398 Good Will

Chen Mu looked at the remaining half of the energy chain in his hands and felt inwardly awed. His adversary was ruthlessly experienced and really worth learning from. The ninth layer of the energy shield wasn't actually an energy shield; it was an unstable energy-shield-shaped energy body that would produce a violent explosion on contact.

The tenth layer of the energy cloak was the true shield! With the help of the shock waves formed by the explosion, it had increased Dang Han's escape velocity. That was a dangerous strategy and a risky gamble. It required courage and determination along with power. To come up with such a scheme in such a short time was something Chen Mu really admired.

Chen Mu quickly landed. As soon as his legs touched the ground, he swapped out his power card as fast as he could. He didn't breathe a sigh of relief until he completed that step. He was an arrow at the end of his flight just then; he had only 100 units left in his energy card, which was not enough. The part that had been eroded by the energy starfish had become the weakest part of the whole energy chain and was the first part to disintegrate in the collision.

Zeng Yushan came out from the crowd and congratulated Chen Mu with a smile. "The battle today was a classic! As soon as you fought, you seriously injured Dang Han. This will spread throughout the federation! A rise in your ranking is now within reach. Yushan would like to be the first to congratulate you, sir!"

There had been some restlessness in the crowd when several people had seen Zeng Yushan come out. Their faces showed fear, but they immediately calmed down.

Chen Mu shook his head. "Brother Zeng is joking. It can only be considered a tie between Dang Han and me." He said nothing more after that.

Zeng Yushan didn't get tangled up in that question but took a glimpse at the crowd as though he had something to point out. He said, "It seems like a lot of people in Zargan are interested in Mr. Qiao."

"There are more people who are interested in you all." Chen Mu's response was still more direct, but his expression didn't change.

He had suddenly figured out a lot of things at once. The aces who had come were almost certainly coming for the sake of Moon Frost Island. Ever since he had run into Constellation, all visible clues proved people were aiming at Moon Frost Island in secret, though he didn't know the objective of the dark hand behind the scenes.

"Ha ha." Zeng Yushan laughed lightly and shrugged, pretending to be casual. "It looks like we have a common language that could bring us a little closer." His expression looked relaxed, but he still faintly showed a look of anticipation.

Chen Mu was startled. How could he not hear the meaning of what Zeng Yushan was saying? Zeng Yushan wanted to cooperate with him, which was really surprising. Which of the Big Six didn't have plenty of aces? Even if it were Constellation, to contend with Moon Frost Island would be as overreaching as striking a stone with an egg. Even if they added all the aces who had suddenly popped up there, they absolutely wouldn't have the capital to fight Moon Frost Island.

But Zeng Yushan had actually thrown him an olive branch! Could Moon Frost Island have a shortage of manpower? Once that thought popped out, Chen Mu found it a little absurd. But, even given the absurdity of what he was thinking, once it popped into his mind, it kept spinning there and wouldn't go away.

Even with his mind so active, Chen Mu still kept his poker face. "Qiao Yuan is used to being alone, and I'm afraid I can't live up to Brother Zeng's good intentions. I am sorry, but I'm busy and will have to step away."

After saying that, he motioned to Ah Sang to lead the way. Ah Sang suddenly returned to her senses and hurried to lead him along. The pedestrians along the way consciously made way for them. Their gazes toward Chen Mu were full of awe and respect. That was the treatment enjoyed by the mighty.

Watching the departure of Chen Mu and Ah Sang, Zeng Yushan looked as though he had something on his mind. But when his gaze touched Ah Sang at Chen Mu's side, he was stunned by her beauty.

"This ugly guy named Qiao actually dares to put on airs in front of us? This old lady will rub him out!" Li was the first to open fire. She had just been looking at Chen Mu appreciatively. She now jumped up, enraged, changing her look faster than a book's pages could be flipped.

The other students also looked unhappy. As the darlings of the heavens, any one of them would have their eyes on the top during normal times. To lose such face in front of so many people like that would naturally upset them!

"Too bad about that pretty woman with him! I would never have thought Zargan would have such pretty women," a male student said with a heavy note of jealousy.

No matter how upset they were, however, they restrained the anger they felt. They wanted to maintain a little dignity under their smiles, but they could do nothing more than watch the two leave.

In a building about two kilometers from Chen Mu, three men standing at the window were watching him.

"He's gotten stronger." Wen's voice was just as demonic as that faceted ruby on his mask. Two people were standing beside him. To his left was the sturdy and grave-tempered Yuchi Bai. The man to his right had shocking scars criss-crossing his face. His eyes squinted as he kept a firm eye on Chen Mu's back in the distance, his gaze full of bitter resentment.

"If he'd had the power he now has when you ran into him, you would be dead already," Wen said calmly.

"I've gotten stronger as well."

That ugly, gravelly voice was as hard to listen to as a knife scraping glass. The man's scarred face looked surprisingly calm, but the veins were popping on his two clenched fists. If Chen Mu were to see him, he probably wouldn't recognize him. He was Jin Yin, who had been seriously injured by Chen Mu.

