The Card Apprentice

It was the sign of a battle’s turning point when Wei-ah, Chen Mu, and the Demonic Woman appeared on the battlefield.

Even though the Moqi Clan had the upper hand, they were inferior to the cardless sects in the aspect of maneuvering skills. Hence, the battle seemed to have stalemated. However, Wei-ah’s arrival crushed the morale of the cardless sects’ immediately.

Instead of killing Benji directly, Wei-ah hit him repeatedly before tossing him onto the ground. Benji’s stiff body was lying on the floor as though he was a corpse. After they were done dealing with Benji, Chen Mu and the two others commenced their massacre of the cardless sects.

“The Eternal Night” that Chen Mu was holding was also a strong weapon. It did not carry any sound, scent, or light, and there was no way the enemy could detect or hide from it. Since they were at a stalemate, this card acted as the last straw that could break the camel’s back and ended the battle. The cardless sects had abruptly fallen into despair and began to move clumsily in panic. Chen Mu moved leisurely as if he was harvesting paddies, the enemies fell wherever he set foot on. As Chen Mu was not wearing a mask this time, the Moqi Clan recognized him immediately and their spirit was significantly boosted.

Compared to Chen Mu, Wei-ah and Demonic Woman fought more straightforwardly. Wei-ah was direct and violent. He attacked to kill. The cardless sects were terrified when they were facing him, and many of them gave up entirely.

For Demonic Woman, she lurked around in the darkness with her black vine quietly. The black vine attacked all directions and struck vital areas like the throat and the heart without any warnings. Unpredictably, one might be strangled or poked by the black vine. A single attack was fatal enough, and she would vanish into the darkness before the dead body even landed on the ground.

Li Duhong was extremely excited to meet Chen Mu and Wei-ah in person, but he was more mature and calm than before. After he saw that they had gained the upper hand, he promptly switched their mode from attacking their enemies to trapping their enemies.

The cardless sects who had intended to escape were now trapped within the protection net that was made up of uncountable blue filaments. They had no choice but to retreat. The Moqi Clan moved forward in unison and the circumference that trapped the enemies gradually shrank.

The current situation was most beneficial for Wei-ah to attack. Wei-ah was like a lion within a herd of lambs. The enemies fell down one after another as blood splashed across them. The number of cardless sects plummeted at a shocking speed, yet, Wei-ah showed no sign of slowing down. Chen Mu noticed the difference in Wei-ah’s behavior. Carrying a frightening and ferocious aura, Wei-ah was acting like the day they attacked Snow Edge Valley. With no expression and a pair of slightly red eyes, he was harvesting the lives of the enemies like a machine.

Chen Mu let out a faint sigh and paused his action. He waved his hand at Li Duhong, gesturing him not to interfere. Demonic Woman, too, returned to Chen Mu’s side as she could not perform her best in the current situation.

Despite not knowing precisely what grudge Wei-ah held against the cardless sects, Chen Mu could vaguely guess it. There was a terrible resentment among the two parties. Chen Mu almost understood the situation when he recalled what Wei-ah told him before, as Wei-ah asked him for a favor.

The cardless sect numbers continued to decrease. Some of them had lost their sanity and resorted to surrendering themselves. But, Wei-ah could not be bothered as he continued his massacre.

Chen Mu had never seen any sorrow on Wei-ah’s face. However, he could feel the unspeakable anguish as he looked at Wei-ah, who resumed his slaughtering silently. He had to help Wei-ah no matter what happened! At that moment, Chen Mu’s objective was clear. Li Duhong noticed the change in Wei-ah too, and he carried a simpler thought as he looked at the cardless sects with his eyes filled with hatred. For him, Wei-ah was his closest kin! All he wanted to do was to kill every one of them! But, as he was stopped by Chen Mu, he acted rationally and stepped away. However, the cardless sects who intended to break the circumference and escape were all ‘welcomed’ with open arms.

The battle ended in the blink of an eye. There were bodies everywhere, and the scent of blood spread across the atmosphere. The redness in Wei-ah’s eyes gradually reduced, and he returned to his usual self. He walked towards Benji and slapped on his body multiple times until Benji regained his ability to move.

Looking pale, Benji no longer appeared composed. He had just witnessed Wei-ah’s merciless slaughter. The minimal courage he had initially to fight with Wei-ah had now vanished entirely.

“Just kill me,” Benji stared right at Wei-ah as he spoke in agony, “It’ll leave no regret for me to die in the hands of the First Warrior within this domain.””Why do you all…?” Wei-ah asked unexpectedly.

“Why?” Benji was bewildered. Shortly after, he understood the question. He looked at Wei-ah before bursting into abrupt laughter. “You own the three most beautiful mountains. Many people are jealous of you, even an arrogant person like the King is no exception. Haha! You carry the title of the First Warrior, yet, you do not want to bend your knees for the King. You are everyone’s ultimate target. If you die, we can share the three mountains amongst ourselves.”

