The Card Apprentice

“You’re awake.” A faint and cold voice came from behind. Chen Mu knew it was the Demonic Woman, Zara, without even turning around. He did not turn back and looked ahead sluggishly instead.

The endless ocean of sky-blue sparks came to sight in front of him. Countless of flowers that emitted sky-blue fluorescence formed this sparkly blue ocean. The light breeze stirred up the sky-blue waves from time to time. Occasionally, the glowing blue sparkles would be blown into the star-studded sky, like blue mist made by transpiration. The scenery was like a dream, filled with pure fluorescent blue. In the darkness, it was so dazzling and intoxicating!

“Where is this?” Chen Mu’s voice was a little erratic as he stared at everything in front of him. “The Hundred Depths.” The Demonic Woman’s answer was succinct. “The House of a Hundred Depths?””It’s the Hundred Depths!” the Demonic Woman raised her volume slightly to emphasize the difference between the two.

Chen Mu finally snapped back to reality, and asked puzzledly, “What does it have to do with the House of a Hundred Depths?” The Demonic Woman fixed her gaze on Chen Mu, and calmly said, “The Hundred Depths is the most ferocious place in the House of a Hundred Depths.””Ferocious?” Chen Mu looked in disbelief at the beautiful fluorescent blue ocean in front of him, unable to relate it with the word ‘ferocious.’

“This is the Blue Tantra. It is not poisonous, but they frantically plunder the living spaces of other creatures. A place that was once inhabited by the Blue Tantra can only grow Blue Tantra. Moreover, no discovered creature has been able to consume it.” The Demonic Woman lightly described the terrible nature of this beautiful plant.Chen Mu’s heart froze. Never did he imagine that such a cruel fact was hidden under its beautiful appearance.

“We need to get out of this blue ocean. Otherwise, we are just going to die here.” The Demonic Woman glanced at Chen Mu, then went on saying. “There is no hope in finding anything to eat in the Ocean of Blue Tantra.” This time, Chen Mu got a little scared for real. The Ocean of Blue Tantra was endless in front of him, and no edges could be seen. He couldn’t help feeling a little small in this piece of the blue ocean.

The Demonic Woman ignored Chen Mu and took the lead running forward. Chen Mu followed hurriedly. As he made a move, he immediately discovered something strange. As soon as he triggered his mind, his whole body glided forward silently. It was unprecedentedly convenient, and no effort was needed. This discovery made Chen Mu overjoyed, and he hurriedly checked his perception.

After this examination, he got even happier. The perception in his body, whether it was the accuracy or strength, had greatly improved. He could now easily use the moves that required his full effort previously. The most wonderful thing was that with State Zero, his perception was like a big net, covering every inch of his surrounding space. He could even sense the slight changes in the airflow several kilometers away! Even the State Zero had a breakthrough!

The discovery made him ecstatic. In the State Zero, he would be much more powerful regardless of how he fought. At his level, insight would be more important than anything else. Did he break through his limits in the storm? Suppressing the ecstasy in his heart, he began to attempt some basic training to adapt to the new changes. Before his breakthrough, he was like a Card Appliance that was well-tuned in all aspects. Now that a specific part was suddenly strengthened, and the balance was broken. What Chen Mu needed to do was to re-establish a new equilibrium that would be stronger than before.

Chen Mu trained on his own as he followed behind the Demonic Woman. All he did was some basic exercises, such as controlling himself to abruptly do a ten-centimeter lateral shift and using the Bipolar Card to discharge a black and a white energy bead. He used the energy line between the two beads to precisely cut off a petal from a Blue Tantra as if he was using a pair of Power Gloves to do some fine manipulation. Aside from following the Demonic Woman, all of his attention was devoted to these exercises.After practicing for a long time, he felt that his proficiency had gotten stronger and stronger. He could even easily do some high difficulty tactical actions.

Chen Mu stopped training as he felt a little tired. This fatigue was not caused by excessive consumption but was from his physical body. That was unusual because he used to think that his body was much stronger than his perceptions. Since the first time that Wei-ah saw him, Wei-ah had hoped to teach Chen Mu to acquire a physique like himself. Since then, he rarely encountered a situation where his physical strength couldn’t keep up. On the contrary, his perception was often depleted.

It was only then that he remembered that he had not eaten or drunk anything for a long time. No wonder his body was so weak! Chen Mu smiled wryly. He had been so happy about his breakthrough that he did not notice that his body had reached the brink of danger. Realizing this, his eyes fell on the Demonic Woman as she didn’t eat or drink either. With a closer look, he found that the Demonic Woman was indeed far weaker than usual. Although her speed of running wasn’t slow, she was obviously tired, giving off a sense of vulnerability.

Chen Mu suddenly accelerated to the back of the Demonic Woman and hoisted her up swiftly. The Demonic Woman’s strength had reached the brink of collapse, and her response became very slow. She reacted only when Chen Mu carried her into his arms. She subconsciously tried to struggle, but her limbs were weak.

