Chapter Summaries

Chen Mu used the Tail-Shedding Shuttle to kill one of the two Card Adepts pursuing him, then escaped through the sewers. He emerged in the wilderness outside Polinton Town, unable to contact Lei Zi, and approached a nearby forest.

• Chen Mu fired the Tail-Shedding Shuttle through a sewer grate and ran before he could see whether it hit.
• The shuttle pierced Brother Yu's heart, and the other Card Adept caught his falling companion and mourned him.
• Chen Mu fled through the sewers for about half an hour, worrying about Lei Zi and considering how to contact him.
• Chen Mu crawled out of the sewage outlet and discovered he had reached the wilderness beyond Polinton Town.
• Chen Mu admired the forest ahead and walked toward it, curious about its rumored dangers and treasures.

Chen Mu was ambushed by a dangerous black vine in the jungle and used the Untangling Game to break free twice, but the vine caught him again and lifted him into the air. A woman in black appeared beneath him, and Chen Mu saw her grotesquely scarred face.

• A black vine wrapped around Chen Mu’s ankle and dragged him through thorny bushes into the jungle.
• Chen Mu used the Untangling Game to twist free from the vine and spotted its black, thumb-thick form.
• Chen Mu heard a woman’s voice but tried to flee as the vine pursued him.
• Chen Mu broke the vine’s grip on his ankle a second time, but it coiled around his waist and hoisted him into the air.
• Chen Mu saw a woman dressed in black beneath him and recoiled at her badly scarred face.

Chen Mu was captured by a mysterious demonic woman who examined him and carried him through the forest. She set up a hidden green-thread trap, then lured a pursuing group toward it before disappearing into the bushes with Chen Mu.

• The demonic woman bound Chen Mu and examined his body while ignoring his questions.
• She wrapped Chen Mu tightly, carried him deeper into the forest, and revealed a card that vanished in her hand.
• The demonic woman produced fine green thread and set up several hidden lines among the trees.
• She carried Chen Mu toward nearby voices, drawing a group of pursuers who attacked them with wave blades.
• The demonic woman led the pursuers toward her preparations, then vanished into the bushes with Chen Mu before he could see the trap work.

The Devil Woman carried Chen Mu through the forest after killing several people with a pale green thread that transformed into a card. After questioning him, she said she had captured him for a job and that his survival depended on succeeding.

• The Devil Woman waited in ambush with Chen Mu until several people were killed, then retrieved a pale green thread from a corpse and watched it transform into a card.
• The Devil Woman searched the remaining corpses and carried Chen Mu deeper into the forest, feeding him small pieces of red sponge during their day-and-night journey.
• The Devil Woman removed the Black Vine bindings, and Chen Mu recovered before asking why she had captured him.
• The Devil Woman questioned Chen Mu about his identity and doubted he was a card maker because of his strength and muscles.
• The Devil Woman told Chen Mu that she had a job for him and that he would live if he succeeded and die if he failed.

Zuo Tianlin learned that Chen Mu was a talented card maker and novice Card Adept who had killed Yu Xin, and ordered him eliminated despite his connection to Bai Zheyuan. Meanwhile, the Devil Woman asked Chen Mu to take her into the city, then bound him with her black vine and ordered him to go.

• Zuo Tianlin reprimanded Wu Tuan for causing trouble and ordered him confined for ten months after learning Chen Mu had killed Yu Xin.
• Minghui told Zuo Tianlin that Chen Mu had created an undecipherable card-making technique and wielded a powerful combat card.
• Zuo Tianlin decided to speak with Bai Zheyuan and ordered Minghui to find and kill Chen Mu before he grew stronger.
• The Devil Woman asked Chen Mu to take her into the city, and Chen Mu agreed while warning her that someone was hunting him.
• The Devil Woman called Chen Mu weak, then used her black vine to bind him and ordered him to go.

