Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Qing Ming City.

The Card Creators a.s.sociation.

Looking pale, Zhang Yang, the branch president, was staring at the gauntlet thrown down to him.

Yes.

It was an invitation for a challenge!

Yesterday, the Card Creators a.s.sociation in the sister city beside Qing Ming City suddenly issued this challenge to them. They wanted to have a friendly match between the two cities.

Bulls.h.i.+t! Friendly?

Clearly, it was for the sake of this year's sponsors.h.i.+p!

The sponsors.h.i.+p originally belonged to Qing Ming City. However, many things had happened in the city in the recent few months and the CEO was a little apprehensive. Hence, the branch in the adjacent city came looking for them on its own accord.

If they were to lose…

The sponsors.h.i.+ps would most likely go to them!

It was a very simple exchange match. A total of three games would be used to determine the victor. There would be a compet.i.tion between the one-star, two-star and three-star cultivators respectively! The three matchups would be enough to prove which branch was more worthy of the money!

"Are they that confident?" Zhang Yang sneered coldly.

"Uh."

The vice president smiled bitterly. "Li Haoran is from their city."

Zhang Yang was silent.

Li Haoran…

A three-star Card Creator at his peak!

He was also a genius that Chong Yang City had focused on nurturing!

It was said that he had already pa.s.sed the "Qualification Certificate for High-level Card Creator Profession" at a young age. Now, he was truely sense a high-level Card Creator!

A three-star high-level Card Creator?

To h.e.l.l with it!

Did he grow up eating cards?

"What about two-star?" Zhang Yang asked.

"Uh."

The vice president was expressionless. "Li Haoran's father, Comrade Li Aiguo, has been stuck at the two-star level due to his past injuries. He's still a two-star now.

Zhang Yang was suffering from a mental breakdown.

Li Haoran's father?

d.a.m.n!

How old was that person now?!

50 years old!

Would he not feel embarra.s.sed to compete in the match?

"Get Senior Jiang to come," Zhang Yang sneered coldly.

Are they competing on age? We have veterans here as well! Jiang Feng's father! Since Li Aiguo is coming here to bully the youngsters, I will get Senior Jiang to deal with his son!

"Well…"

The vice president smiled bitterly, "Senior Jiang may not be a match for Li Haoran."

Li Haoran, that man…

He was too twisted!

A three-star high-level Card Creator!

One had to know that many four-star Card Creators were not even able to pa.s.s the high-level Card Creator Qualification Certificate! No one could match this lad's innate talent!

"Father and son battling together?"

Zhang Yang's face was ghastly pale.

They would definitely lose the three-star match. It would be even more shameful if Old Master Jiang were to lose in the fight. He might as well not compete in it. Hence, they could only work on the one and two star ones.

Two-star…

They had also nurtured some geniuses but they were simply not a match for veterans such as Li Aiguo!

They were simply not of the same level!

In normal circ.u.mstances, which two-star cultivator around 50 to 60 years old would not find it embarra.s.sing to partic.i.p.ate in this kind of exchange match?

Obviously…

This time, the Chong Yang branch was really going for it- They must attain the sponsors.h.i.+p even at the expense of their face!

"Find! Find me someone!" Zhang Yang screamed furiously. "I don't believe that we can't find a senior at two-star level!"

The vice president felt a little awkward.

It was really hard to find.

After all…

People of Li Aiguo's generation were mostly three or four-star cultivators!

Besides the kind of situation whereby one could not progress due to past injury, who would be stuck at the two-star level? With the increase in age, they would have gradually attained three-star after some time!

It was enough to have one Li Aiguo and one Senior Jiang.

Obviously, the Chong Yang branch was well prepared this time. The had even sought the headquarter's agreement in advance for the exchange match. Qing Ming City had been caught off guard and had no time to prepare at all!

Three-star - they would definitely lose!

Two-star - they might lose!

One-star…

They were least worried about one-star.

This was because they also had a talented player who was comparable to Li Haoran - Lu Ming! This was a guy who had mastered lamination despite being at the one-star level!

"Let me figure out a solution for two-star."

Zhang Yang clutched his head. "Let Lu Ming partic.i.p.ate in the one-star exchange match."

"Well…"

The vice president smiled bitterly. "Lu Ming rejected us."

Zhang Yang widened his eyes.

Rejected?

This lad actually rejected them?!

This was an exchange match that concerned the reputation of the Qing Ming City branch!

"Does he have any sense of belonging and territorial ident.i.ty?!"

Zhang Yang hollered angrily.

Youngsters nowadays… They really could not be compared to the previous generations…

"Uh," the vice president said gingerly, "He is not from Qing Ming City. He has studied here for a year and joined the a.s.sociation for only for a few days. Furthermore, he was recommended by the higher-ups."

