The Card Apprentice

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

The trees in the forest were extremely tall, and their trunks were so thick that it would take seven or eight people to join hands around them. The canopy went up from 20 meters off the ground. Every one of the trees was huge, leaving a lot of space between them where the ground was covered in a layer of snow. There was no visible undergrowth. For that reason, the snow shuttle vessel could move freely through the forest. To avoid colliding with any tree trunks, however, the shuttle couldn't move very fast.

Sunshine had no way to penetrate the thick foliage, so it was quite dark in the forest. The flickering shadows from the trees looked rather terrifying. The passengers on the vessel had long since clustered in a quaking ball of fear. Since they were afraid of offending those vicious card artisans, no one even dared to cry.

The ten card artisans were carefully guarding all around the snow shuttle vessel, maintaining a state of high alert. It was hard for them to hide how exhausted they were. It had been difficult to get rid of the card artisans accompanying the vessel. Although they had cleverly used the bright-eyed raptors as their vanguard, the adversary's rally on the verge of death had forced them to use a lot of their physical strength.

In battles among card artisans, if you didn't win, you died. No one would dare to be the least bit lax, even if they did have the upper hand.

Xiu, xiu, xiu!

There was a sudden, strange whistling sound like wind blowing through fine openings. It was approaching them at high speed. There was no need to shout a warning, as all of the card artisans halted and looked to be in a state of alert. The snow shuttle vessel also stopped, and the two card artisans aboard stood up nervously and went to the open hatch.

"Look out! It's wavy snow bats!" a card artisan shouted out in a somewhat terrified voice. The looks on the other card artisans shifted, and the glow of their energy cloaks brightened. They were playing out their energy cloaks' capabilities to the extreme.

Just as the shout faded, dozens of palm-sized white wavy blades came shooting from all directions in the forest toward the card artisans stopped in midair. The murderous, cold, knife-like blades were as fast as lightning and coming straight for them!

Pu, pu, pu!

Three card artisans' energy cloaks were easily penetrated by the white wavy blades. The energy cloaks, which seemed so substantial, had been no use in the end. They were shattered with a ping into shards, forming a crystalline, smoky haze, within which three columns of blood shot from the chests of three people. The screams of misery echoed through the forest until finally being blown into silence by the cold wind.

The rest of the card artisans were stunned, though no one dared to let themselves be distracted, as their own energy cloaks were shaking violently. If there were to be another attack wave, they could only escape their own cover to meet their own deaths.

By then, the white wavy blades had dimmed quite a bit. Everyone could then see quite clearly that those white wavy blades were actually a cloud of white bats.

Wavy snow bats were small and flat, with two wings that spread no more than the size of a person's palm. They were as quick as lightning, coming and going like the wind. When they flew at high speed, they could form the surface of their bodies into flat-shaped, thin layers of energy. They were as sharp as a spear when squeezed into a high-speed attack. Wavy snow bats were the killers of the forest and liked sudden sneak attacks. Their prey would already be shot through by the time they were discovered!

In the midst of that attack, the wavy snow bats clearly looked like they wanted to leave. They had never thought the beautiful energy cloaks would be as firm as they were, so they had been knocked dizzy when they hit them. That slowed their movements for a while.

That batch of unknown card artisans had a lot of actual battle experience, but they had been attacked too suddenly. They never would have expected the wavy snow bats to be so terrifying. But it made them feel both surprised and angry when they saw their own comrades violently killed right in front of them. Seeing the bats' signs of exhaustion, they made their moves.

Each of those guys was extraordinarily ruthless. They well knew that if they didn't take advantage of the wavy snow bats' exhaustion, their chances of prevailing would be really low once the bats recovered the flashing speed they'd just displayed.

Wavy blades, energy shuttles, energy balls…

Any card artisan would detest such a speedy wild animal as the wavy snow bat. They would never be able to move so freely as the wavy snow bats did in the forest. Moreover, right in the middle of their attacks, they would immediately retreat far away. Such opportunistic attacks were vexing beyond endurance.

Pa, pa, pa! They hit seven of the wavy snow bats, which exploded into several balls of bloody mist. The bats were typical of wild animals with great attack power but weak defenses. Their ability to defend themselves was quite deficient; once attacked, there was really nothing they could do.

All colors and shapes of energy bodies were flying all over in a maelstrom. In order to avoid being left on edge again along the rest of their route, the card artisans hardened their hearts to wipe out all of the wavy snow bats. The let loose all of their firepower, with energy bodies cascading like crazy. Wood chips would fly when they hit the huge tree trunks, making an incredibly chaotic scene.