Chen Mu and the Devil Woman disguised themselves and entered Dongshang Guard City, where they found work at a restaurant to get food and shelter. As they settled into a quiet routine, the Devil Woman asked Chen Mu what the Six Great Academies and Star Academy were.

• The Devil Woman changed Chen Mu's appearance and disguised herself before they passed through Dongshang Guard City's gates unnoticed.
• Chen Mu realized he had no money, so he took the Devil Woman to a restaurant hiring workers and secured jobs for them both.
• Chen Mu worked as a general helper while the Devil Woman washed dishes, and the proprietress praised their work.
• Chen Mu and the Devil Woman slept in the restaurant's cramped attic, and Chen Mu noticed she had apparently gone out during the night.
• Chen Mu avoided contacting Lei Zi and hoped their peaceful routine would continue.
• The Devil Woman asked Chen Mu what the Six Great Academies and Star Academy were.

Chen Mu explained the Six Great Academies to the Devil Woman, then asked her to train him after she exposed the weaknesses of his Tail-Shedding Shuttle. Meanwhile, Wang Ze and Yin Chenjiu discussed rising clashes around the academy and awaited a powerful reinforcement.

• Chen Mu told the Devil Woman about the Six Great Academies and Star Academy, and she wondered why Star Academy had come to the area.
• Chen Mu resumed the Body-Strengthening Exercise, and the Devil Woman called it too gentle and said she would train him that night.
• Yin Chenjiu told Wang Ze that more fighters, including members of the Zuo Family, were appearing in the wild, and Wang Ze ordered their group to stay low until academy reinforcements arrived.
• Chen Mu demonstrated his Tail-Shedding Shuttle to the Devil Woman, who smashed it apart with her Black Vine and judged its preparation too slow for killing.
• The Devil Woman showed Chen Mu how quickly she could cut his neck, and Chen Mu asked her how to practice.

Star Academy’s second batch of exchange students arrived at East Guard Academy, where Qingqing met Zuo Tingyi. Meanwhile, the Devil Woman trained Chen Mu in secret and ordered him to enter East Guard Academy in a month, leaving him no choice but to follow her plans.

• Star Academy’s second batch of exchange students arrived, and Wang Ze introduced Qingqing to Zuo Tingyi and the East Guard Academy representatives.
• Qingqing asked Zuo Tingyi to show her around Dongshang Guard City, and he agreed.
• The Devil Woman made Chen Mu run three hundred laps through a pitch-black attic while whipping him whenever he slowed down.
• Chen Mu trained in darkness each night while working by day, gradually learning to navigate the clutter using his perception.
• After a month, the Devil Woman told Chen Mu he would enter East Guard Academy as a sponsored student in the Card-Crafting Department.
• The Devil Woman gave Chen Mu money, records, a key, and a Communication Card, and ordered him to learn basic survival skills within a month.

Chen Mu trained under the Devil Woman and received several secret tools to help him evade danger while posing as Yao Ke. He entered East Guard Academy as a sponsored student and settled into his dormitory, while Qingqing and Wang Ze anticipated trouble in Dongshang Guard City.

• The Devil Woman trained Chen Mu in evasive techniques and warned him to hide before using his Tail-Shedding Shuttle Card.
• The Devil Woman gave Chen Mu poisoned smoke bombs, elastic grass shoes, wall-clinging lotus gear, and ghost-face flower for disguising and protecting his face.
• Qingqing and Wang Ze discussed East Guard Academy's upcoming admissions and the growing number of watchers, and Qingqing worried that Dongshang Guard City would become chaotic.
• Chen Mu entered East Guard Academy under the identity Yao Ke and joined the group of sponsored students.
• Chen Mu obtained his room assignment, secured his apartment, and fell asleep in a dark corner.

Chen Mu trained under the Devil Woman while Zuo Tianlin and Minghui reconsidered their search after learning an unknown expert had likely taken him. After realizing his Card Film had attracted attention and meeting Qingqing without recognizing her as a Star Academy exchange student, Chen Mu returned home shaken, while Qingqing brought Encounter to Bian Yun.

