draw back his sight. They were both staring at each other. The silent hall appeared to be even quiet.

A moment later, she smirked and said, "It looks like I have overestimated my charm. Brother White was not interested in Yumin at all." She looked a little pale and there were tears in her eyes. She then suddenly lifted her head and asked, "Brother White. May I know why is that so?"

"You are out of your mind!" Chen Mu replied without hesitating. This would be his most realistic thought. He had never thought that Tan Yumin would be this crazy. Of her enormous courage of wanting to destroy the Star Court and Bitter Solitude Temple, Chen Mu was undoubtedly impressed. Nevertheless, he would not choose to indulge her craziness which simply ignored all kinds of ramifications.

Moreover, despite his sympathy towards Tan Yumin, he did not like her paranoid and crazy personalities. The most ironic thing he felt in Tan Yumin was the "charity" thing she talked about was nothing but her tools. However, he felt disgusted on how she utilized it as her tool.

Tan Yumin was silenced. After a while, she nodded and said, "Understood. You may leave." Upon finishing her words, she picked up the bracelet Chen Mu had taken off. She then turned around and walked towards the main entrance.

Chen Mu startled. He had never thought that Tan Yumin would allow him leave so easily. He moved his body and follow right behind her. If he was to encounter any danger, he could still take control over her within a short period of time. It could also allow the Yuzi Military Force to learn to be cautious before taking any action.

The door of the main entrance opened quietly. The sunshine from the outside was dazzling. Chen Mu could not help but to squint his eyes.

There was no one there outside the entrance, which was a surprise to Chen Mu.

"Brother White. May I have the gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus as a gift?" Tan Yumin asked without turning her back.

"It's already used up." Chen Mu shook his head.

"How unfortunate," Tan Yumin sighed softly. She suddenly looked at somewhere in a distance and drifted away. She said, "Brother White, after leaving this entrance, we will become foes. You are the first man that I truly admire. Please take care of yourself and do not disappoint me."

Upon hearing all this, Chen Mu was even more surprised. He did not know whether Tan Yumin's words were genuine. He did not care much and said, "It is my pleasure, farewell!"

Afterward, he ascended into the air and flew away from Yuzi Military Force's station.

"Miss," Ji Zhihao was like a ghost that came out of nowhere. He stood beside Tan Yumin and said, "Are you sure you want to let him leave like this?"

"I believe that there must be a lot of people who had already knew that he was here today. We don't necessarily have to fight him today," Tan Yumin said softly as she grabbed the bracelet tightly.

Ji Zhihao was silenced for a while, then he nodded instantly, "Yes. True."

"He had used up the gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus. Zhihao, we have to think of another way." Tan Yumin turned her face and looked at Ji Zhihao with concern.

There was a flash of disappointment showing in Ji Zhihao's eyes. His eyes then turned back to normal. He said nonchalantly, "I do not have a lot of hopes on this. If it was not urgent, I assumed that he wouldn't have to find the gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus with so much effort. We should stop wasting our time on this matter as time is running out."

"Zhihao…" Tan Yumin said.

Ji Zhihao's handsome face was pale but it was extremely kind and gentle. "Fate had been treating me well. I thought that I would have died in the village, but somehow, I met you. When I was 12 years old, I knew that I will not live through 30 years old. The feeling of waiting for my demise every day was really bad."

He laughed at himself.

"Since I was young, I don't have any wish or desire because I know that fate will tell when would be my last day of life. Ever since I met you, I could finally have my first wish. No matter what your wish is, be it good or bad, be it just or evil, it has nothing to do with me! My only wish is to help you in accomplishing your wish before my death! Even if everyone hated me, even if everyone loathed my name, even if these hands were full of blood, I will be by your side along your way in pursuing your wish."

He suddenly stared at Tan Yumin in blank.

"Even if I am exploited by you until the last moment of my life!"

Tang Hanpei's current office used to be headmaster's office room in the past.

In comparison to the luxurious style of Pavchek when he was the headmaster, Tang Hanpei was more of an advocate of simplicity. Even the decorations in the headmaster's room were simple to the extremity, someone would even call it bad. However, this office room was the most revered place of the entire Comprehensive Federation Academy. Every Card Artisan came here to report was full of respect of it.

Tang Hanpei was a man of discipline. He relished frugality and humility, had a routine, and he was always vigilant. He was the kind of man that deserved to be revered by every pupil.

Knock knock.

"Please come in."

Tan Hanpei closed the book in his hands. It was a black hardcover notebook. There were too many marks on the notebook that formed by constant flipping of the book. Through Tan Hanpei's careful actions in closing his black notebook, it showed that he cherished this black notebook very much.

The person who had entered the room was the deputy of Tan Hanpei, Shao Xue. When Tan Hanpei was not in any important position of the Academy, Shao Xue would be his assistant. Now that Tan Hanpei had took over the headmaster position of the Comprehensive Federation Academy, Shao Xue had also became the headmaster's assistant automatically.

Shao Xue was 28 years old and she was wearing formal attire. The slim body of her stood up elegantly.

