The Card Apprentice

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

All the preparation work had completed, and now they just had to wait. The atmosphere seemed to be getting serious, and the experienced card artisans kept their mouth shut and they gradually quieted down. Everyone was tidying and checking their equipment repeatedly. No one had ever experienced such a grand battle; just by thinking of the massive number of card artisans already made their hair stand on its end.

In the sky, several black spots gradually enlarged.

It was a hunting squad!

That hunting squad consisted of 20 card artisans patrolled around the area near Qianhu City. Once they discovered any card artisans, they would ruthlessly kill them! Chen Mu and the group had witnessed several card artisans' teams trying to fly across the sky, but without exception, they were shot down.

Chen Mu and the group carefully hid their bodies and concealed their Perception. With the use of a sleeping bag, one could easily bury his body under the snow. And those shuttles were all buried under the thick snow without any trace. When they look at it from afar, the snow forest was nothing unusual, and they had successfully avoided the patrols of several hunting squads.

Suddenly, the hunting squad in the sky turned and flew in another direction. Then, there was a violent explosion in the sky.

The continuous explosions suggested that the battle was extremely fierce. But the card artisans in the valley were confident of their hunting squads; although the battle in the sky was intense, card artisans within the Snow Edge Valley didn't have the intention to help at all.

The battle lasted about five to six minutes, and the sound of explosion was gradually softer. The hunting squad that was loitering in the vicinity was like a shark that smelled blood; they flocked over. In less than three minutes, four hunting squads had arrived to join the battle.

That immediately changed the balance of the battle, and card artisans who were trying to break through were quickly defeated and scattered into various directions; it could be distinguished from the sporadic sound of explosions.

Seeing that the problem was mostly solved, three of the hunting squads turned around and left, while the remaining two hunting squads began to pursue the scattered card artisans. Compared with those ferocious hunting squads, those scattered card artisans were too weak and frail; they had no room for resistance and could only flee in all directions.

A card artisan fled over the jungle where Chen Mu and the rest were hiding, and the hunting squad was only about 400 meters away from him.

At that moment, everyone had their hearts in their mouths.

"Whoosh!"

The hunting squad occupying the higher position didn't hesitate to launch an attack!

More than 20 energy forms interweaved into a web of attacks, and headed towards the only card artisan in sight; blocking all of his escape routes.

Chen Mu's expression darkened!

Not only Chen Mu, but almost everyone's expression had darkened. The web of attacks effortlessly wrenched that card artisan into several pieces. However, the excess energy of the web of attacks bolted towards Chen Mu and his group!

Da*n it!

Chen Mu immediately realized that their exposure was irreparable!

"Go!"

He hollered without hesitation! In such a battle, as a card artisan, his reaction was much faster than that of Bogner!

Everyone was cursing that card artisan who had just died, but they had no hesitation. In that fight, everyone gave their best.

Various energy forms shot out of the jungle and bolted towards the two hunting squads in the sky.

Chen Mu didn't check out the hunting squads in the sky; under such attack, none could survive. If the two hunting squads couldn't be eliminated, then that would be a joke. He wasn't worried about the two hunting squads, but worried that he would alarm the card artisans in the Snow Edge Valley.

Xiaobo and the rest hadn't reached the other end of the Snow Edge Valley, and it wasn't the best time to launch an attack.

However, at that time, they had no other choice!

Chen Mu was sure that they had already alarmed the card artisans in the Snow Edge Valley! The sudden appearance of a massive number of card artisans must have caused the card artisans stationed in the Snow Edge Valley nervous.

However, he knew what he should do now.

The members of the Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team quickly formed a battle formation, and more than 400 card artisans following the team gathered behind.

Over the Snow Edge Valley, there had been a constant appearance of card artisans.

"Attack!"

The whole team darted forward like a torrent, heading for the Snow Edge Valley!

Fiery rain filled the sky once more and those thumb-sized flames danced gently in the air. The expressions of those card artisans in the Snow Edge Valley opposite had darkened.

Perhaps not many people knew of the name "Oudi Burner", but such a unique, lethal and terrible flame was famous among a vast majority of card artisans! There was no need reserve any forms of power, thus all the lethal weapons were used in the first round of attacks.

The unique ear-piercing sound of the "Whorled Sniper Shuttle" set off endless sound waves; blanketing the whole atmosphere!

And the 400 card artisans who were following the team put on their best fight. Among them, those that didn't engage in the battle were either a master like Caesar, or melee card artisans.

The battle seemed to have reached a climax right from the start.

"Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team?" Chai Jun was surprised, but then he laughed. He was worried that he couldn't get credit for staying in that place. He had no idea that God would send such a massive credit to him. Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team was one of the two most vigorous card artisan teams recently; the Chief Military Instructor would reward him if he could annihilate them, he could also gain enough prestige. He also knew that the Chief Military Instructor was very interested in the cards from the Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team that emitted terrible flames.