Wei-ah was startled. “Haha. But, you’re also very pitiful. Although you are the First Warrior, you’re insensible, hence, a loner. Haha. What happened to the rest of your clan? You’re the sole survivor. Yes, you’re the First Warrior. However, you’re nothing but a slightly larger rock in front of the King. Anything that blocks the King’s way will be removed. Haha!” Benji laughed, almost hysterically.

Wei-ah blurted out, “He’s not King.” Benji’s laughter halted. After a long while, he asked in a slow and confused manner, “You’re saying… He’s not a king? How is that possible?”

“I’ve seen his face. He’s not the King,” Wei-ah replied.

“Impossible… Impossible! That’s not possible!” Benji yelled in panic. The news had stunned him greatly! He stared at Wei-ah in shock. After a long pause, he asked, “Really?” Wei-ah did not answer. He stood up, turned, and left.

“Explain to me! Explain to me clearly! He’s not the King? How is that possible…” Benji sprang from the ground and shrieked behind Wei-ah’s back. Wei-ah was not bothered. He walked toward Chen Mu and said, “Let’s go.” Seeing Benji who had turned demented, Li Duhong was considering whether or not he should kill him. However, when he saw Wei-ah and Chen Mu who were walking further away, he quickly chased after them.

Chen Mu gently patted Li Duhong’s head. He was pleased and slightly sentimental. Li Duhong removed his mask and giggled like a child. His usual quick-wittedness was nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, the members of the Moqi Clan were significantly energized as they were celebrating gleefully. They had conquered a disaster that almost destroyed the entire Moqi Clan. Thus, they were very grateful and respectful to Chen Mu, who had successfully led them to survival.

Chen Mu asked about their lives in Lower City during the conversation. Knowing that they had recovered, Chen Mu felt glad for them. All of a sudden, he noticed the gloves Li Duhong was wearing, and as he recalled their powers during the fight. Slightly intrigued, he then asked. “Who made this pair of gloves? Alfonso?”

Li Duhong promptly removed the gloves and handed it to Chen Mu, as if he was exhibiting a treasure. “Yes. Alfonso spent a lot of effort to finally invent this. He calls this the Power Gloves, but we call it the Blue Filament Gloves.”

“Power Gloves?” Chen Mu was baffled. Despite being able to vaguely guess its capabilities, Chen Mu had not foreseen the invention of this item. He had not expected that Alfonso could create the Power Gloves.

He observed the Power Gloves closely after receiving it from Li Duhong. In terms of structure, the Power Gloves, that were made by Alfonso, were very different from the other Power Gloves he had seen before. However, generally, they were still quite similar to the normal ones. The only difference was that this pair of Power Gloves barely required any perception, but focused more on strength. Anyone who had minimal perception could maneuver it. It was very suitable for the Moqi Clan. Despite having trained their perception under Chen Mu, but their perception was considered rather elementary. On the contrary, Wei-ah’s training that was related to physical fitness was very famous among the Moqi Clan.

In fact, the Power Gloves should be named as the Strength Gloves. It intertwined around the user’s body and formed a unique three-dimensional network. When the shock was applied to it, the power would be disintegrated and dispersed to the user’s entire body. Meanwhile, the user could make use of the blue filaments that were intertwined around the body to gather the strength from all the muscles on the body before one could attack the enemy with a final and fatal blow.

This was a fairly advanced technique among the cardless sects. However, the Moqi Clan could easily achieve this with the help of the Power Gloves. After a thorough check, Chen Mu realized that the card design that was involved in the making of the gloves was not particularly advanced. But, Alfonso cleverly utilized Moqi Clan’s especially delicate metal technology to bypass the weakness. The exquisiteness of the parts of the gloves astonished Chen Mu profoundly.

The square masks they were wearing on their faces were another card appliance in Lower City. It was recovered by Alfonso as well. Likewise, Alfonso was not particularly well-versed with card appliance, and he could only rely on trickery. With the help of the clan’s elaborated metal technology and his barely sufficient knowledge regarding the card appliance, he successfully created the mask in the end.

However, Alfonso’s version of Square Face had many differences compared to the original Square Face. The original Square Face was made to aim at card artisans; hence, it focused on the perception waves and energy waves. On the other hand, Alfonso’s creation of Square Face worked way better for physical scouting. But, being limited by his minimal knowledge regarding card appliance, the scouting of perception waves and energy waves of the Square Face was almost nil.

Being equipped with these two fatal weapons, the Moqi Clan was rarely challenged in the woods. The ferocious beasts had now turned into their daily hunting targets. Indeed, Alfonso was a genius! Chen Mu could not hide his amusement looking at the two card appliances.

“When are you going back to Lower City, Sir? We’ve missed you a lot!” Li Duhong asked, slightly overzealous. Chen Mu replied with a grin, “I suppose I’m not going back now. I’ve another destination to visit, to handle some matters.” The next second, disappointment painted across Li Duhong’s face.

Chen Mu chuckled when he saw Li Duhong’s sad expression. Suddenly, he recalled Qing Qing’s words from before. If Qing Qing was right, Lower City was where the students of Rosenberg built their laboratory. According to Qing Qing, the reason the students of Rosenberg chose the location to develop their laboratory was to research about transit windows. That meant to say that the transit windows were not far away from the Lower City!