The Card Apprentice

Chapter 134: Bo Wen’s Promise

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

There were a lot of tatters hanging in the brush in front of them, which lit up Bo Wen’s eyes, “They’re his!” But the two of them stared at each other since the brush in front of their eyes was quite dense. What surprised the two of them was the thorns on the overgrown branches which were so dense. Judging from the location of the rags, Chen Mu must have gone into the brambles right there.

Bo Wen was used to being aggressive when challenged and using his full power to defeat his opponent, and he was used to remaining elegant and calm, but that clearly didn’t include drilling into the thorny bushes. If one were to have said previously that Chen Mu represented a calculating intelligent card artisan, by then Bo Wen felt that he was more of a dauntless spirit, as only desperate people would go so all out. Bo Wen didn’t only become more cautious. It wasn’t scary for him to face people who were full of hate, but what he feared was someone who was so tough on himself. That kind of person would be extremely rough and full of danger.

While Bo Wen was squinting his eyes, Cheng Ying was beating the drums of retreat. She had a richer experience fighting compared to Bo Wen, having fought in the far reaches quite a few times, but she had never felt so frightened. Those weird and unpredictable battle tactics of Chen Mu just then had left a deep impression on her. A person like that would be hiding in the dark waiting for them to arrive, and she figured that they didn’t stand a chance.

That wasn’t the only thing scaring her. She had seen quite a few brave and celebrated card artisans, but not one of them was brave enough to drill into such dense thorny brambles without an energy shield opened in front of them. Even though there were a few beasts who lived in the forest which would dare so heedlessly to bore into those terrifying bushes, those sharp thorns could easily tear open their skin. And some of the thorns had a certain poisonous quality.

“Are we going to wait for the rest of the people to get here?” Cheng Ying was a little hesitant, but still couldn’t help opening her mouth. Maneuvering in the outer reaches after dark wasn’t a rational activity, with its being so difficult to discern the situation around them. That also led to a sharp rise in the risk factor, since the dark was the world of the beasts.

“No, we can’t wait.” Bo Wen said peremptorily. Maneuvering in the dark was the strength of the night of the cross, and if they were to wait until the reinforcements got there he was afraid Chen Mu would have already slipped away. His gaze fell onto the tatters hanging on the brambles which were completely soaked in blood, still wet to the touch. He could even smell the scent of fresh blood.

He immediately determined that Chen Mu had been badly wounded and wasn’t very far from them. If they couldn’t eliminate Chen Mu given such a rare opportunity, they sure wouldn’t be able to do it later.

Bo Wen always kept an energy shield card in his apparatus, and it would come in handy just then. That kind of energy cloaking card wasn’t the common variety; after it was activated an egg-shaped energy cloak would envelope him. Under Bo Wen’s control the energy cloak would continually change shape, finally forming into a man-shaped energy shell just a little bigger than Bo Wen.

Cheng Ying was looking enviously at the energy cloak on Bo Wen’s body, although it gave her a little bit of a bad taste by making her even more certain that Bo Wen was identified with the Ning family. Any one of the cards that he had was worth more than all of hers combined, which felt way out of balance. She kept silent about it.

Bo Wen was paying attention to Cheng Ying’s mood, as he took a card out from his chest and gave it to her, “This is a three-star energy cloak card for you.”

Cheng Ying looked in surprise at Bo Wen.

“Chen Mu is very important to me. No matter how, I can’t let him live on after today. If you help me to finish that . . .” he was speaking very seriously . . .” I’ll be able to give you some better opportunities. What do you think? Aren’t you looking for more power?”

There was a glint in Cheng Ying’s eyes, and then she lifted her head, “Who are you really?”

“I am the next generation successor to the Eastern Ning’s.” Bo Wen didn’t flinch from Cheng Ying’s gaze.

“The Ning Family of the Eastern Reaches?” Cheng Ying covered her mouth in surprise. She had been making all kinds of conjectures about Bo Wen’s identity but hadn’t hit on the right one. Meeting Bo Wen’s calm look, she knew that he wasn’t lying. If he were thinking of lying, he certainly wouldn’t have fabricated such an outrageous sounding identity. She was starting to understand by then why Bo Wen would know so much about what was happening at the base.

What were the Eastern Ning’s doing there? She was a little puzzled, but she immediately tossed that question aside, since it wasn’t something she needed to concern herself about.

“I would like to make a guarantee about what I am saying.” Bo Wen added in a timely fashion.

“OK.” Cheng Ying took the three-star energy cloak card from Bo Wen’s hand and inserted it into her own apparatus. Once she had made the decision, any wavering hesitation disappeared from her face. That evening’s activities were certainly dangerous, but worth the risk. She didn’t have less talent than others, and she was many times more diligent, but the strength that she had acquired was still far lower than what was required. That was all because the platform she was in touch with was too low. If she wanted to realize her dreams, she would have to get onto a higher-grade platform, and receive higher-grade training. She had struggled to get into the Ning family base for that reason.

