As the battle neared its end, there were only a few scattered card artisans left in the sky. The rest had either been killed or injured in the fierce battle.
The corner of Machida's mouth was overflowing with blood, and his face was pale, making him look monstrous.
The chief uncle's face was dark, and if one were to look closely, one could see that his right hand was slightly trembling.
Kai's condition wasn't much better. His eyes were wide open, but they showed deep exhaustion.
In comparison, Hugo was a lot better. Although the clothes on his body had long since been in tatters, both his expression and his complexion were much better.
What Chen Mu most admired was his gaze. Having experienced such a long battle, he could still maintain a calm gaze, which was really valiant.
By that time, there were only seven or eight card artisans left from Howie's pile.
With two card artisans teaming up to roam around them, they brought about a lot of damage.
Their experience was still shallow, and they often couldn't look to the left or the right, and they couldn't look to the front or the back.
In an instant, they had suffered heavy losses.
Howie's expression was miserable, but he couldn't do anything.
If he were in perfect condition, he could handle those two card artisans by himself.
But, by then, not only was his physical strength exhausted, but he didn't have the slightest bit of perception left.
The long-distance viewing device captured everything very clearly, and Chen Mu could see every movement they made, even every detailed expression on their faces.
What made people click their tongues in wonder was that the screen popped up from the device wasn't much bigger than a fingernail, but it was in the most comfortable position in front of him. Not only could he see it clearly, but he also wouldn't get tired wearing it for a long time.
Chen Mu watched the battle between those ace card artisans with great interest.
Each of them had something unique about them, such as the pale-faced guy in the black windbreaker. The wavy blades he used were rather special. Each wavy blade wasn't half-moon shaped but rather butterfly shaped, and their flight paths were strange and hard to predict.
The middle-aged man fighting him used the polar blue snake line card to perfection. He didn't know how much better he was than the card artisan he had encountered that year who had also used the polar blue snake line card.
Moreover, Chen Mu could see that the middle-aged man had certainly optimized the energy composition of the polar blue snake line card to a considerable degree. Otherwise, the power of the polar blue snake line card would never have reached such a level.
The fight between the other two was even more intense.
The masked man released beams of light. The thinnest of these beams was as thick as an arm, and the thickest was like a pillar of light. Furthermore, they had explosive properties.
There were a few cards that could release such an energy body, but the one that matched its characteristics the most was probably the Aurora Beam Card.
On the other hand, the Energy Bomb that Guy used didn't seem to be anything special, but its power was quite shocking.
Cards that released energy bombs weren't very popular. Although they were powerful, they were much worse than ordinary cards in terms of accuracy.
Between experts, opportunities were fleeting. It was very likely that you would only have one chance to make a move in a battle. They preferred to use cards with higher accuracy.
However, Kai was able to use the energy projectiles to create a sense of pressure.
His attack frequency was simply too fast. When the energy bullets poured down like raindrops, they could cover an area, greatly making up for his disadvantage in accuracy.
It wasn't anything too complicated, but his attack frequency was two to three times that of an ordinary card artisan.
That was an extremely shocking number, which meant that in the same amount of time, he could make one to two times more attacks than an ordinary card artisan.
His Energy Bomb card was also different from ordinary Energy Bomb cards. It was specifically designed to coordinate with his kind of tactics, and it could quickly release an attack in an extremely short time.
Like Guy, he had an oppressive style of play, taking the initiative to create opportunities.
Every time Machida made a move, it was hard to predict.
The chief uncle was shrewd and ruthless, and Hugo was calm and unperturbed.
Everyone's style was completely different, but there were a lot of things in common.
For example, their positioning was very reasonable, and their use of the jet stream card made people's hearts and minds tremble.
Every time they made a move, the timing was extremely clever, often when their adversaries were the most uncomfortable.
When they dodged, they never used any overly complicated tactical moves. They all used the simplest and most basic tactical moves, but they were who knew how many times faster than those so-called standards.
For a "novice" like Chen Mu, that kind of battle was a rare learning opportunity.
He had last seen the battle between Su Wei, one of the Gemini Twins of Desert Camp, and a female card artisan from Moon Frost Island. That battle had been even more exciting than those battles, and the level had been higher.