As she looked at the headmaster that had becoming more dignified day by day, Shao Xue was full of respect towards him. Her gaze involuntarily fell on the thick black notebook in front of Master Tang Hanpei. She was very familiar with this notebook because she had already saw it the first time when she met Master Tang Hanpei. All these years had passed and yet this black notebook had never left her Master's side. Sometimes, she would find her Master look at it with all his attention.

She was curious about the things recorded in the notebook that allowed her Master to cherish so much about. There was a time when she asked about it and her Master told her that it was a gift from his elder brother.

That was the time when she first found out that her Master had an elder brother. However, she found out later that his elder brother had passed away for over 10 years ago. The sadness in her Master's face when he told her the story had her felt guilty for a long time. That was why her memories towards this black notebook was very clear.

"Master must be thinking about his elder brother again." Shao Xue could not help but to make assumption in her mind.

However, she cleared out her thoughts within a short while and reported in a loud tone. " Master, the pursuit team has reached the Seven Gates City. They will reach Dongrui City in approximately five days. According to the information from Dongrui city, Commander White was invited to Tan Yumin's Yuzi Military Force today and he has returned. In addition, we have obtained a new information saying that the Master of the Central Repository of the Classics had passed away. Jie Yanbai had departed and he is on the way to the Central Repository."

Upon finishing her sentence, she stopped for a while so that her Master could have some time to digest this information.

"Anything else?" Tang Hanpei raised his head and asked.

"There is another uncertain news." What uncertain news meant was that the intelligence personnel was unable to prove the authenticity of the information.

"Oh. What's that?" Tang Hanpei showed his uncommon expression of being intrigued.

Shao Xue suddenly became joyful because her Master would not be sad after shifting his attention to his work.

She drew an lively smile and said, "He heard that Su Hanhao from the Desert Camp had infiltrated the Heavenly Drum Village District, but our intelligence personnel is unable to prove it."

"Su Hanhao had broken into the Heavenly Drum Village District?" Tang Hanpei startled. He immediately put on a very interesting smile and said, "It appears that the Desert Camp could not endure the wrongdoing of Jia Yingxia no more. However, I am assuming that Jia Yingxia had predicted this. In terms of setting up strategies in the battlefield, Su Hanhao is way weaker than Jia Yingxia."

He turned silent abruptly to think. After some time, he shook his head and said, "We shall observe for now and adapt to any changes that might happen. Now that the Moon Frost Island has been occupied, please send this order to the pursuit team and tell them to speed up. We need to take down Commander White at all costs. Every force in the Dongrui Region must provide their utmost cooperation."

"Yes! Sir!" Shao Xue answered instantly, but she was showing a little hesitation.

"Anything else?" Tang Hanpei had noticed Shao Xue's unusual expression.

"For the past few days, every frontline directors' private army were less discipline than usual. There had been three conflict incidents happened within this week. Commander Tao could not find any good solution to the issue." Shao Xue said carefully.

Tan Hanpei raised his eyebrows.

This might be a tricky problem. The private armies of each school directors were sent to the front line because of how urgent the situation was last time. Song Chengyan was the middle army and these people were under his command. Furthermore, with the continuing victories afterward, these people were even more loyal to him. However, following by the death of Song Chengyan, the situation had became chaotic.

Tan Hanpei could not find a second Song Chengyan. Therefore, he replaced him with Tao Ning. Tao Ning was the rising talent of the Comprehensive Federation Academy who ranked 13th in the Commander League. Unfortunately, with Tao Ning's capability, she would not be able to rule this complicated army. Moreover, these private armies had became more arrogant after winning several battles. Other than Tang Hanpei, nobody was worthy in their eyes. However, Tang Hanpei would be busy with other works, therefore, he could not possibly command this army himself.

Tao Ning was unable to acquire the loyalty of these experienced veteran, which was expected by Tang Hanpei. That could be the reason why he ordered Tao Ning to hold her ground and not to engage initiatively.

It was supposed to be the golden opportunity, as the Master of the Central Repository of the Classics had passed away and there would be a temporary chaos among them.

"If Chengyan was still alive…"

"It appears that it's time for us to take the revenge." Tan Hanpei mumbled to himself.

The supreme leader of the Comprehensive Federation Academy had sent out the supreme command. He wanted the mixed army commanded by Tao Ning to retreat behind for five subregions distance and set their stations at the Mount Binidia!

Right after this information was released, the entire Jing City was strike.

To retreat from the current mix army station to the Mount Binidia, it would indicate that they had to give up a total of five subregions and 30% of the victories done by Song Chengyan directly. The people could not understand the purpose of Tang Hanpei's command. Why would they give up when it was that close?

Rumor had it that on the day when the order was being sent out, there were over eight directors visited Tang Hanpei directly.

However, Tan Hanpei's attitude was firm. He ordered the mixed army to retreat to the Binidia Mountains within two days. Any teams which caused delay would be penalized heavily.

Though people were unsatisfied, none of them would be dared to violate the military order.

And the moves of the Comprehensive Federation Academy had caught the attention of every party. Nobody could understand what Tang Hanpei was thinking.

While people was expecting that the Faya and Central Repository of the Classics would gladly received these fice secondary regions, the fact that they did not even push their armies forward for a single kilometers was beyond everyone's expectation.

The people started to recall that the Faya and Central Repository of the Classics were knee deep in their own troubles. Therefore, they would not have the mood to think about this.