The Card Apprentice

Chapter 136: Good Character is Really Good

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

Chen Mu’s strength had started to come back little by little, though his whole body was still feeling pretty torn-up. Although the wounds on his body had started to close, there were still hundreds of big and small scary-looking tender red scars all over his body. Fortunately, the situation didn’t seem too awful since most were very shallow apart from a few deep wounds, though they did make him look frightful. And even those deep wounds had started to close, thanks to the efficacy of the ointment from the demonic woman.

The scare just then at the creek had made him very nervous, and the five little thunderballs were now always circling merrily around his body. Dragging his feet, Chen Mu tumbled ahead one shuffling step at a time as he hurried toward the deep part of the jungle.

* * *

“He was just here.” Cheng Ying and Bo Wen had arrived at the creek where Chen Mu had been washing off the traces of blood.

“How long since he left?” Bo Wen couldn’t help asking. He had already transferred all the tracking responsibility to Cheng Ying.

She looked around the creek and said, “He just left. You can see that the water marks haven’t dried yet.” The two of them looked striking in the dark night, with one of them in a light white energy cloak and the other in an emerald green one.

“We’ll go after him.” Bo Wen said resolutely.

“Mmmm.” Cheng Ying knew that the youth was determined and not to be contradicted, and only asked, “When will the second batch of Ning family card artisans arrive?”

Bo Wen shook his head, “I still don’t know.” He was somewhat worried, since those card artisans led by Ning Dong should have found them earlier. But news from them had been delayed, though the most crucial part was that as they followed constantly deeper-in, something would happen to the communications card, which was sometimes effective and sometimes not. Cheng Ying had long gotten used to that situation, explaining to Bo Wen that it was common, since the environment in the outer reaches was complex and caused a lot of interference with communications cards. Communications cards just weren’t very trustworthy in the outer reaches.

Ning Dong had also run into trouble. They had encountered an army of crouching frogs and were just then struggling to resist the “cannon fire” which blanketed the sky. Bo Wen and the Ning family were having bad luck that night, with Ning Dong leading about two hundred elite card artisans into the jungle. Because there were so many of them, and because they were anxious to find Bo Wen, they had pushed ahead very quickly. But that kind of heedless advance had carelessly aroused that army of crouching frogs. They had suddenly shot off hundreds of glowing bombs in the dark without any warning.

Caught off guard, the Ning card artisans had suffered heavy casualties in that instant. The glowing shells shot off by the crouching frogs had startling power, and even if the card artisans had activated their energy cloaks, they would have broken through to kill them given such dense firepower.

Ning Dong was angry and was the first to attack the army of frogs. The fighting hadn’t gone on very long before the Ning card artisans were victorious. Apart from being able to spit out those glowing shells, the crouching frogs were weak in all other respects. Within five minutes the army of frogs had been completely wiped out.

But those five minutes had also been very costly to the Ning card artisans. Among the over two hundred troops, only one hundred and twenty remained. And among the over eighty sacrificed, over fifty were killed in the first wave of shots from the crouching frogs. Ning Dong’s face was grey, as his head held always high had never been so frustrated.

And those eighty card artisans were the genuine elite, with many among them having just participated in the battle against the Zuo family from Eastern Shang-Wei City. The Ning family had expended endless manpower and materials to cultivate every one of them, and they had all been baptized in battle. Each of them was precious.

But eighty of them had died in front of him in those five minutes.

And moreover, the blame would all be laid on mistakes in his command. They had been pushed-in so recklessly because they wanted to find Bo Wen so eagerly. As he had seen it at the beginning, they were only in the outskirts of the jungle which shouldn’t have had creatures that were too fierce. Who knew they would encounter a surprise attack from an army of crouching frogs?

Having learned that lesson, the troops all slowed, and everyone was very careful lest they encounter another kind of sneak attack from wild beasts. That last round of attacks had stunned them all, and everyone’s face was showing fear. Ning Dong also knew that if something like that were to happen again, the fate of that gang of his would be for the army ultimately to be annihilated.

Ning Dong was complaining inwardly that the Amay Ning’s had lost a lot of blood for Bo Wen. Those card artisans from the base who had been surrounded by the iron bees were still trapped, though to find Bo Wen more quickly, Ning Dong and his men didn’t immediately go to rescue them, but rather demanded that they hold out until follow-up reinforcements could save them.