The Eastern Ning’s were a far larger and higher-grade power than the Amay Ning’s, so why wouldn’t she agree? Even though she rather admired Chen Mu, there was nothing between them and that kind of admiration wasn’t anything more than admiration for his power.

Cheng Ying activated the energy cloak, and a light green energy cloak appeared around her body. It was unique, being covered in green swirls, with that green more emerald green than other places and really gorgeous.

“This is a really good cloaking card that I used to use, called the “green rings.” I’m giving it to you. Take good care of it.” Although Bo Wen’s tone was light, it conveyed a certain melancholy.

Cheng Ying astutely caught the hint of melancholy in Bo Wen’s voice even in the midst of her joy, and although she didn’t think well enough of herself to think that Bo Wen could have such good feelings toward her, she couldn’t help thinking that the “green rings” card had some kind of special meaning for him.

Chen Ying showed her fine professionalism as she put all those unrelated matters quickly aside, since what she had to do just then was to get used to the “green rings” card. Too bad that the thing they most lacked just then was time.

They didn’t know where Chen Mu was and would have to seek him out step by step. It was lucky that he had been so wounded that the scent of blood could give them a direction, or even Bo Wen wouldn’t have entered into that jungle. There was a hundred percent probability of death to go into where wild beasts were all over and a card artisan of the night of the cross was lurking.

Because of that, Bo Wen activated his communications card and asked the Ning family to immediately send people to support them. He also held the command of those delayed card artisans still behind them in his hands.

After the Ning clan elder and Bo Wen communicated, the entire Ning family was immediately riled up and everyone was pulled from their beds. The card artisans who came in support were all the elite of the Ning family, with Ning Dong in their lead. And it was no wonder they were so agitated, since if something were to happen to Bo Wen, no one knew what drastic actions the Eastern Ning’s might take. The elder of the Amay Ning’s didn’t dare to slight them, so that after dispatching their elites he immediately contacted the clan elder of the Eastern Ning’s, Bo Wen’s father.

The Eastern Ning’s were the traditional giants of the Eastern region, and their every action would have a direct impact on the entire region. There weren’t many direct descendants, and Bo Wen was in the direct line for his generation, along with his sister Ning Jia. How could the Eastern Ning’s not be worried?

Bo Wen and Cheng Ying looked at each other, and then went carefully into the underbrush. The energy cloaks on the two of them kept the thorns on the bushes from them, as they instantly disappeared into the bushes.

* * *

The ointment from the demonic woman was extremely effective, and all the of the constantly bleeding wounds had been stopped up after only five minutes. Still, it would take a rather long time to fully recover.

Chen Mu’s entire body was sore and on the verge of collapse. Adding to that the faintness from blood loss, what he most wanted to do then was to put down his head and sleep. But he knew very well that if he didn’t want to die he had to get up. The scent of blood on his body was strong and pungent, and it smelled bad mixed up with the smell of the mud. He didn’t mind the smell but was afraid that it would attract the wild beasts, and that it might also give away his position.

Still, he seemed rather lucky that day, since he heard flowing water.

Dragging heavy steps, he struggled toward the sound of the water. The agile footsteps of the past now felt detached and hard to control and he nearly fell over a few times.

A small stream burbled along, and he could see its crystalline flashes even in the night woods so dense that no air got through. It was a very small stream, and Chen Mu would ordinarily have lightly hopped across it.

Chen Mu wanted to grin, but every slightest involvement of the muscles of his face hurt to where he had to take a cold breath. He didn’t know how many trees he had just gone through, but there were scars crisscrossing his face. It was a good thing he didn’t care about the scars, which would have sent Copper crying.

He scooped up some of the stream water in his cupped hands and splashed it on his face. When the icy cold water hit him, his brain cleared up.

That kind of small stream wouldn’t contain any large water creatures, which calmed him down. It was very quiet all around with only the sounds of insects calling from time to time. Everything looked normal.

Still on guard, he carefully washed the blood from his body and splashed the water onto his wounds, which drilled pain into his heart. But Chen Mu gritted his teeth and washed himself with the stream water over and over until the blood on his skin had been completely cleansed. Then he plunged his clothes into the stream, since if he didn’t wash them clean then he would die without any burial in that forest. The senses of smell of many of the beasts was extremely acute, and they could smell blood from a long way off.

The blood dispersed into the water and threaded away like bright red cloudy yarn, quietly without breath in the dark. They followed the stream quickly diffusing downstream.

Because of the dispersion of the blood, an unexpected guest had arrived on the quiet stream bottom.