Oh.

So, Lu Ming did not come from Qing Ming City.

Zhang Yang was having a headache.

Hence, it was highly probable that they would be defeated at a score of three vs. zero this time!

This was simply a humiliation!

This would not do!

They had to convince Lu Ming.

Both Zhang Yang's eyes reddened. He had been thinking of how to beat the Chong Yang branch. Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, it had become how to avoid the situation of three vs. zero?

It was simply tragic.

This was no longer a question of sponsors.h.i.+p!

It was about reputation!

The reputation of the Qing Ming City branch!

At this very moment…

Lu Ming was searching for related abilities.

He had received a call from the Card Creators a.s.sociation earlier. It was ridiculous that they requested him to partic.i.p.ate in an exchange match, telling him that he had to win. Otherwise, it would be this and that…

Lu Ming hung up the phone immediately.

What a joke.

What did the exchange match have to do with him?

His time was extremely precious now. How could he spare any effort for the match!

Well…

Lu Ming's gaze returned to Internet.

The Eye of Insight, a top-notch three-star ability, could enhance your sense of perception and weaken all non-energy substance and converge energy particles. It was a very powerful ability.

Copyright price: One million yuan

Energy requirement: Three thousand points

Sealing condition: Extremely difficult

As the Eye of Insight was a vocational ability that was cast on oneself, it was extremely difficult to seal it. As a result, its price was also affected!

"Xiaobai, how much money do we have?"

Lu Ming asked.

"Well…"

Xiaobai calculated. "We don't have anymore left but we earned three hundred thousand yuan these few days. The rest are all energy resources. I don't think they add up to a million yuan."

"Oh."

Lu Ming had a realization.

They had only earned three hundred thousand yuan of cash after so long!

They did not have a lot of energy resources to begin with. If they were to sell them at a discount to make up a million yuan, he would not have any resources left for cultivation then!

He could not afford to buy it.

He simply gave up on this ability.

"Why don't…"

Xiaobai pondered for a moment. "I go and ask my dad?"

Lu Ming coughed twice. "Forget it, forget it."

An item that cost one million yuan…

Old Jiang would chop him to pieces if he were to find out about it.

The man already took issue with the costs of teaching materials and equipment. How would he possibly let Xiaobai purchase the design plan of "Eye of Insight", which was a 'necessity' for Card Creator?

Hehe.

One could tell that he was not the biological father at one glance.

"Let's review again."

Lu Ming might as well search in the two-star range.

Vocation abilities similar to the Eye of Insight should also be available at the two-star level. It was just that he was not sure of the effect.

However…

At this moment, two people entered the shop. Lu Ming's heart skipped a bit after seeing them. It was the president of the Card Creators a.s.sociation. He actually visited him in person!

"h.e.l.lo, Lu Ming."

Zhang Yang took the initiative to step forward. "I am the president of the Card Creators a.s.sociation in Qing Ming City."

"I know."

Lu Ming smiled. "I have seen your black-and-white photo on the wall of the a.s.sociation before."

Why did these words sound so creepy?

At the thought of this, he glared at his a.s.sistant who was behind him. "Go back and change the photo on the wall to a colored one!"

"Yes."

The a.s.sistant could only give a bitter smile.

"It's like this…"

Zhang Yang told him about the situation of the exchange match and smiled bitterly. "We can lose but we can't lose the honor and reputation of Qing Ming City."

He sounded very sincere.

It seemed that he was truly upset at the 'surprise attack' by the Chong Yang branch this time.

However…

Lu Ming really did not have a solution.

"See."

Lu Ming released his own energy.

Zhang Yang then took a closer look at Lu Ming. Oh, two-star… Wait… two-star?!

So as to speak, if Lu Ming partic.i.p.ated, he could only compete with Li Aiguo. With such a gap in their abilities, how could he possibly be Li Aiguo's opponent?

"I just attained two-star… I'm really too weak. I'm sorry. Ha."

Lu Ming felt guilty.

"Alright."

Zhang Yang could only give up.

He returned to the a.s.sociation.

Zhang Yang and the vice president looked at each other.

Obviously…

Never did they expect Lu Ming to actually breakthrough to become a two-star Card Creator!

Actually, come to think of it, it was understandable for Lu Ming to have such a breakthrough given his talent. After all, he had already been a one-star Card Creator for a year, which was a long period.

"This is my oversight"

Zhang Yang sighed.

"Do we get him to partic.i.p.ate in the match for two-star?" the vice president asked.

"Forget it, there is no point."

Zhang Yang shook his head and focused his gaze. "Contact all the one and two-star Card Creators. