The Card Apprentice Chapter 23

Chapter 23: The Little Slacker has a Lot of Power (2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Seeing ‘Allah’ Gong’s behavior, Zuo Tingyi calmly said, “It looks like you would like to try something.”
“Hey, Big brother has a thundering reputation, but your little brother really doesn’t want to go to the disciplinary office. Let’s just accept my apology this time.”‘Allah’ Gong smiled hypocritically, with his face smiling and nothing else.
Zuo Tingyi didn’t say anything, but moved back a step, his face as calm as ever and without expression, except that a dark cold look flashed in his eyes.
Hong Tao was also complaining at that time, since ‘Allah’ Gong had an amazing fellow at his side, not a bit weaker than himself. Hong Tao knew from that challenge just then that he had bumped into a top gun. Card artisans all trained their perception – the fiercer the card artisan, the more elevated was his perception – which also gave them similarly extraordinary intuition and sensitivity. For instance, the card artisans from the Bitter Solitude Temple, who were said to be the most earth-shattering in that regard. They could tell an awful lot about his strength just by looking at their adversary.
The Bitter Solitude Temple had the fewest students among the six great academies, and so one seldom ran into them, which made it difficult to judge the veracity of the rumor. But the card artisan at the side of ‘Allah’ Gong really gave Hong Tao a feeling of great strength and danger. Although their recent encounter was momentary, it was quite enough for him to make that judgement.
Yet because of that, he also didn’t have the energy to consider any of the other people who were there. He wasn’t worried about Zuo Tingyi in any case, since there was likely no-one in the school who would dare to let Zuo Tingyi be harmed. He believed that although ‘Allah’ Gong had a lot of guts, he would know who was the fiercer between them. So Zuo Tingyi wasn’t budging. What Hong Tao was worried about were those two students – and Man Siying – who were in the classroom.
Though Hong Tao was caught up in that fierce card artisan, the crowd of princelings also had the numerical advantage. And as for those two unfamiliar students, he was afraid of how high his power might reach as soon as he saw that physique.
Chen Mu took a step forward, putting Man Siying behind him to protect her, while grabbing a wooden stool with his other hand.
The hints were not lost on Copper, who picked up a chair while maintaining his composure.
The life of a street punk is cruel, and for those who can live through it, it would be a tale as tall as ‘The Arabian Nights’ to say they had never been in a fight. Whether one on one or in a gang brawl, the two of them were long familiar with the scene. Street slackers and little hooligans were all opponents that the two had experienced. They had rich experience in that regard.
The atmosphere became intensely fierce as soon as the two picked up the chairs.
Biting his lip, Copper’s looked ferocious. Although Chen Mu hadn’t changed a bit, the cold look in his eyes had the same effect.
Without a word, the two were utterly in synch.
He who strikes first takes the advantage.
In the middle of a fight among punks, there was basically no banter. Chen Mu held up the seat in his hand and charged.
Bam. Just then a very precise blow hit someone on the head.
The wooden chair was busted up in an instant, leaving only the leg in Chen Mu’s hand and countless splinters scattered all around. The one who got hit had never imagined that his adversary would make such a surprise attack without even the opportunity for any taunting. That left no defense whatsoever, and the blow was decisive that time.
With his head spurting blood, the man screamed, his eyes rolled up, and he fell backwards.
While no one had reacted, Copper gave out a yell and shook the chair in his hand, not to be outdone.
Pow. There was another muffled sound, accompanied by a blood curdling scream. It looked as though one of the oiled and powdered princelings had opened a multicolored soy-sauce shop on his face. He was covering his face and struggling on the ground in pain.
Apart from Chen Mu and Copper, everyone else on the scene gasped.
Even Zuo Tingyi couldn’t help his throat gulping down swallow after swallow. The basically competitive background among those families led to competition about the wealth among them, with the fighting done by those below them. So, they would never have seen such a bloody and vicious scene.
Everyone could be seen backing up in step with one another.
At the same time, Chen Mu suddenly heard a girl’s ear-splitting scream from behind him. Man Siying was panic-stricken seeing what was happening in front of her.
From a different vantage, Chen Mu and Copper hadn’t moved, the two of them cool under pressure. They put down the broken legs, each picking up another chair.
Copper felt scornful of the gang which clearly outnumbered them, never thinking they would be a gang of ducklings. If he knew that there was a card artisan in their midst who could extinguish them with a wave of the hand, he absolutely would have turned pale and grabbed Chen Mu and gone running for the hills.
The two of them fully understood the main points of fighting, and this time their expressions were still more calm, as though they had done something pretty ordinary. That made the gang around ‘Allah’ Gong feel that the two were vicious, and they all at once turned cowardly.
“What, no takers?” Copper raised his eyebrows, raising the chair in his right hand, and thumping it on the table. Dong! That made the intimidated group jump.
These two guys are crazy! There wasn’t a one of those on the scene who wasn’t thinking that. When they thought about the ruthlessness of what they’d just done, especially to that princeling who got the pat in the face, it was as though they’d felt it themselves. Almost everyone was feeling as though their face was itching as it never had, and they scratched at it with their hands, only to discover that it was beads of sweat.
Saying nothing, Chen Mu stepped forward.
Whoa, ‘Allah’ Gong’s gang all stepped back. The only one who didn’t step back was that card artisan. He wasn’t looking at Chen Mu and Copper just then. His attention was focused on Hong Tao. In his eyes, those two clearly had nothing more than the moves of street punks. The really dangerous one was Hong Tao!
He was the one worth paying attention to.
The card artisan had some regret, since he hadn’t clearly seen through to Hong Tao’s depth. He hadn’t used his full strength just then, which meant that the two of them had fallen into a defensive position. As far as he could tell, his most powerful adversary was still Hong Tao, and by what he could pin down, Hong Tao wouldn’t likely dare to do anything drastic. In that case, having the most people could be the decisive position.
He had somehow never considered that such a gang of people would be at a disadvantage facing two little slackers.
Sure enough, they were a gang of good-for-nothings.
Just then there was nothing he could do about it. Just like Hong Tao, he also wouldn’t dare to act lightly. He already knew that his adversary wasn’t inferior to him from those blows exchanged just then. If the two of them were to battle, he couldn’t control his power in such a small space, where although the shock waves from the collisions might not injure either himself or Hong Tao, he wouldn’t be able to keep his little master out of harm’s way.
All his attention was focused on Hong Tao then, without any of it aimed at anyone else.
But at the same time, he was surprised by the viciousness of what this Chen Mu and his partner had done. He hadn’t been protecting that young master for a day yet, but he considered himself to know Eastern Wei Academy like the back of his hand. He understood the students extremely well. Normally, when he saw the students getting into a contest, it would be all dodging hands and feet, each afraid of hurting their classmate as well as themselves. He always felt disdainful toward that, since as all experienced real fighters like himself knew, that kind of showy boxing can become dangerous very quickly. He had no use for it.
That was also the first time he’d ever seen a student so vicious at Eastern Wei Academy. What really got his attention was the quick and agile energy between them, of a sort that would only be developed after going through a few bouts.
Chen Mu had already started to break apart the chair in his hand. In the middle of his recent moves, he felt that the chair hadn’t been very useful.
Putting his left leg on the chair, he broke it apart with his two hands. Pow! The backrest was separated from the chair. Chen Mu tested it and nodded his head in satisfaction. He could clearly sense that he would have a lot more power in his two hands than before.
His behavior caused all those already nervous people to look a little worse, and among the princelings in the group, there were quite a few pairs of legs that had started to tremble.