• Chen Mu resumed perception and physical training, relying on the Tail-Shedding Shuttle Card as his only means of attack and resolving to survive.
• Minghui reported that twelve freelance Card Adepts had been found dead near Polinton Town, and Zuo Tianlin concluded an unknown expert had likely taken Chen Mu.
• Zuo Tianlin and Minghui shifted their attention from Chen Mu to the opportunity drawing powerful Card Adepts and Star Academy experts to Dongshang Guard City.
• Chen Mu overheard Zuo Tang tell Qingqing that her brother Zuo Tingyi had failed to crack Encounter, and he realized the Card Film’s token structure could expose him to danger.
• Chen Mu later deduced that Qingqing was a Star Academy exchange student and feared she had noticed his reaction to their conversation.
• Qingqing returned to the exchange students’ dormitory, gave Encounter to Bian Yun, and watched him react with surprise at his first glance.

Bian Yun discovered that Blockhead’s One-Star Illusion Cards had extraordinary capacity and motion rendering, and his attempt to analyze one destroyed his equipment. Meanwhile, Chen Mu disguised himself as a nouveau riche while buying a new Wrist Device, then ran into Ya Ya and Sister Feng on his way back to his dormitory.

• Bian Yun examined Encounter and explained that its Illusion Cards produced unusually long, smooth footage despite their low grade.
• Bian Yun used his analysis card to inspect an Illusion Card, but the display collapsed and smoke rose from his damaged Wrist Device.
• Qingqing revealed that East Guard Academy students, including Zuo Tingyi, had damaged equipment trying to analyze the Card Films, and Wang Ze sent Yin Chenjiu to investigate Blockhead.
• Chen Mu dressed in flashy nouveau riche clothing, bought a jeweled Wrist Device and Energy Cards, and reminded himself that he could not risk fleeing the Devil Woman.
• Chen Mu ignored Sister Feng when she called him a country bumpkin, so she asked Ya Ya to block his path; Ya Ya confronted him as his frustration mounted.

Chen Mu struggled to control his temper and refine his cover as a nouveau riche, then continued training and attended East Guard Academy’s freshman ceremony. The ceremony ended on a note of tension when a Star Academy student secretly sent a light wave across the auditorium, alerting several powerful observers and Chen Mu.

• Chen Mu knocked Sister Feng and Ya Ya aside when they blocked his path, then shoved down a Card Adept student who tried to stop him.
• Chen Mu calmed himself in the shower, decided to act as a quiet, taciturn nouveau riche, and kept using the expensive women’s Wrist Device after discovering its superior performance.
• Yin Chenjiu told Wang Ze and Qingqing that Mu Lei’s Card Films had sold mainly around East Guard Academy, and Wang Ze suggested they ask Bian Yun how to attract Mu Lei to a card-crafting competition.
• Chen Mu failed his second Arrowfish Challenge after surviving attacks from roughly seventy Arrowfish, then arrived at the freshman ceremony sore and covered in red marks.
• At the ceremony, Chen Mu sensed that several Card Adept Department students were dangerous outsiders and noticed his Perception becoming unusually sharp.
• A tall Star Academy student released a faint ring of light across the auditorium, prompting several Card Adept Department members and teachers to react as Chen Mu’s expression changed.

Chen Mu resisted the Star-Bait Field by shaping his Perception into a spinning vortex, accidentally breaking the bamboo-thin student’s Star Lure technique and injuring him. Chen Mu left the auditorium unaware of his role in the disruption, with his Perception still rotating inside him, and went to examine it in his dormitory.