And when Ning Dong discovered that he couldn’t use his communications card to communicate outside, some unknown feeling in his heart quickly rose to its highest. It was very dangerous to lose contact with the outside from the outer reaches. But it was very easy for communications cards to be influenced by the environment of the outer reaches, and to become very unstable. That was one of the reasons that card artisans wouldn’t dare go into the deep parts of the jungle, since while in the outskirts of the forest retreat was comparatively easy even if you were to lose contact with the outside. Another important reason was that maps were almost useless in the forest. In the deeper parts, it would be extremely easy to lose direction. Moreover, the jungle environment was complex, and you needed experience more than you needed maps.

Should they retreat? Ning Dong vetoed that notion. If anything were to happen to Bo Wen on-site at the Amay Ning’s, the severity of the consequences would be something the Amay Ning’s couldn’t take. Ning Dong’s political savvy was a lot more astute than even his experience fighting in the outer reaches.

No matter how, he had to guarantee Bo Wen’s safety.

It was fortunate that the remaining card artisans were all battle-hardened, with many of them good at tracking. Ning Dong decided to continue advancing, though he had become a lot more prudent, constantly sending card artisans out ahead to scout.

The Ning family was a scattered group by that time. Bo Wen had lost any means of communication as had Ning Dong, which made the atmosphere among the Ning’s suddenly agitated. While Bo Wen certainly held a noble position, Ning Dong was also the heir of the Amay Ning’s. No matter which of them might have some accident, it would be unbearable to the Amay Ning’s.

The third wave of card artisans had been assembled into troops as quickly as possible and had started to advance toward the jungle.

* * *

Chen Mu continued to move ahead on the third day, and the wounds on his body were almost better, although his face was still covered in scars which made him look hideous. It was too bad that he didn’t know the formula for the ointment the demonic woman had left him. Chen Mu felt that if he were to sell it he could make a pot of money, since its efficacy was outstanding.

He had already completely lost his direction and was just looking for a way forward. It turned out that the capabilities of the so-called map-card in his apparatus were completely useless in the outer reaches. But his luck had been excellent those three days, and he hadn’t even run into any fearsome beasts, which surprised even him.

It would be great if that situation could continue. Chen Mu couldn’t help fantasizing from time to time that wandering through the forest for a month could be a pretty fine experience.

But his nerves were always tense. Compared to before, he had improved his activation speed with his apparatus. He didn’t know if it was because of the influence of his fighting those last few days, but he had been overjoyed that his perception had also shown some unexpected improvement.

He was moving ahead very quickly, and his rushing had become a lot more relaxed because of his elastic shoes. In the next few days he had also become a lot more experienced at dodging the tree branches. To assure enough strength, he also had to ensure enough time for rest.

The luck of Bo Wen and Cheng Ying wasn’t bad either, and they kept right up with Chen Mu. Bo Wen was showing sufficient courage by that time, as he hardened himself to give chase, never opening any distance between them and Chen Mu. While their spirits were lagging, how could they not be tired having been in pursuit for a straight three days and nights? They didn’t have Chen Mu’s elastic shoes, just chasing day and night. And their spirits lagged quite a bit compared to Chen Mu in front of them.

Bo Wen was holding in a belly full of fire. He felt like Chen Mu was playing with them. Every day they saw tracks that he had left, all showing that he hadn’t left very long ago, but they still hadn’t even seen his shadow during every day and every night of their chase.

And another messed up issue was that they had completely lost all contact with the outside.

The situation had quickly become complicated, and Bo Wen faced two choices, one to continue the pursuit, and the other to return the way they came.

Bo Wen chose the first. He believed that the Ning’s would certainly not allow him to be lost in the woods like that. He would only have to wait until the card artisans behind him caught up to the place where Chen Mu’s corpse would be. If he were to choose to retreat, he would have lost that opportunity forever. He had left behind quite a few marks along the way for them.

So, Bo Wen chose firmly to chase closely without giving up. That rather surprised Cheng Ying, on the one hand because of Bo Wen’s courage to enter the deep jungle, which was something that not everyone would do. On the other hand, she was surprised that the enmity between Bo Wen and Chen Mu was so profound that Bo Wen would risk so much because of it.

If Chen Mu had realized the so-called enmity between him and Bo Wen, he wouldn’t have known whether to laugh or cry. But the world really was that marvelous that two people who didn’t seem to have any connection at all could develop a connection in such a strange manner.

Bo Wen wasn’t wrong, since the Ning family had also dispatched a large number of card artisans for him, and there would be a great possibility to surround Chen Mu if only they could catch up. But having lost all communication with the Ning family, Bo Wen didn’t know that a rain storm had started behind him in the forest. If was sufficient to create small-scale flooding, and many of the marks he had left had been washed away. Not only that but the tracks left by the three of them had been nearly wiped clean by the flooding.

And by that time Chen Mu had run into some trouble of his own.

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