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Xue Linxiang shot the little brat a glare. "Shen An, you come too! I have something serious to discuss with you."

Shen An had originally poked his head out, hoping to watch the show. Seeing Sister Xue's grim expression, he immediately put away his teasing smile, left the room, and obediently followed behind her.

By the time the two entered the next room, Tang Muzhou had already washed his face.

The man sat leisurely on the sofa, his deep eyes restored to their usual sharpness and clarity.

Tang Muzhou before washing his face and Tang Muzhou after washing his face were practically two different people.

Over the past few years since his debut, Tang Muzhou had won the individual championship and remained consistently strong in team events. However, whenever a match was scheduled between four and five in the afternoon, his win rate became unbearably awful. Gradually, everyone learned about his strange schedule. Fans even joked that perhaps Tang God had made too many plant cards and become like a plant himself—when the afternoon sun was too harsh, Tang God wilted and needed to hibernate.

Fortunately, for ratings, most professional league matches were scheduled during the prime-time slot from 7 PM to 10 PM, so the impact was not significant.

It was now nearly five in the afternoon, and Tang Muzhou had awakened.

When he saw Sister Xue and his apprentice enter one after the other, Tang Muzhou asked with concern, "Sister Xue, your complexion looks terrible. What happened?" His gaze swept toward his apprentice standing beside Sister Xue. The young boy shook his head, indicating that he had no idea.

Xue Linxiang said nothing. She swiftly opened the portable tablet computer she had brought with her.

A virtual projection screen over two meters wide immediately appeared before them. Displayed on it were nine identical One-Star Cards, neatly arranged in a row, an impressive sight.

They were character cards. A delicate-looking woman was streaked with tears, her slender jade-like hands scattering flower petals into a river. The artwork was exquisitely detailed.

Tang Muzhou rose and walked over to study the cards closely. "What card is this?"

"Red Candle bought it from the Black Market," Xue Linxiang said solemnly. "Take a close look at its stats and skill."

Health 100, Attack 0, Defense 15—its base stats were laughably poor. Its skill was Daiyu Burying Flowers: deal devastating damage to flower-type cards, with a 10% chance of triggering an Instant Death effect.

Instant Death? Specifically against flowers?

Tang Muzhou raised an eyebrow. After two seconds of silence, he turned to his apprentice. "Little An, what do you think?"

Shen An craned his neck to look at the card and carefully calculated, "The base card has a 10% chance. At level 70, that becomes 80%. Then, if probability-boosting materials are used to strengthen it, the chance can be stacked to 100%. This kind of utility card wouldn't be very useful against other players, but against Master, it could directly cripple Master's trump-card flowers—is someone making this specifically to target Master?"

Xue Linxiang was deeply gratified. Shen An was only fifteen, extremely mischievous, and spent all day trailing after everyone like an overgrown child. Yet the boy was clever, with exceptional intuition. He had spotted the issue with the card at a glance. He truly deserved to be Tang Muzhou's apprentice.

Just as she was about to agree, Tang Muzhou said blandly, "Targeting me? Not necessarily."

Shen An froze. "What do you mean?"

"Look carefully at the artwork on this card." Tang Muzhou pointed to the design on its front. "Don't you think there are too many decorative elements?"

Shen An abruptly came to his senses. "That's right! The flowers and grass, the river, the green trees—it looks just like a painting!"

Hearing this, Xue Linxiang also began to feel that something was off. She could not help asking, "Little Tang, you mean this card wasn't made specifically to target you?"

"Mm." Tang Muzhou turned back to the tear-streaked woman on the card and said calmly, "Any true card-making expert knows that the purer the card artwork, the purer the summoned Star Card Illusions will be, and the stronger the card will become. This card includes far too many cluttered decorations. Besides the main character, there are trees, flowers, rivers... These elements make the card look fuller, but in reality, they greatly reduce the combat power of the central character."

Seeing that both of them were listening intently, Tang Muzhou patiently analyzed, "If its creator were a card-making expert, this card would only need the two key elements of 'character' and 'flowers.' The base card's probability should have reached 30%, and a level 70 maxed card could reach 100% without needing materials for enhancement. But this person does not know how to make cards at all. That is why the card's base probability is only 10%, its stats are a mess, and reaching full probability through later enhancement would come at an extremely high cost."

Shen An nodded rapidly. "Master is right! This card is drawn with so much detail, like an art school student making a painting. Every expert in the card-making world knows that drawing a bunch of decorative objects is a huge taboo when making combat cards!"

Xue Linxiang frowned. After a moment, she said, "Could it just be a coincidence?"

Tang Muzhou nodded.

Xue Linxiang had just begun to relax when Tang Muzhou said, "If someone were deliberately targeting me, I wouldn't be afraid—coincidence is what's truly frightening."

Xue Linxiang was stunned for a moment, then quickly understood what Tang God meant.

When Red Candle had handed her the card earlier, its highly targeted skill had frightened her so badly that she had not been thinking clearly.

But Tang Muzhou was clearer-headed than she was.

Especially Tang Muzhou after waking up at five in the afternoon—he considered problems more calmly and sharply than she did.

If someone had truly intended to provoke him by making a card designed to counter him, Tang Muzhou would not fear it at all—over the years, the major clubs had studied his deck. Had there not already been countless targeted cards created specifically to restrain him?

He had reached his current heights not merely through his cards, but also through his lightning-fast adaptability in battle and extraordinarily precise card control. Even if Daiyu Burying Flowers could cripple one of his flower trump cards, he still had an even stronger trump card waiting behind it. During every match, players expanded their card pools and brought several backup cards into the arena. It was impossible for an opponent to counter every single one of his cards.

But precisely because this was a coincidence, it was terrifying!

No one knew who had created this card or how much talent its creator possessed. This person had unintentionally made a card that countered Tang Muzhou. Today, it was only Daiyu Burying Flowers—who knew whether more bizarre cards might be created tomorrow? If that person made a whole pile of cards that countered the Flower Card Deck and sold them to the major clubs, Tang Muzhou would face an incredibly difficult next season.