"That's pretty fierce."

Chai Jun watched leisurely at the throat-cutting battlefield; he turned a blind eye to those card artisans from the Desert Camp, who had been hit by "Oudi Burner", and were yelling in pain.

Seeing that the card artisans were merely darting in, Chai Jun realized that the opponent's tactic was pretty straightforward; he sneered uncontrollably. Nevertheless, it wasn't easy to break out from his territory and formation.

"Sealed the sky!"

On the both sides of the cliffs in Snow Edge Valley, card artisans retreated like a tide, while card artisans behind them flew up one after another, forming an echelon of aggression. Looking from afar, it was like a massive volume of wasps gathered. If the opponent wanted to break through from the sky, the powerful squad wouldn't hesitate to tear the opponent into pieces.

Looking at the heavily guarded sky, Chen Mu couldn't help but frowned. His opponent had engaged all card artisans into the sky. Seeing his opponent's strong defense line, if they were to attack with brute force, the casualties would be absolutely high.

He took a glance at the deep, bottomless and empty canyon; Chen Mu was a little puzzled.

The number of card artisans on the opponent side could be roughly estimated. Now almost all of them were in the sky. Was their intention for Chen Mu and his team to enter the canyon?

The canyon had limited space to accommodate that many card artisans who were in their battles. Moreover, the Snow Edge Valley had a very special terrain; it was different from other valleys in which the top was broader but the bottom was smaller, Snow Edge Valley had a narrow top but broader bottom. The outer look of the mountain was right-angled with a line of light shining through, but at the bottom of the valley, the space was unexpectedly large. The widest part of the valley bottom was more than ten kilometers. The light inside the valley was dimmed because the sky was sealed up.

There must be something mysterious in the valley!

But looking at the massive numbers of enemies in the sky, Chen Mu couldn't help but hesitate. There were more people on the opponent side than his. Non-combatants were sitting in the shuttle, and Bogner was with them; he couldn't command now. Chen Mu could only depend on his own judgment. Just then, Jiao Si lowered his voice as he said, "Walk along the bottom of the valley! We're running out of time!"

Chen Mu was startled; they had to break through at the fastest speed. If they were tied down with those card artisans, they had no chance of survival! No matter what ambush there was at the bottom of the valley, they had to brace themselves and rush in now!

They had to dash in to survive!

As soon as he gritted his teeth, he gave his orders; and some of the card artisans were adjusted to the front.

All of the card artisans were speeding up at the same time!

If they were like a torrent previously, they were like rapids now!

The opponent's attack hadn't stopped and the energy forms pierced through the sky; even in daytime, the sky was mysteriously dazzling.

Chen Mu accelerated as he carefully avoided. He stood firmly beside the Commander's Shuttle, blocking the shuttle from all the energy forms from time to time. Jiao Si was defending on the other side. The attacks were ongoing and advancing rapidly. Along the way, from time to time, card artisans got hit and fell to the ground, but no one went for the rescue; everyone knew that if they were left behind, it was equivalent to death!

In the sky, Chai Jun stood proudly. At that time, he couldn't help but laugh, "The prey is walking into the trap!"

Card artisans who were around him were expressing joy too.

Finally, they made it to the entrance of the valley; the opponent's attacks were visibly lesser than before. Chen Mu couldn't help but worry; during that short path they took, it had caused a high casualty in the Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team!

At last, the weakness of the individual battle ability of the Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team was revealed. Under such a dense attack, many members of the team failed to avoid the attacks and were hit one after another. But with the use of "Ring of Sluggishness", the situation was quickly stabilized.

The "Ring of Sluggishness" was a card Chen Mu made by imitating the "the Field of Snowflakes". It could form an area with a diameter of 15 meters. Once the energy forms of their opponents entered that area, its activity would rapidly drop to a very low level; the flight speed would slow down and the power of the attacks would become very weak, which gave rise to an illusion that time was slowing down in that area. That set of cards required three people to operate at the same time. Since it was made, it was never used in actual combat.

A dozens of card artisans were wrapped in each big bright white ring; like a bright bubble and moving forward at an amazing speed. Any energy forms shot on it were useless; there wasn't any damage to the bubble.

In the sky, Chai Jun was impressed, "This Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team really owns a lot of good things! I've never heard them used it before."

The card artisan next to him came close to him instantly and said, "No matter how good the card is, it'll be yours soon."

Chai Jun laughed, "Ha-ha! You're right!"

As soon as they entered the valley, the light suddenly dimmed. And the card artisans at the very front had to hold up their power shields. The card artisans with protective qualities and melee card artisans were moved to the front.

Within the deep and murky valley, it was like a beast opening its gigantic mouth; it was ghostly and bloodcurdling!

