The Card Apprentice

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

Such coarse breathing was ear piercing for those flexsters who had such outstanding hearing. Still, no one was paying them any attention, as everyone was drawn in by the battle on the field. The coarse breathing which was like panting disappeared gradually as a calm—an extraordinary calm—started to settle on the trials arena.

Horror could be seen in the eyes of the surrounding crowd. None of them able to believe the scene in front of their eyes.

That woman completely overpowered the undefeated Fayes! There was no mistaking his situation of being utterly overpowered!

Fayes was in imminent danger in the middle of all the vines that filled the sky! Each time the vine crossed his shield, it would emit an extremely oppressive boom! The terrifying power caused people to mistaken the vine for a heavy hammer. A ripple resulted from where the vine and shield clashed, which made the crowd's heart palpitate and spirit shake uncontrollably.

Fayes, who was as powerful as a god in his own mind, was utterly stuck in a defensive state and didn't have any strength to hit back. All of the greed vanished without any trace against that breathtaking power.

"Who, who is that woman?"

There was no reply from the dead silent crowd after that dull thunderous sound.

Chen Mu was rather engrossed in watching those two amid their battle. It needn't be said that the Sword and Shield Sect would undoubtedly have plenty of luck with the unique aspects of shields. For Fayes to hold out until then in Zara's hands, was enough to make Chen Mu have a whole new level of respect for him. The style of Zara's blows was strangely flighty and hard to fathom, though Fayes' defense was airtight.

Fayes was using the Water Core Shield to its extreme; his entire body enshrouded in its shadow. Under the blows of the star vine, that sturdy shield seemed on the verge of collapsing every time, though it stubbornly held out.

Fayes was extremely lively and could make some unbelievable moves as he controlled its center superbly. Some of his techniques were things that Chen Mu had never imagined, which expanded his horizons quite a bit. Although he had the Lotus Leaf Shield in his own hands, he couldn't accomplish such subtle skills. Watching those outstanding shield skills, he truly felt that the Lotus Leaf Shield was wasted in his hands.

The battle between Andre and Kunya was another scene altogether.

The two of them were fighting like madmen, their eyes blazing with hatred and unnaturally red. When it came to skill, Kunya was far from Fayes. There where many techniques he couldn't quite pull off, though he was still quite a bit beyond Andre. Andre's skills weren't so fancy, just unadorned and straightforward, though he was the more desperate. There were quite a few times where they were both at a loss, with Andre's incautious attitude putting Kunya under extreme pressure.

Although Andre was at a disadvantage, Chen Mu was rather impressed by him. Andre's skills had gone through the hardening of battle, and his style had become more and more functional. He looked a lot less dazzling than Kunya, with some aspects looking quite crude. But if Chen Mu had to choose the winner, he would select Andre without any hesitation.

He was quite optimistic about Andre's future.

There were many places where Andre's skills were not yet mature, but it was clear that he was gradually approaching a different path from the Sword and Shield Sect. Or to say it another way, he had started to establish his own style. Although it was still crude, his calm and aplomb in the midst of his flailing lit up Chen Mu's eyes.

And moreover, Chen Mu was paying attention that from the beginning of the battle until then, Andre had been continuously adjusting, and his crude aspects were becoming better-rounded.

Dong, Dong, Dong!

There were thuds as dense as rain which took one's breath away.

Fayes had never thought that he would be so miserable one day. As the most outstanding disciple of the Sword and Shield Sect, his strength had long since been unrivaled in the Sect. He felt that there was no further to go with his training in the Sect. With his naturally persevering spirit, he had firmly chosen to come to the trials arena to hone his skills. He had very quickly discarded any immature aspects concerning his body, immersing himself readily in the life and death of the trials arena, where he had become more ruthless than ever, as his strength soared.

Up until then, apart from the occasional foreign flexster or those who rarely come to the trials arena, everyone maintained their distance. Even those killing machines under mayor Mo Sang didn't dare to provoke him.

Ever since he was a small child, he had never imagined he could be so desperate, as he was that day! And even that sort of hopelessness would only flash through his mind before passing. He wasn't distracted in the least, but his adversary's blows were coming on like howling wind and torrential rain such that he didn't even have a chance to breathe. If it hadn't been for his transformation during those last two years of practical battle in the trials arena, he wouldn't have been able to hold out for ten seconds under the power of such blows.

But he couldn't allow the least bit of satisfaction now. All of his strength focused on defense, and there was no chance for any thought of striking back. Each time he would concentrate on the shield's glowing layer, his adversary would easily smash it.

Dong Dong Dong Dong Dong!

The blows from his adversary were coming faster and faster without pause.

That brought him near to collapse! It was clear that his adversary hadn't exhausted her strength, and that she hadn't lost control of her blows. Then suddenly he had the illusion that the one he was facing wasn't a woman but a towering giant, making him like a tiny ant under its feet.

This frustration, from acknowledging his lost, suddenly flooded his mind.

How could that be…how could that be? Could I have fallen into the ranks of losers?

