The Card Apprentice

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

When he was on the grass at Eastern Wei Academy that sunny day, it was that voice which had come from behind him. It had reminding him of being stymied by that fantasy card. He still remembered that voice very clearly, having helped himself to much deeper detail than what was in that mysterious card.

His gaze turned in that direction of a sudden.

The group around 'Allah' Gong slowly stood up one by one, looking at Ma Siying with malicious intent.

By that time, most of those who had been in the classroom had left, with only a few remaining.

Just then, someone next to 'Allah' Gong noticed Zuo Tingyi and Hong Tao sitting toward the last row. His face instantly changed color and he tugged at 'Allah' Gong.

'Allah' Gong also noticed Zuo Tingyi, and his face also changed. He'd heard of Zuo Tingyi since entering the school, and so he'd been avoiding any conflict with him. He hadn't imagined that he would finally run into it.

Pa! The loud sound a book being shut.

Zuo Tingyi stood up without any expression on his face, "I am Zuo Tingyi from the disciplinary office. Your behavior has already violated the school regulation manual articles one hundred seventeen, forty-nine, and one-hundred forty-two. And you have violated the first article of the 'Eastern Wei Academy Exigent Temporary Regulations' issued three days ago. And the ninth and the thirty-second. The circumstances are serious. Please each of you come with me for a trip to the disciplinary office."

Judging from the identical involuntary changes which came about on everyone's face, Zuo Tingyi's notoriety had become known to everyone at Eastern Wei Academy, without exception.

'Allah' Gong had an ugly look on his face, but cowed by Zuo Tingyi's notoriety, he still politely said, "Big brother Zuo, this is an overstatement. We are all sure to see a lot of one another, so there's no need to take this so seriously."

Zuo Tingyi didn't pay him any mind, and as before his face was expressionless, "No need to speak, accompany me to the disciplinary office."

Copper tugged at Chen Mu next to him and gave him a look to indicate that they'd better leave. The two of them had seen enough of that sort of thing to know that it would be better to be safe than sorry. It wouldn't be worth their while to wade through that pool of muddy water, although as far as Copper could tell, neither side was likely to be good guys.

Like a block of wood, Chen Mu didn't move. That left Copper dumbfounded. What kind of wrong medicine did this guy take today? As far as he knew, Chen Mu couldn't be full of any sort of chivalrous sensibility. If anyone had gone through a few years of the life they'd lived in their youths, and was still full of chivalry, they were either a fool or very ambitious. Chen Mu was neither of those things. But Chen Mu was out of character that day, which confused Copper. Anyway, since Chen Mu wasn't moving, Copper naturally maneuvered right along with him. This didn't really require any thought; no matter if it was Copper or Chen Mu, either would do the same.

'Allah' Gong's face suddenly turned really ugly, since it had never occurred to him that Zuo Tingyi wouldn't even grant him that little bit of face. But it was obvious that Zuo Tingyi was coming after him. He was used to rampaging around the school and coming to this step had already given Zuo Tingyi a whole lot of face.

"Talking like this, isn't school-mate Zuo even intending to give me this little bit of face - this respect - anymore?"'Allah' Gong's face chilled, and his voice became blood-curdling. As soon as his voice dropped, the running dog lackeys all around him stood up one by one, and their expressions were not good.

"Yo, look at this fellow, so brazen to not even fear death, ho ho." Hong Tao stood up very slowly, ridiculing with perfect ambiguity, while it looked like he was casually touching the apparatus on his right wrist with his left hand, without forgetting to jeer at Zuo Tingyi, "I say Tingyi, nobody else is really buying what you're selling. Has your upstanding reputation been ruined by going this far?"

Hong Tao was also a well-known person at the school, although his name recognition naturally would never achieve the scope of Zuo Tingyi's, and what was more, his name depended on his strength. As a commanding person in the card master department of Eastern Wei Academy, Zuo Tingyi's strength was bottomless. It was said that he was already spoken about alongside professional card masters.

And now you could see that those weren't empty rumors.

A card artisan next to 'Allah' Gong saw the position of Hong Tao's left hand, and his face changed slightly to take on a grave look. That guy must have been at least over thirty, and one look at him would be enough to know he wasn't a student. Most likely 'Allah' Gong's old man understood that his precious son was likely to stir up trouble out there, so he dispatched a strong body-guard to protect him. That sort of thing was common among the princelings and the 'big girls', and the school kept mostly silent about it.

Hong Tao gave a smile that wasn't a smile seeing the card artisan, while between the fingers of his left hand, two fire-red little dragons where walking around in lively fashion. These two small dragons were only as thick as a thumb, though the scales on their bodies were clearly visible.

That card artisan suddenly became very wary of the two little dragons, and made ready for attack. Seven fly-green glowing points appeared at his side, floating around his body like seven fireflies.

It was Chen Mu's first time to see a card artisan battle, and so he was very curious. The little dragon in Hong Tao's hand must have been like a shrunken version of the one he'd made, while those glowing firefly dots around the card artisan only numbered seven and were a long way from the way that blind person waved his hand in that advertisement, making a wild multicolored meteor shower.

Hong Tao's eyes suddenly flashed, and electricity shot from one of the little dragons when his right index finger tapped once.

So fast! Chen Mu's heart stopped, watching as a spectator. Because of his practicing those exercise gymnastics, his reaction time was quite a bit quicker than before. But facing that kind of speed, he guessed he would never be able to dodge it.

That card artisan was also no slacker; three glowing dots shot over to the little dragon, filling half the space with their trails, leaving three beautiful traces on Chen Mu's irises.

An extremely sharp boom suddenly pricked everyone's ears with pain. When the two collided, the destructive energy released an intense shock wave.

Chen Mu then felt as though he'd been pushed, almost unable to stand up. Needless to say, everyone else in the room was unsteady as well.

But as the two didn't intend go any further, the situation had gone back to a standoff.

Not understanding it, Chen Mu gave a flash of envy watching the battle.

Inside the empty formal classroom, apart from the standoff, Chen Mu and Copper stood out very conspicuously.

"These two friends look a little bit unfamiliar. I wonder, in which department are they aces?"'Allah' Gong said, abruptly turning around and looking at Chen Mu and Copper with a slight smile. Not knowing those two guys' backgrounds, keeping down the mistakes improved the chances of winning. It seemed like a good strategy.

Chen Mu said nothing as though he had heard nothing, while Copper was also keeping his mouth tightly shut.

'Allah' Gong immediately pulled back the smiling expression on his face, getting angry. If Zuo Tingyi and Hong Tao weren't buying what he was selling, he felt that was normal, since after all, their families were impressively widely known. But those two guys - as was clear from what they were wearing - . . . he knew that their families had no background. But who went so far as to act heroic in front of him? That enraged him.

He gave a look at the two underlings at his side.