"Was he using the Golden Word Shackle the last time you encountered him?" Wen asked suddenly.

"No." Jin Yin shook his head. "It was another type of strange card." His tone was halting, and he added, "Very powerful."

"Oh." Wen chuckled. "What an interesting fellow. I would never have thought Mo Ta's Golden Word Shackle would actually play out such power in his hands. Well, if even Dang Han has that much interest in the card, perhaps it really is fantastic."

Yuchi Bai tilted his head to ask, "Do you want me to grab it?"

"Forget it; first thing's first. We can't complicate things at this time," Wen mused.

Yuchi Bai nodded without saying anything, but Jin Yin's eyes flashed a hint of unwillingness to let it go.

While Chen Mu walked, he was mulling over what Zeng Yushan had said. Still, he certainly wasn't going to enter those turbid waters. Although he felt that those people attacking Moon Frost Island didn't have much of a chance, he didn't believe others would dare to attack Moon Frost Island without something behind them. Maybe those people couldn't truly pose any threat to Moon Frost Island, but he reckoned it would be no problem at all to kill him.

Moreover, he was still in a hurry to get to the Dong Rui District, and it wouldn't do him any good to remain long in Zargan. Up until then, everything had gone smoothly, and he had accomplished his established goals very well. Each battle had especially thrilling—against Mo Ta, Jin Yin, and then adding today's with Dang Han, none of which he had been certain to win. His luck was also pretty good. If that battle had happened earlier, Chen Mu's probability of losing would have been a lot higher.

Taking the advantage was not as good as quitting while one was ahead. The stuff of luck wasn't very reliable.

Deep in thought, Chen Mu didn't notice Ah Sang's beautiful, limpid eyes always quietly hanging on his body. In his thoughtful state, Chen Mu had a different sort of charm, and that incredibly ugly face seemed suddenly to have become softer more and pleasing.

To tell the truth, Ah Sang had been blown away that day. She didn't know who Dang Han was, but that didn't stop her from having her own understanding of the battle. The wild and uninhibited image of Qiao Yuan was deeply branded in her mind. She had never seen such a dominant person and such a surging urge to battle. He was as awe-inspiring as a god! Compared to him, those so-called heroic aces she had previously seen could only be considered sissies.

Everyone else today had only set off that ugly man, and even she felt that the handsome and elegant Zeng Yushan paled under the glare of Qiao Yuan's resplendence. When she looked again at Zeng Yushan, she couldn't find what had made her heart jump the first time she had seen him.

By itself, there suddenly floated into her mind a phrase her mother used to say. With some men, the more you are in contact with them, the more you will be captivated by them.

That phrase suddenly popping out put Ah Sang into a blank stare, her gaze firmly stuck on Chen Mu's body as though it were coated with glue.

Why won't he look at me? After a long time, Ah Sang became unconsciously indignant. By the time she reacted, her heart skipped a beat. Damn! How could she have such thoughts? Her face was burning in that instant.

As she thought about it, ever since Qiao Yuan had first seen her, he had always been rather calm. Even after he had seen her true face, he remained that way. She had always felt that Qiao Yuan was full of contradictions. Did his wild tyrannical aura and that incredibly unbridled image really belong to the same person who was in front of her, so deep in thought? Ah Sang only felt that her brain had gone haywire, and she didn't know what to think.

"How much farther is it?"

Ah Sang felt struck by lightning, and all the messed up things in her mind disappeared. She looked around in a bit of a panic, secretly calling out to herself how messed up it was. She had been walking in a daze and had taken the wrong turn! She quickly put on a calm face, though. "It's probably still ten more minutes."

"Oh," Chen Mu said bluntly.

She couldn't refrain from taking another glance at Chen Mu and saw him keeping his mouth tightly shut without the least notion of saying anything. That made her feel hopeless for no reason.

"Why did you refuse Zeng Yushan? Wouldn't it be good to cooperate with Moon Frost Island? I've heard the card artisans Moon Frost Island likes are all treated quite well!" Ah Sang said, not really understanding.

Actually, she had been rather surprised when Zeng Yushan had offered the olive branch. To be appreciated by Moon Frost Island would be a great honor for any card artisan. She didn't understand why Chen Mu would refuse them. Could it be that having such a big backer would not be so good?

Moreover, Zeng Yushan was staying low-key, which was not easy for Moon Frost Island to do.

"I still have something I need to do and can't get caught up here," Chen Mu calmly said. Judging by his face, there was no trace of having just gone through a big battle.

Ah Sang went silent.

Chen Mu was trying to relax his body as he walked. He needed to take that time to restore his strength. It was now turbulent in Zargan, and he would be in a bad situation if he were to encounter anything unexpected. At that point, he only wanted to quickly go to the Southern Star Trading Company to buy those two materials and to go back and get a good rest.