Although he was still brandishing his moves with the Water Core Shield, his spirits waned in that instant. It was a scary thing for one to lose concentration during a battle, even more so when his adversary was Zara. At just about the moment when Fayes spirits fell, Zara grabbed him!

The star vine in her hands looked like it softly shook.

Hiss!

It sounded like a poisonous snake, almost too soft to detect amidst the sudden clap of thunder. At the same time, several expressions shifted among the onlookers!

The star vine which had just been like a heavy hammer suddenly became a narrow and sharp awl!

It swiftly drilled into Fayes' shield through a minuscule gap.

Plop!

A mist of blood suddenly spewed from behind Fayes' left shoulder as the star vine shot through with its needlepoint.

All of this happened as a crowd suddenly poured through the entrance to the trials arena.

"Elder brother!"

"Fayes!"

That gang's eyes reddened. Aguda was their realm. When had anyone from the Sword and Shield Sect been killed by someone else there?

"Let's go, everyone! Kill them!"

Without any hesitation, those flexsters from the Sword and Shield Sect roused to action.

Chen Mu furrowed his brow, as his lightning-fast hand reached toward his back.

There were cheers!

He ripped off a big chunk of his backpack as though it were papier-mache, and before anyone could see what was in it, Chen Mu was already grasping his weapon with his hands. He first grabbed the white midge bone spurs, with their distinctive spiral texture. He felt incredibly cozy the instant he held them. Without any adjustment, his right hand suddenly disappeared into thin air.

Pa!

There was a sudden clear sound a little bit like the cracking of a whip as blood and flesh flew and as a series of screams arose in succession.

Once he made his move, Chen Mu's perfectly ordinary-looking eyes were devoid of any emotion, and became as cold and indifferent as ice! Without any pause, as though he were in any dull battle, he had tossed off his five white midge bone spurs within less than half a second.

Maneuvering the white midge bone spurs in such a narrow space showed their full penetration. The five white midge bone spurs didn't waste the least bit of effort to penetrate through a crowd, before sticking firmly in the wall leaving out their small rear half.

That sudden blow left them all stunned.

Chen Mu then rapidly picked up his Golden Ring Woodspear and sent it headlong into the gang of Sword and Shield sect flexsters.

Arc after arc stunningly burst forth like ghosts in the night. The sight of which was so strange that some had trouble discerning what happened. They came on continuously like a tide, wave after wave.

The clear and icy blue reflected the blood's mournful color and despair.

The Golden Ring Woodspear easily penetrated the shields in the Sword and Shield Sect's hands and then his adversary's hearts without any obstruction. Under the gaze of his adversary's disbelieving eyes, Chen Mu drew out indefinite bands of warm spraying fresh blood. In his lithe wrist, the Golden Ring Woodspear accurately aimed at one of the Sword and Shield Sect's flexster's neck and shot forth. When his adversary fell with a crash, that azure golden wood spear had already penetrated three more defensive shields.

In front of that azure Golden Ring Woodspear, those hard defensive shields were as weak as papier-mache.

Chen Mu suddenly put out his left hand which had been hanging, where the energy glove shot out five intricate energy threads. Those five tiny energy threads were like cuts from a bowstring as they shot violently off.

Two flexsters only felt their throats go numb, as their feet went helplessly sluggish. Before they could react, they looked at each other's throats in terror, where a fine thread of blood was gradually surfacing. Then the drops of blood kept on increasing.

Plop, plop!

The spurting bloody foam was spattering all over their bodies like a fountain. By the time their throats were bursting in pain, everything had already went dark for the two of them.

Another three flexsters plopped down, as their faces drained of blood stared in horror at their own remaining half a leg!

Ah, Ah, Ah!

The sounds of screaming penetrated the entire trials arena after a second. They were writhing in pain on the ground like beasts on the brink of death, giving out unbearable desperate and mournful screams.

Once Chen Mu made his move, it scared everyone stiff!

Everyone's expression in the trials arena was ashen. They were looking at Chen Mu in terror, as they unconsciously retreated. A ping sounded, as the crowd suddenly found that, unknowingly, they had escaped beyond the wall.

In the blink of an eye, there was no-one left standing around Chen Mu. Blood flowed like a river, with corpses, severed limbs, injured flesh, and blood all spreading out into a living hell.

His expression remained unchanged, as he stood in that hell.

As he strolled along, energy threads would flit past the throats of those flexsters, who hadn't stopped breathing, from time to time. Those energy threads as fine as hair had nothing cute about them in the eyes of the crowd, seeming only like a scythe in the hands of the lord of death as he harvested lives.

Bunge looked at the scene in front of his eyes with his whole body trembling. He was a flexster from the black team under mayor Mo Sang, and even he couldn't help shaking, and he was an expert in assassination and massacre. Bunge had never imagined that he would ever be so afraid of anyone. He had undergone the most severe and ruthless training, killing people like harvesting wheat… His body was trembling uncontrollably, and every time his gaze landed on that calm man standing there in hell, his eyes burned, and he instinctively averted his head.

After a while, the surrounding became extremely calm without any screaming, as if those alive had been frozen.

It was that calm which made the desperately breathing Bunge approach collapse!

He resisted breaking down there and then as he quietly slipped away.