Chapter 556 - An Accident

All the preparation work had completed, and now they just had to wait. The atmosphere seemed to be getting serious, and the experienced card artisans kept their mouth shut and they gradually quieted down. Everyone was tidying and checking their equipment repeatedly. No one had ever experienced such a grand battle; just by thinking of the massive number of card artisans already made their hair stand on its end.

In the sky, several black spots gradually enlarged.

It was a hunting squad!

That hunting squad consisted of 20 card artisans patrolled around the area near Qianhu City. Once they discovered any card artisans, they would ruthlessly kill them! Chen Mu and the group had witnessed several card artisans' teams trying to fly across the sky, but without exception, they were shot down.

Chen Mu and the group carefully hid their bodies and concealed their Perception. With the use of a sleeping bag, one could easily bury his body under the snow. And those shuttles were all buried under the thick snow without any trace. When they look at it from afar, the snow forest was nothing unusual, and they had successfully avoided the patrols of several hunting squads.

Suddenly, the hunting squad in the sky turned and flew in another direction. Then, there was a violent explosion in the sky.

The continuous explosions suggested that the battle was extremely fierce. But the card artisans in the valley were confident of their hunting squads; although the battle in the sky was intense, card artisans within the Snow Edge Valley didn't have the intention to help at all.

The battle lasted about five to six minutes, and the sound of explosion was gradually softer. The hunting squad that was loitering in the vicinity was like a shark that smelled blood; they flocked over. In less than three minutes, four hunting squads had arrived to join the battle.

That immediately changed the balance of the battle, and card artisans who were trying to break through were quickly defeated and scattered into various directions; it could be distinguished from the sporadic sound of explosions.

Seeing that the problem was mostly solved, three of the hunting squads turned around and left, while the remaining two hunting squads began to pursue the scattered card artisans. Compared with those ferocious hunting squads, those scattered card artisans were too weak and frail; they had no room for resistance and could only flee in all directions.

A card artisan fled over the jungle where Chen Mu and the rest were hiding, and the hunting squad was only about 400 meters away from him.

At that moment, everyone had their hearts in their mouths.

"Whoosh!"

The hunting squad occupying the higher position didn't hesitate to launch an attack!

More than 20 energy forms interweaved into a web of attacks, and headed towards the only card artisan in sight; blocking all of his escape routes.

Chen Mu's expression darkened!

Not only Chen Mu, but almost everyone's expression had darkened. The web of attacks effortlessly wrenched that card artisan into several pieces. However, the excess energy of the web of attacks bolted towards Chen Mu and his group!

Da*n it!

Chen Mu immediately realized that their exposure was irreparable!

"Go!"

He hollered without hesitation! In such a battle, as a card artisan, his reaction was much faster than that of Bogner!

Everyone was cursing that card artisan who had just died, but they had no hesitation. In that fight, everyone gave their best.

Various energy forms shot out of the jungle and bolted towards the two hunting squads in the sky.

Chen Mu didn't check out the hunting squads in the sky; under such attack, none could survive. If the two hunting squads couldn't be eliminated, then that would be a joke. He wasn't worried about the two hunting squads, but worried that he would alarm the card artisans in the Snow Edge Valley.

Xiaobo and the rest hadn't reached the other end of the Snow Edge Valley, and it wasn't the best time to launch an attack.

However, at that time, they had no other choice!

Chen Mu was sure that they had already alarmed the card artisans in the Snow Edge Valley! The sudden appearance of a massive number of card artisans must have caused the card artisans stationed in the Snow Edge Valley nervous.

However, he knew what he should do now.

The members of the Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team quickly formed a battle formation, and more than 400 card artisans following the team gathered behind.

Over the Snow Edge Valley, there had been a constant appearance of card artisans.

"Attack!"

The whole team darted forward like a torrent, heading for the Snow Edge Valley!

Fiery rain filled the sky once more and those thumb-sized flames danced gently in the air. The expressions of those card artisans in the Snow Edge Valley opposite had darkened.

Perhaps not many people knew of the name "Oudi Burner", but such a unique, lethal and terrible flame was famous among a vast majority of card artisans! There was no need reserve any forms of power, thus all the lethal weapons were used in the first round of attacks.

The unique ear-piercing sound of the "Whorled Sniper Shuttle" set off endless sound waves; blanketing the whole atmosphere!

And the 400 card artisans who were following the team put on their best fight. Among them, those that didn't engage in the battle were either a master like Caesar, or melee card artisans.

The battle seemed to have reached a climax right from the start.

"Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team?" Chai Jun was surprised, but then he laughed. He was worried that he couldn't get credit for staying in that place. He had no idea that God would send such a massive credit to him. Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team was one of the two most vigorous card artisan teams recently; the Chief Military Instructor would reward him if he could annihilate them, he could also gain enough prestige. He also knew that the Chief Military Instructor was very interested in the cards from the Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team that emitted terrible flames.

