Chen Mu had very quickly discovered something.

The different bands created entirely different effects on a person's body, and Chen Mu didn't hold off in the least. When Xiong Shen had previously gotten ready to make a move against Copper, he had determined not to let the guy leave alive.

At the same time that he drilled right into the Xiong Family card artisans, he launched the killer from the Eternal Night!

The air all around his body made violent movements, which made his figure very fluctuating and indistinct.

It was the Eternal Night's Night Scene iteration!

The Xiong Family card artisans all screamed in unison! They were like a gang of headless flies, desperately struggling as they circled around where they were . . .

Chen Mu stretched out his body, and immediately looked down on them from above their heads.

Xiong Shen's attack style was in the category of an energy cannon, and he was like a nut, blasting it off in all directions.

He couldn't see a thing, with everything a sheet of darkness in front of his eye. All sound had been blocked. He knew that it was all an illusion, but he still was in a fl.u.s.tered panic. By that time, even a child could have killed him with a kitchen knife. He had never felt so helpless, or so scared. He felt that he would die very soon . . . 

The power of Xiong Shen's energy cannon was pretty impressive, and it hit some card artisans who couldn't dodge it, leaving only half their body.

Chen Mu frowned. Those peoples living and dying didn't have much to do with him. But he didn't wish to stir up any trouble at that time. Having made his challenge and gotten the contest partic.i.p.ation card, of course Moon Frost Island wasn't going to stop him. But it would be stupid for him to provoke chaos during that sensitive time, or to challenge Moon Frost Island's authority.

Chen Mu wasn't a stupid person, and he still remembered his reason for coming to Thousand Lakes.

He didn't make any moves, with all of his perception spent on adjusting the band of the Eternal Night.

The hopeless sounds filling the air came to an abrupt halt.

It was silent. As silent as death. And it was just in such suffocating silence that all of the Xiong Family card artisans fell at the same time!

Qiu Shanyu had already started to search for the entry card on Yong Liang and Xiong Shen's bodies. The act of an expressionless woman searching bloodied corpses, was enough to make any weak-nerved person feel tense. No one had any sympathy for the Xiong Family which had never been popular. Their final siege had been shameful. 

They looked into the sky at that youth with gazes full of fear.

The youth in front of their eyes became immediately dangerous to them, with his great power, a powerful card and his cold-blooded and heartless character. It was hard to imagine that a youth who looked like he was only twenty could actually be so indifferent about death. Most card artisans at that age would still be in the academy obediently listening to the knowledge the teacher was pa.s.sing down. The card artisans all around were all trembling in fear, all very clear about what such indifference represented. Only those who had experienced countless deaths and countless battles could be so indifferent.

The situation had turned bad in a matter of only the past few years, when the numbers of battle card artisans had increased. But how many battles would you have to go through if you wanted to achieve what that youth in front of them had?

The background of that youth who didn't look like much became a little intriguing. 

As Chen Mu saw it, that sort of battle certainly didn't amount to much. Having been through battle scenes involving thousands, such a battle could only be considered a small matter.

He suddenly lifted his head and cast his gaze toward something wrong in the sky.

There was someone flying in their direction!

Very fast!

In about the blink of an eye, someone appeared in front of Chen Mu. In the eyes of the rest of the card artisans, they seemed to have come out of nowhere.

"What's going on here?"

The icy breath seemed to be coming from a snowy peak, devoid of any feeling. Bai Yue coldly scanned the chaotic scene, her gaze finally falling onto Chen Mu.

Chen Mu was a little surprised to have actually run into Bai Yue. He had no animosity toward that icy woman, as one of the few card artisans from the Big Six that he wasn't disgusted by. Still, when he came in contact with her icy gaze, he immediately realized that he wasn't wearing the mask of the White Commander, and that Bai Yue didn't even recognize him.

"I challenged Gong Liang for the entry card."

Bai Yue was unmoved, "Why are there so many corpses?"

"When Gong Liang lost, the Xiong family was humiliated and enraged." Chen Mu was looking at Bai Yue rather interestedly. The feeling now had changed completely from the last time he saw her. That quality of looking down from on high that was in the bones of card artisans from the Big Six hadn't changed, though Bai Yue was okay, and that part was inevitable. That made him sigh that in the end people are only respected once they have power. In his ident.i.ty as the White Commander, Bai Yue had been so polite to him, while it was very different now.

Bai Yue had been feeling she had seen that youth in front of her somewhere before. He was about the same age as she was. She tried hard to remember, without coming up with anything. It was especially that temperament which she didn't know how to describe. She knew that it was unique.

She had certainly seen him somewhere! It wouldn't be said that Bai Yue was all that confident in herself so much as that she had confidence in that unique temperament. How could someone of that temperament be ordinary?

Looking things over she saw that it was the Xiong Family who had died.

She didn't intend to put herself out for the Xiong Family, and in truth, Moon Frost Island was being very cautious then, being very careful about their every move. What was more, the Xiong Family had always been off on the wrong foot with Moon Frost Island.