“Where can we find a water source?” Chen Mu ignored her struggles, and he felt that his throat was on fire. Compared to not consuming any food, it was deadlier to not drink water. A water collector was usually placed in the transport shuttle, so he didn’t have it on him. Even if he did have it, it would be useless as the clothes on his upper body had long been ripped apart. Fortunately, the card wallet was tied tightly to his waist.

The Demonic Woman stopped struggling. She didn’t have the strength to. She also knew that it was the best option to be flown by Chen Mu now. She gritted her teeth and pointed to a direction. “There should be water in that direction, I can smell it.”

Chen Mu accelerated without hesitation in the direction that the Demonic Woman pointed to. Although the phrase “smelling the water” seemed ridiculous to him, the Demonic Woman was a mystery herself, so another mystery would be normal. Besides, they were at the Hundred Depths that the Demonic Woman was familiar with. The jet stream card shot by at full speed. Chen Mu carried the Demonic Woman and flew across the Ocean of Blue Tantra at low altitude! The agitated airflow stirred up a fluorescent blue fuzz. Beneath the two, the V-shaped blue waves rippled on both sides. The Demonic Woman shut her eyes, perhaps to save physical strength, or to think about something.

After flying for about 20 minutes, the Demonic Woman suddenly opened her eyes. “We are here!” Chen Mu halted to a stop. He froze in mid-air. He saw a puddle of water that was not too deep. It was about half a meter, and it was crystal clear. By controlling the jet stream card, Chen Mu slowly landed beside the puddle of water with the Demonic Woman. As soon as they touched the ground, the Demonic Woman broke free from the arms of Chen Mu, rolled and crawled to the side of the puddle, drinking big gulps of water.

Chen Mu wasn’t any better than her. He buried his entire face in the water. The cooling water moisturized his dry throat, and a strong sense of pleasure filled his whole body. Chen Mu could feel that his physical strength was recovering. The two gulped down the water, and only stopped when they got full. They slumped beside the puddle, gasping for air.

“How did we get here?” Chen Mu asked the Demonic Woman. “I don’t know.” The Demonic Woman had slightly recovered, and her voice was a lot steadier. The answer didn’t disappoint Chen Mu because he didn’t expect her to give an answer. It was a fluke to fall into the Cold Crystal Storm and survive. Looking at the lush Blue Tantra around him, he asked, “Does walking out from the Ocean of Blue Tantra means getting out of the Hundred Depths?”

The Demonic Woman looked at Chen Mu with a hint of pity and ridicule in her gaze, but it was more of a hopeless emptiness. “No one can get out of the Hundred Depths.””No one?” Chen Mu was a little dismissive of this statement. The Demonic Woman ignored him, and said to herself, “The Hundred Depths is the lowest province of the House of a Hundred Depths. The entire House of a Hundred Depths is above our heads.””Heads?” Chen Mu’s jaw fell as he tilted his head upwards at the sky. But nothing could be seen other than darkness.

“The entire House of a Hundred Depths is underground. No one has reached the earth’s surface before. The closer it is to the surface, the colder it is. Humans can only survive where there is geothermal energy underground. All the plants in the House of a Hundred Depths grow from geothermal energy instead of solar energy. Our limited understanding of the Hundred Depths is from the outermost area, which is equivalent to your jungle periphery. From there, we would hone our skills, look for weapons, materials, and medicines.”

Chen Mu was stunned yet again after listening to the words of the Demonic Woman. He couldn’t help but gasp at how many strange things there were in this vast world. “When I was very young, I honed my skills on the periphery of the Hundred Depths. I know that place very well, and I have never seen such a large area of Ocean of Blue Tantra there.” The Demonic Woman said flatly.

“Do you mean that this is the depth of the Hundred Depths?” Chen Mu asked. He realized that the Demonic Woman was much more talkative here than when she was in the Heavenly Federation. She was also not as indifferent as to how she used to be. At one point, he suspected that the Demonic Woman and Wei-ah were siblings. Their detached tones were identical.

“We’ll know when we get out of the Ocean of Blue Tantra.” With this, the Demonic Woman turned to leave. Chen Mu hurriedly kept up. If he didn’t have the Demonic Woman, he would definitely be lost in this vast Ocean of Blue Tantra. This time, however, he followed the Demonic Woman instead of carrying her, and he continued his practice. There was no use of asking more now, and for him, it was a completely unfamiliar environment. It would be better to focus on improving his strength, which was much more practical.

He was greatly immersed in his practice, and only a part of his attention was on the back of the Demonic Woman. He hadn’t practiced so sincerely for a long time. Ordinarily, there were too many things that he would need to ponder on. Leading the team, directing a battle, making cards and card appliances…

Now that he could leave everything behind, he seemed to be back to when he had just gotten the mystery card. He only needed to earnestly train, and that alone was enough. The Demonic Woman that had restored a part of her physical strength was like a leopardess. She ran agilely in the blue Ocean of Blue Tantra, leaving a trail of fluttering fluorescent blue fuzz behind her.