"That's pretty fierce."

Chai Jun watched leisurely at the throat-cutting battlefield; he turned a blind eye to those card artisans from the Desert Camp, who had been hit by "Oudi Burner", and were yelling in pain.

Seeing that the card artisans were merely darting in, Chai Jun realized that the opponent's tactic was pretty straightforward; he sneered uncontrollably. Nevertheless, it wasn't easy to break out from his territory and formation.

"Sealed the sky!"

On the both sides of the cliffs in Snow Edge Valley, card artisans retreated like a tide, while card artisans behind them flew up one after another, forming an echelon of aggression. Looking from afar, it was like a massive volume of wasps gathered. If the opponent wanted to break through from the sky, the powerful squad wouldn't hesitate to tear the opponent into pieces.

Looking at the heavily guarded sky, Chen Mu couldn't help but frowned. His opponent had engaged all card artisans into the sky. Seeing his opponent's strong defense line, if they were to attack with brute force, the casualties would be absolutely high.

He took a glance at the deep, bottomless and empty canyon; Chen Mu was a little puzzled.

The number of card artisans on the opponent side could be roughly estimated. Now almost all of them were in the sky. Was their intention for Chen Mu and his team to enter the canyon?

The canyon had limited space to accommodate that many card artisans who were in their battles. Moreover, the Snow Edge Valley had a very special terrain; it was different from other valleys in which the top was broader but the bottom was smaller, Snow Edge Valley had a narrow top but broader bottom. The outer look of the mountain was right-angled with a line of light shining through, but at the bottom of the valley, the space was unexpectedly large. The widest part of the valley bottom was more than ten kilometers. The light inside the valley was dimmed because the sky was sealed up.

There must be something mysterious in the valley!

But looking at the massive numbers of enemies in the sky, Chen Mu couldn't help but hesitate. There were more people on the opponent side than his. Non-combatants were sitting in the shuttle, and Bogner was with them; he couldn't command now. Chen Mu could only depend on his own judgment. Just then, Jiao Si lowered his voice as he said, "Walk along the bottom of the valley! We're running out of time!"

Chen Mu was startled; they had to break through at the fastest speed. If they were tied down with those card artisans, they had no chance of survival! No matter what ambush there was at the bottom of the valley, they had to brace themselves and rush in now!

They had to dash in to survive!

As soon as he gritted his teeth, he gave his orders; and some of the card artisans were adjusted to the front.

All of the card artisans were speeding up at the same time!

If they were like a torrent previously, they were like rapids now!

The opponent's attack hadn't stopped and the energy forms pierced through the sky; even in daytime, the sky was mysteriously dazzling.

Chen Mu accelerated as he carefully avoided. He stood firmly beside the Commander's Shuttle, blocking the shuttle from all the energy forms from time to time. Jiao Si was defending on the other side. The attacks were ongoing and advancing rapidly. Along the way, from time to time, card artisans got hit and fell to the ground, but no one went for the rescue; everyone knew that if they were left behind, it was equivalent to death!

In the sky, Chai Jun stood proudly. At that time, he couldn't help but laugh, "The prey is walking into the trap!"

Card artisans who were around him were expressing joy too.

Finally, they made it to the entrance of the valley; the opponent's attacks were visibly lesser than before. Chen Mu couldn't help but worry; during that short path they took, it had caused a high casualty in the Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team!

At last, the weakness of the individual battle ability of the Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team was revealed. Under such a dense attack, many members of the team failed to avoid the attacks and were hit one after another. But with the use of "Ring of Sluggishness", the situation was quickly stabilized.

The "Ring of Sluggishness" was a card Chen Mu made by imitating the "the Field of Snowflakes". It could form an area with a diameter of 15 meters. Once the energy forms of their opponents entered that area, its activity would rapidly drop to a very low level; the flight speed would slow down and the power of the attacks would become very weak, which gave rise to an illusion that time was slowing down in that area. That set of cards required three people to operate at the same time. Since it was made, it was never used in actual combat.

A dozens of card artisans were wrapped in each big bright white ring; like a bright bubble and moving forward at an amazing speed. Any energy forms shot on it were useless; there wasn't any damage to the bubble.

In the sky, Chai Jun was impressed, "This Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team really owns a lot of good things! I've never heard them used it before."

The card artisan next to him came close to him instantly and said, "No matter how good the card is, it'll be yours soon."

Chai Jun laughed, "Ha-ha! You're right!"

As soon as they entered the valley, the light suddenly dimmed. And the card artisans at the very front had to hold up their power shields. The card artisans with protective qualities and melee card artisans were moved to the front.

Within the deep and murky valley, it was like a beast opening its gigantic mouth; it was ghostly and bloodcurdling!