• Chen Mu’s Perception was overwhelmed by the Star-Bait Field, so he formed a vortex based on the Tail-Shedding Shuttle’s structure to regain control.
• Chen Mu’s Perception vortex repelled the field’s energy structures and shattered the faint ring of light, while the bamboo-thin student’s Wrist Device broke and he was injured.
• The bamboo-thin student told Qingqing and Wang Ze that an unidentified expert had helped others break Star Lure, and Qingqing searched the crowd without finding the expert.
• Chen Mu restored his composure but could not disperse his slowly rotating Perception; he worried the Star Academy had targeted him, then fell asleep in the auditorium.
• Chen Mu woke to find the auditorium nearly empty, returned to his noisy dormitory, and examined his Perception in the bathtub.

Chen Mu discovered that his Perception had changed, making his control faster and more responsive, then attended his first class at East Guard Academy and drew attention by defeating a student who confronted him. A promised prize in the academy’s Illusion Card crafting competition excited him until he read the requirements and was left chilled by what they demanded.

• Chen Mu tested his changed Perception and found that its hair-thin strands let him fire the Tail-Shedding Shuttle Card twice as often as before.
• Chen Mu reconsidered the energy construct that had nearly collapsed his Perception, but found no clue about who had caused it.
• In class, Chen Mu caught the attention of Lin Jiu and a gloomy student by striking down a muscular student who had confronted him over Sister Feng.
• Chen Mu accepted Lin Jiu’s request to let the matter go and agreed to have dinner with him.
• Chen Mu learned that the academy’s Illusion Card crafting competition offered Master Kuo Haofeng’s brush set, Chosen, as its first-place prize.
• Chen Mu read the competition requirements and felt as though he had plunged into an ice cellar.

Chen Mu learned that Lin Jiu had mistaken him for a member of the Yao Family, and he used that mistaken identity to gain information while investigating Star Academy and the Star-Bait Card. After training and attending classes, Chen Mu was taken out of the city at night by the Devil Woman, with their destination still unknown.

• At the Fragrant Wash Pavilion, Lin Jiu mistook Chen Mu for a Yao Family fighter and explained how Star-Bait Cards could disrupt Perception.
• Chen Mu asked the Devil Woman to investigate the Yao Family and Star-Bait Cards, then realized the Illusion Card competition was designed to draw out his token-related techniques.
• Bai Zheyuan and Wang Hao discussed the Zuo Family's demand to kill Chen Mu and their suspicion that he had killed Yu Xin and possessed a powerful combat card connected to Card Films.
• The Devil Woman's report revealed that the Yao Family specialized in close combat and had ties to the Desert Camp, so Chen Mu decided the family would make a useful cover identity.
• Chen Mu trained in darkness, attended classes, and watched the Illusion Card competition from the sidelines while remaining wary of the gloomy man in the classroom.
• That night, the Devil Woman gave Chen Mu black clothes and Ghost-Face Flower fruit, then carried him out of the city.

Chen Mu and the Devil Woman encountered Qingqing and Yin Chenjiu in the jungle, forcing Chen Mu to flee a barrage of Wave Blades alone. He returned to the villa without the Devil Woman and, when she still had not come back by Sunday afternoon, feared that her disappearance could leave him in danger.

• The Devil Woman carried Chen Mu through the jungle and stopped when they spotted Qingqing and Yin Chenjiu using a Map Card.
• Qingqing recognized Chen Mu, and the Devil Woman fled as Qingqing pursued her and alerted Yin Chenjiu to Chen Mu's presence.
• Yin Chenjiu fired Wave Blades at Chen Mu, who dodged them and escaped into the jungle.
• Chen Mu lost his pursuers, entered the city alone, and returned to the villa, where he found no sign of the Devil Woman.
• Chen Mu waited through the night and searched the villa the next afternoon, then realized the Devil Woman had left her Communication Card and worried that her disappearance could put his life at risk.

After Star Academy withdrew from Dongshang Guard City, Chen Mu stayed at East Guard Academy while waiting for the Devil Woman and checked on Lei Zi at Vico’s fashion launch. As Lei Zi and Lan Feng prepared to leave, Chen Mu spotted two Card Adepts following them and ambushed one, leaving the other to suspect Chen Mu was the boy his superiors sought.