"I still haven't asked your esteemed name!" Bai Yue took the initiative to salute politely. For one person alone to have killed so many card artisans with even Yong Liang and Xiong Shen among them, that youth in front of her must be powerful and probably not deficient to herself

That was something of an issue. Bai Yue was the most outstanding Moon Frost Island card artisan of her generation, and Jia Yingxia had expended endless effort on her behalf, on top of which were all the resources of Moon Frost Island. It wasn't so surprising that she had achieved what she had.

But that man in front of her and about the same age as she was had the same kind of power. Unless he was also the core student of someone from the Big Six?

"I am Chen Mu." Chen Mu returned the courtesy.

Bai Yue had never heard that strange name. At that time, Moon Frost Island was very concerned about heavyweight aces. What they most didn't welcome was a completely unknown ace card artisan like Chen Mu who could very possibly become some kind of unstable variable. Their unpredictability was giving them a headache.

Bai Yue had been about to say something when someone suddenly shouted from the street, "Cang Lan has come to Thousand Lakes!"

Bai Yue's face s.h.i.+fted, and she said goodbye to Chen Mu in a hurry, "I'm sorry but there's something I have to do." After that she flew off urgently.

Cang Lan's arrival made the already complicated situation in Thousand Lakes still more complicated.

Chen Mu couldn't pay attention to so much by then, and he flew into Copper's room.

"Copper!"

"Blockhead!"

The two of them had been best friends since they were street punks together when they were little, and now they finally met again. They both had excited expressions and hugged powerfully. Lan Feng was also quite excited, her eyes moist. It seemed like it had been only yesterday when those things had happened.

Wei-ah and Qiu Shanyu came in, and, Qiu Shanyu was a little surprised to see Chen Mu that way. Chen Mu always looked so calm toward any matter or person in her impression. Many times, she would ignore his age. But when she saw Chen Mu and Copper talking so animatedly, she suddenly realized that Chen Mu wasn't more than his early twenties.

The two of them had both had an unusually b.u.mpy road along their ways. It was a b.u.mpy ride after Copper and Lan Feng left Eastern Shang-Wei City, and very hard to make a living.

When Copper heard Chen Mu narrate his experience during those last few years, his eyes popped with amazement. Not only Copper, even Qiu Shanyu was stunned.

"I had been wondering how you became a card artisan." Copper laughed, "I had always felt, hha, that you had real talent making cards. I miss that year when I was your talent scout."

He looked quite pleased.

Thinking back on that happy and full time when they were making card plays, Chen Mu couldn't help smiling either.

When he found out that Chen Mu was actually the head of both the Snow Silkworm Card Artisan Firm and the Wood Battalion, Copper was dumbfounded. Still, he very quickly adjusted, and said with a laugh, "Fantastic, Lan Feng and I had been thinking about where we would go next. Ha, we can just seek shelter with you, then."

"When are we going to finish the Legend of Master s.h.i.+?" Chen Mu was smiling from the bottom of his heart.

"Right, what are you doing chasing off to Thousand Lakes?" Copper couldn't help asking. 

Chen Mu then told something about the green marker in his body. When he talked about when the demonic woman implanted the green marker in his body, Copper was enraged, "That d.a.m.ned woman, she should be beaten to death with a brickbat!"

By the time that Chen Mu had finished telling everything, Copper looked cautious, "You have to be a little careful, Blockhead. I've always felt that there's something fishy about this alliance." And then he immediately explained, "When Lan Feng and I were with the Xiong Family, I was in charge of negotiations and Lang Feng was in charge of intelligence gathering."

Everyone looked to be listening attentively.

"The rules that Moon Frost Island made requiring an entry card were actually to encourage everyone to kill each other off. The more they wore down those who weren't Moon Frost Island's powers, the happier they would be. Moon Frost Island wasn't going to partic.i.p.ate in the elite contest. I think the feasibility of your thinking is quite high." After hesitating, he continued on, "But there is one point I find strange. When Moon Frost Island announced the news of the alliance, the other establishments all obstructed it, especially Tang Hanpei and Desert Camp. But now, Desert Camp and Tang Hanpei both seem to show no interest in Thousand Lakes, which is really just too unusual."

Qiu Shanyu's expression turned serious, and she looked at Copper a little bit surprised. Big picture a.n.a.lysis like that wasn't something that just anyone would be concerned with. During that time, she had always been at Chen Mu's side, and had no source for news. She wasn't clear about everything that was happening in the Federation.

"At this time Tang Hanpei is about to go to battle against the Bitter Solitude Temple, while as for the Desert Camp, its been said that they are still doing some internal cleansing. It looks like there's nothing suspicious, but I've always felt that there's something fishy going on."

Lan Feng added something in a timely fas.h.i.+on, "According to the intelligence I've gathered, it's already been several days since the Desert Camp's new Master, Su Heiming, has been seen. Moreover, I just heard that the Federation Comprehensive Academy hasn't sent a single person here."

Copper looked bitter, "I'm a little bit worried that those two have joined forces with some sort of action brewing. If that's how it is, then it will be a little unsafe here in Thousand lakes." He muttered, "Thousand Lakes isn't so far from the frontier."

Qiu Shanyu's face flushed snow-white!