But for Chen Mu just then, the battle in front of him hadn't given him a deeper understanding.
His strength still wasn't enough to let him experience such a high-level battle.
On the contrary, although the battle in front of him wasn't at the level of those two, Chen Mu often had some understanding.
For example, the positioning between them would always give him new ideas when he compared them with his own.
But the positioning of those two people he had seen last time was simply untraceable in Chen Mu's eyes. It completely defied human common sense, and it was hard for him to resonate with it.
Wei-ah seemed to understand what Chen Mu was thinking and didn't make a sound.
He suddenly saw the bar-browed man on the ground showing signs of recovery, and he kicked him in the back without a trace of politeness. The poor bar-browed man's body stiffened, and he once again sank into helpless paralysis.
Chen Mu hadn't noticed Wei-ah's actions at all. He was staring with wide eyes, afraid to miss a single detail.
The battle had finally reached its most critical moment.
That was because the masked man had suddenly exerted his strength!
The masked man's body leaned forward slightly, and his arms formed a circle in front of his chest. His whole person was like a cannon, and the circle his arms had formed was the cannon's muzzle.
The energy fluctuations in the air had abruptly thickened, and Chen Mu, who was watching the battle from a distance, could clearly feel it.
All of the card artisans who had been fighting fiercely in the air stopped, and Machida and the chief uncle's expressions changed. They hurriedly split up and retreated.
Howie was looking at Hugo in horror, aghast that the ugly masked man's power had actually reached such a terrifying level!
Feeling that seemingly substantial energy fluctuation, his heart was pounding rapidly.
The faces of the card artisans around him were drained of all color.
Some of them were even trembling, and the two card artisans who had been cruising around them had stopped what they were doing, looking at their captain in adoration.
Kai's expression had also changed!
He hadn't thought his adversary would still have some leeway at that time.
He immediately realized the difference in power between the two sides.
By that time, it was too late for him to escape, since his adversary had already locked onto him.
Although Kai was startled, he didn't panic, and he simply didn't defend, since defense would have little effect at that time.
He summoned up all of his remaining perception, and all of the energy in the power card passed through his card at a shocking speed, taking shape in his hand.
An unremarkable energy bomb took shape once again.
There was another powerful energy fluctuation in the air, and all of the card artisans understood that Kai was going to lose!
There was an obvious difference in the intensity of the two energy fluctuations.
The energy fluctuation Hugo was emitting was almost substantial, and it was very oppressive.
Although Kai's energy fluctuation was also powerful, everyone could already smell the scent of an arrow at the end of its flight.
His adversary's desperate struggle like a cornered beast didn't cause any change in Hugo's expression. His silver mask was suffused with a cold glow, and his austere eyes didn't show the slightest emotion.
"Scatter!"
He lightly spat out the word, and his usually ear-piercing voice sounded full of majesty and austere.
Heaven and earth lit up!
Chen Mu only felt a vast expanse of whiteness in front of him, and the glaring, blazing light made it so he couldn't see anything in front of him.
Led by his body's instinct to protect itself, he unconsciously closed his eyes.
After a full ten seconds, his eyes returned to normal.
Looking at the empty battlefield, Chen Mu couldn't help but smile bitterly.
The long-distance vision devices were very useful, and they could clearly capture the scene in the distance. But it was also for that reason that Chen Mu's eyes were a lot more stimulated than when he wasn't wearing them.
With such a glaring light being emitted in front of him, he was already very lucky that his eyes hadn't gone blind.
Chen Mu had to learn his lesson next time. He helplessly warned himself that he'd missed the most wonderful scene.
He was curious about what the masked man's final attack would be like.
His gaze couldn't help but turn to Wei-ah with an inquiring expression. Wei-ah had certainly seen it.
Wei-ah ignored his gaze and pointed to the bar-browed man on the ground.
"He's observing you in the dark."
Chen Mu's heart skipped a beat, and his gaze immediately turned to the bar-browed man on the ground.
Why would that guy be observing me in the dark?
Moreover, he had braved such great danger to enter the range of the battlefield.
Chen Mu suddenly looked all around and said with some understanding, "Here?"
"Mmmm."
"Did you get anything out of him?" Chen Mu's expression had become a little serious.
His adversary's actions had a very obvious purpose, which made him very vigilant.
"You ask."
“
Wei-ah didn't waste any words. He looked around and reached for the glass of water on the table.
Suddenly, he seemed to realize the glass was a little too small. Seeing the fish tank on the side, he walked over and picked up the tank, which was as big as a cabinet, and walked over to the bar-browed man.
Chen Mu looked as if he couldn't bear to watch.
Splash! Wei-ah poured the water from the tank he was holding onto the bar-browed man's head.
The weather was already very cold, and the water in the tank was bone-chillingly cold. The bar-browed man was agitated and immediately shivered.
Especially his two legs, which were twitching like the thighs of a frog that had been scalded.
Seven or eight plump goldfish were desperately jumping around in the bar-browed man's arms, and the bar-browed man was like a drowned rat.
His face was blue from the cold, and he was shivering as he struggled to stand up. The goldfish in his arms fell to the ground and jumped onto his feet, wriggling their fat buttocks.
He looked at Wei-ah with a frightened expression. Chen Mu could even hear the sound of his teeth chattering together.
Swallowing hard, Chen Mu seemed to feel a little cold.
He had once enjoyed similar treatment.
There had been a time when Wei-ah had disliked Chen Mu for taking too long to recover, so he had thrown him directly into the water tank.
Fortunately, the water in the tank was a lot warmer.
Seeing that day's scene, Chen Mu swore to himself that he would never raise goldfish at home for the rest of his life.
Although he was frightened, the bar-browed man still displayed a certain level of calmness. He looked at Wei-ah, waiting for him to ask questions.
The apparatus on his wrist had already been removed by his adversary, and even if he had it, he didn't think he would have any chance of victory.
His adversary's power was so much higher than his that it would be foolish to try to overestimate one's capabilities under those circumstances.
Chen Mu rather admired the bar-browed man. He didn't think he would have been able to show his adversary's sophistication and composure under the same circumstances.
Seeing Wei-ah's expression, Chen Mu understood the task of questioning had fallen to him.
"Why are you watching me in secret?" Chen Mu asked.
To tell the truth, he felt a little strange. He didn't think there was anything attractive about him, but his adversary had been watching him in secret.
His first thought was that Mose had sent him.
But he didn't think it was very likely. His reaction the last time had clearly expressed his position. If Mose had sent someone to stir up trouble when he knew his power, he would have been hopelessly stupid.
But, from the first time he'd seen Mose that day, he didn't think Mose was that sort of person.
The bar-browed man was silent, looking as though he was struggling.
Wei-ah raised his eyelids and glanced at him.
That glance from Wei-ah was as heavy as a thousand catties, which immediately tipped the balance between the bar-browed man's struggles.
"I want to know your sect."
"Sect?" Chen Mu hadn't reacted for a moment.
Few people would even mention the ancient word sect, let alone someone like Chen Mu who hadn't gone through any systematic study.
What he knew about such things was mostly bits and pieces.
His understanding of sects was limited to the era of a sect, as well as the night of the cross mentioned in the mysterious card. He didn't know anything else.
He had never thought that he would one day be associated with a sect.
"You give me a familiar feeling." The bar-browed man glanced at Chen Mu and added, "The first time we entered the building.
Your method of concealment seemed familiar to me. "
The bar-browed man's expression was calm, and he didn't seem to be lying.
Chen Mu couldn't help but carefully recall the scene of that day. His sudden sneak attack had wounded one of them.
The method of concealment he'd used that day had been the "pseudo breath control" he'd created. How could it have anything to do with a sect?
Hold on!
Sect?
Chen Mu suddenly remembered. Didn't breath control come from a sect called the night of the cross?
Could it be that?
The more he thought about it, the more Chen Mu felt it was possible. His pseudo breath control had come from the night of the cross.
But, there were only two scant sentences about the night of the cross in the mysterious card, and Chen Mu had no way to have any substantial understanding of the sect from those two sentences.
Quietly watching Chen Mu's expression fluctuate, the bar-browed man became more certain.