Many more clouds of bloody mist appeared in the air, most of which were the wavy snow bats being annihilated by the energy bodies that filled the sky and covered the earth. However, three of them had succeeded in penetrating the energy cloaks. Those three had remained far less affected than the other bats because of their successful penetrations. They had maintained their lightning-fast speed.

Seeming to know how hard it was going to be to safely escape such dense firepower, they once again demonstrated a stunning and chilling attack.

The bursting tips of three white glowing beams were impossible to miss in the colorful net of fire. One of the white beams collided with a red beam and blew into a ball of blood with a pow. The other two white beams succeeded in penetrating through gaps in the net of fire, mercilessly shooting toward two card artisans in midair.

Poof!

The energy cloaks, which had just been heavily hit, couldn't block the two fierce blows. There was another crisp shattering sound followed by two more mournful screams.

The two wavy snow bats, whose glow was dimmed, were quickly blown up. But the two comrades who fell headlong from midair reminded everyone how electrifying that brief confrontation had been. The surviving card artisans were grateful. None of them could help but wonder whether they would have been able to block it if they had been hit.

The lead card artisan looked bad. There had been no casualties during the hijacking of the snow shuttle vessel. Who would have thought that after such a successful hijacking, they would immediately lose five card artisans? Several of them had been with him for a long time! Looking around, there were now only eight of them left. Still, it made him feel a little safer.

No matter what, they would have to hit it big that time. That was his resolute thought.

* * *

Chen Mu opened his bright, clear eyes with a fluid gaze.

He had never thought he could have subconsciously learned deep tranquility when he was in his coma. That had actually given him a great way to restore his abilities! In a brief half hour, he'd lost any sign of his soreness and exhaustion. His whole body was unspeakably light and full of power. What made him still more surprised was that his perception had also been mostly restored. Although it hadn't been fully restored, it was about 70 percent of normal.

That wonderful deep serenity! If it weren't for his being trapped by imminent danger, he would have been itching to immediately explore its mysteries.

If I were to put the deep serenity to good use…

Too bad he didn't have the opportunity just then to research it. That cloud of petite, cute white bats had really surprised him. The dangers of the forests were truly endless, after all.

But he immediately realized his best opportunity would be right then! Having just gone through a thrilling battle, the card artisans had been hit hard. They also took a hit to their martial spirit. They had just relaxed their uptight nerves, and they had also greatly depleted their power cards. Those were the perfect conditions for Chen Mu.

Moreover, he had keenly taken note that the snow shuttle vessel wasn't progressing in a straight line. Chen Mu had plenty of experience in the woods; to be so bold as to drive like that made it clear that the one driving was familiar with the forest. The actions of that gang of card artisans had obviously been premeditated.

Chen Mu didn't believe they would dare to provoke any large team with just those ten card artisans. There were quite possibly many more of their comrades up ahead. If that were true, he would really be stuck in a siege and wouldn't be able to reverse the situation no matter how much ability he had.

His chances of survival would be greatly enhanced if he were able to break out and escape into the forest. He wasn't afraid of anyone in the forest except for Wei-ah. As for the other passengers on the vessel, he wasn't stupid enough to think he could rescue them. He would be lucky to get himself out of there alone.

His thinking was as lucid as could be, and he promptly decided to make his move. The passengers had long since been cowed to the ground, afraid of making any careless disturbance, so Chen Mu's moves went unnoticed.

Moving like a cat, Chen Mu silently lay in ambush to the side of the hatch. A nearly undetectable light green glow came from his fingers. Sure enough, the Hundred Changes was worthy of all the hard work he'd put into making it. Its minuscule energy fluctuations made Chen Mu perfectly satisfied.

"Go inside the vessel, Ah Jiang, and take a good look around. If anyone is disobedient, don't show them any mercy." The lead card artisan spoke lightly, but any card artisan used to his temperament would know he had been enraged by that cloud of wavy snow bats.

A young card artisan of about 27 or 28 nodded and walked toward the hatch of the snow shuttle vessel.

"Look alive!" the lead card artisan snapped, the heavy losses having enraged him. Although that battle had been brief, it had clearly been a huge blow to those card artisans. They couldn't help but show some dispirited slack in their expressions, and the snapping of the lead card artisan obviously wasn't very effective.

The lead card artisan frowned slightly, but he knew it would be a waste of words to say anything more. Then, when the young card artisan had just entered the snow shuttle vessel, he waved his hand. "Let's go."

At that moment, however, things suddenly changed.