• Chen Mu learned Star Academy was recalling all its exchange students, and Lin Jiu and many other students soon left East Guard Academy.
• Chen Mu attended Vico’s launch, recognized the Illusion Cards he had made, and saw that Lei Zi was safe and had become a couple with Lan Feng.
• Lei Zi and Lan Feng decided to leave Dongshang Guard City after Lei Zi rejected Club President Bai Zheyuan’s request to stay with the Low-Level Illusion Card Club.
• Chen Mu noticed two Card Adepts following Lei Zi and Lan Feng, disguised himself with the Ghost-Face Flower fruit, and prepared an ambush.
• Chen Mu killed one pursuer with the Tail-Shedding Shuttle, while the surviving Card Adept activated a Detection Card and suspected Chen Mu was the boy his superiors wanted found.

Chen Mu fought Daniu after killing one of his men, then killed Daniu with a powerful Tail-Shedding Shuttle strike and discovered that his pursuers belonged to the Zuo Family. Badly wounded and drained of perception, Chen Mu escaped, while Zuo Tianlin ordered a search for him and learned he might still be in the city.

• Daniu spotted Chen Mu after Chen Mu killed his subordinate and attacked him with streaks of blue light.
• Chen Mu dodged Daniu’s attacks, hid in a flour warehouse, and recognized him as the man who had fired blue light at him before.
• Chen Mu launched an accelerated Tail-Shedding Shuttle that shattered Daniu’s shield and pierced his chest, while the effort left Chen Mu badly injured and without perception.
• Chen Mu searched Daniu’s corpse, found evidence identifying the Zuo Family, and fled before the enemy’s reinforcements arrived.
• Zuo Tianlin learned that Chen Mu had killed three Card Adepts and ordered Minghui to find him; Minghui reported that Chen Mu was wounded and likely still in Dongshang Guard City.
• Chen Mu recovered at home with his back badly wounded and worried that his perception had vanished.

Chen Mu recovered from his injury and returned to school while the Zuo Family circulated arrest notices using his former appearance. As his Perception slowly returned, he began designing a new training card, but his experiments left him nearly out of money.

• Chen Mu saw an arrest notice accusing his former appearance of murder and realized the Zuo Family had used its influence to place a bounty on him.
• Chen Mu returned to East Guard Academy, where his teachers began focusing on him and Feng Zi'ang told him about the year-end Advancement Exam.
• After two months of study, Chen Mu's Perception had recovered to two-thirds of its former strength, and he decided to build a simpler version of Simple Water World called Arrowfish Training.
• Chen Mu remade three cards for Arrowfish Training and struggled to integrate them without the Mysterious Card.
• Chen Mu discovered that card-making had nearly emptied his money cards and that selling his villa could expose his identity and leave the Devil Woman unable to find him.

Chen Mu repaired Ya Ya’s Shuttlecraft for thirty thousand Odi, discovering a potential way to earn money through card repairs. Ya Ya’s opinion of him soured over the payment, but his focus in class left her intrigued, and Sister Feng borrowed Ya Ya’s Shuttlecraft at the end.

• Chen Mu agreed to inspect Ya Ya’s broken Silver Star Shuttlecraft, then dismantled it and found damage in its three-star Airflow Card.
• Chen Mu repaired the Airflow Card, reassembled the Shuttlecraft, and charged Ya Ya thirty thousand Odi.
• Ya Ya left irritated by Chen Mu’s demand for payment, while Chen Mu was pleased by the money and the new prospect of earning through repairs.
• Back in class, Ya Ya watched Chen Mu study and told Sister Feng about the repair; Sister Feng warned her not to get emotionally involved.
• Sister Feng snatched Ya Ya’s Shuttlecraft keys and left to borrow the vehicle.