The Card Apprentice

Chapter 147: A Gifted Composition (II)

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

That was Chen Mu’s first time to use the “weak water” pen set after he had gotten it, but nothing about the way he used it made him look like an unfamiliar beginner. He picked up a slanted blade pen with his right hand and very carefully put the tip of it into the green stone bowl. Then he inserted two more different types of card marking pens.

Bo Wen’s gaze was fixed on what was in the green bowl. He wasn’t concerned about the “weak water,” since although there weren’t may such collectible items in the clan, there weren’t so few either. All his attention was drawn to the clear liquid in the bowl. Whether it was its rich fragrance at the outset, or the subtle fragrance just then, they were fragrances that only the finest spices could produce. While one might say that he had been a little bit uncertain, he had become certain by then that the clear liquid in the small bowl was priceless.

All through the Heavenly Federation, there had been quite a few powerful families for many years who had been on the move to greatness by way of fragrances. The Eastern Ning’s would be considered an important and well known regional powerhouse in the Eastern Reaches, although they wouldn’t be on the list for the Heavenly Federation. Seventy percent of the grand households of the Heavenly Federation were concentrated in the capital and the five flourishing districts, with only thirty percent in the twenty-two ordinary residential districts. The Eastern Reaches didn’t have any great families according to the true meaning of the term.

Having gone through so many years of development, the growth of the Ning’s wealth had hit a bottleneck. The profit model they were then using had been hindering their development, and they needed a new one to be able to move ahead.

For the huge Ning family, a “weak water” set didn’t make any real difference. But if they were able to take hold of the technology to produce that fragrance, it would roll in a lot of wealth for the Ning family.

His gaze was burning into the green bowl in front of Chen Mu, as he was wracking his brains about how to get the recipe from Chen Mu to make that kind of fragrance. Although he had already written down the ingredients, it wasn’t that simple, since there were other tricks involved such as the heating temperature. The amount of heat emitted by the heating card was intangible, and he had no way to figure how much Chen Mu had used in the end. And then there were the proportions of the ingredients, which took a lot of learning. Although he didn’t really know much about card making, he knew the principle that any slightest difference might lead to a huge miss in the results.

It was as though Bo Wen was having hard time not scratching the itch in his mind, even while his casual-looking face didn’t show it.

After about half a minute, Chen Mu deftly took up the pen and started to bury himself in the modification of Cheng Ying’s card. Under Chen Mu’s intent expression, his brushwork flew. Everyone was being very careful not to make a sound.

Cheng Ying was entranced watching Chen Mu concentrate on modifying the card. She could see the side of his face from her angle. Chen Mu had no handsome profile to speak of, although there was some charm to the concentration that he exuded. She was suddenly distracted. That youth in front of her who was several years younger than she was could be so difficult to make out.

There was nothing about him of the pride which might accompany his position. And he didn’t have any of the impetuousness of people his age. His clarity of mind and his constant calm indifference were both far beyond the qualities which someone his age should have. He had ordinary looks, and an ordinary temperament at first glance, even to the point of seeming a little dull. No matter what corner he was stuck in he wouldn’t be the object of anyone’s gaze.

But there was amazing talent under that plain exterior. Whether it was his tactical facility or his calm appearance in the face of danger, everyone around him would pale in comparison, blooming with dazzling brilliance as he was. And now with his undistracted concentration and such aplomb with his brushwork, that was enough to make the others firmly remember such a youth who couldn’t look more ordinary.

As she was watching so intently, Cheng Ying was thinking that he was probably the strangest person she had ever come across. Bo Wen had been the center of everyone’s attention no matter where she went. He had what everyone envied; a legacy, cultivation, a handsome appearance, outstanding strength. He should reasonably be the most dazzling and eye-catching object. But even he sadly paled in front of Chen Mu.

She guessed that Bo Wen must have had a bad taste in his mouth.

Thinking about all of that, the corners of Cheng Ying’s mouth unwittingly curved up.

Lu Duhong was watching Chen Mu’s every move, as well as the card in his hands, with a great deal of curiosity. There was a real look of surprise in the little guy’s eyes, as well as some adoration.

There wasn’t even a drop left of that clear liquid in the bowl, and it was hard to believe that all the liquid in that half-filled little bowl was now on Cheng Ying’s card. Squinting to examine it very carefully, Chen Mu finally lifted his pen in satisfaction. The performance of the “weak water” pen had been outstanding, and if it weren’t for that pen set, given his current ability, he wouldn’t ever have gotten to such a perfect place. Not only did the “weak water” pen set save him from using-up his perception, it had enabled him to improve the accuracy of his control of perception by about ten percent. To improve accuracy by ten percent might not seem like a lot, but after a card master increased his accuracy by a certain amount, it would be extremely difficult to raise it any more. By that time even if it had been only one percent it would have been extremely valuable, never mind ten.

It was too bad that Chen Mu had never undergone any specialized professional assessment, and he didn’t know to what level his perceptual accuracy had really progressed. He didn’t even know anything about how grading was done among card masters, being as blank as a sheet of paper in that regard.

“Alright.” Chen Mu stood, and very carefully and meticulously returned the “weak water” card-making pen to its pouch. The three peoples’ gazes all invariably fell onto the card in Chen Mu’s hand, on which if they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, it would have been hard to imagine that all the clear liquid in that little half bowl had been used-up. The three of them all looked full of anticipation, being very curious about what would be special about the card that Chen Mu had just modified.

“I’ve made a few small changes to this card.” Then he handed it to Cheng Ying, “Give it a try.”

Cheng Ying took the card with a bit of excitement and inserted it into her apparatus.

She closed her eyes while the others were all watching, to carefully experience what had been changed with the card in her apparatus. She kept her eyes closed for ten minutes, during which time she didn’t move at all. Li Duhong was looking at her suspiciously, not knowing what she was doing.

Then Cheng Ying suddenly opened her eyes. At the same time, quite a few colored shining spots suddenly appeared beside her, seeming no different than before except for being slightly bigger around. Cheng Ying lightly swung her hand forward, and the colorful glowing spots transformed into a colorful glowing energy rain, moving to cover what was in front of her.

pa pa pa pa! Dust and mud flew where it hit on the ground.

A flash of discouragement flashed over Bo Wen’s eyes, since it wasn’t any different from before. He turned his head to look at the empty green stone bowl, quietly regretting that the half bowl of fine fragrance was no longer there.

Cheng Ying, by contrast, didn’t show any discouragement. She lowered her head to think, and then she suddenly raised it, and once again colorful glowing spots appeared one by one floating.

Under Bo Wen’s unknowing eyes, the glowing dots suddenly underwent a dramatic transformation. As though each dot were a source of light, they shot out beams of light, and then all of them gathered at one point, forming a white beam of light the thickness of an arm!

That beam of light was really harsh, and hurt everyone’s eyes, making everything in front of them like a sheet of white. Chen Mu had long had his eyes closed, and he wasn’t affected.

Bo Wen patiently waited about ten seconds before he opened his eyes, and he was transfixed as soon as he saw what was happening in front of him!

A hole as thick as an arm had appeared on a tree trunk in front of Cheng Ying, which was still smoking. If that was all it was, he wouldn’t have been so surprised. What amazed him was that that beam of light and gone through a whole fifteen tree trunks, with over half of them being big enough that it would take several people to encompass them. All the holes were the same size, with the sides of the holes all charred, with smoke still coming out from some of them.

Li Duhong was rubbing his eyes which had just been stung, and when he saw the tree trunks which had been shot through, his first reaction was to unconsciously gulp. And then he looked excitedly at the apparatus on Cheng Ying’s wrist.

Cheng Ying hadn’t finished her demonstration, as the colorful glowing spots appeared all around her again. She lightly swung again, and those colorful glowing spots slowly drifted forward. A look of incomprehension flashed through Bo Wen’s eyes. At that speed, he was afraid that there was no way they could hit anything. But that time he discreetly said nothing, knowing that there must have been a certain change underneath.

Then when those colorful spots floated to in front of a block of granite, they suddenly burst open without any warning.

Pop!

Every single colorful dot had burst into several small fine energy starburst needles. The scene was spectacular, with millions of energy starbursts with needle-sized tips entirely covering the granite. It was like a cloud of smoke, the starbursts were so small, giving the illusion that it was a spring rain.

Pow! The block of hard granite broke into dozens of pieces. Bo Wen walked over with a dignified appearance to where those pieces were and picked one up. His expression suddenly changed. He saw that the piece of debris was covered in countless needle-sized little holes. And the shard and become extremely loose, so that pieces could be broken off very easily. It could easily be seen from those fragments that those needle sized little holes went all the way through the rock.

Li Duhong was already gazing hotly at Chen Mu, looking at him hard with his agate eyes, his face full of adoration.

A look of joy flashed through Cheng Ying’s eyes, and she looked at Chen Mu after a pause, while very gingerly pulling her perception away from her apparatus.

Chen Mu kept looking as indifferent as ever, as though what was happening in front of his eyes had nothing at all to do with him.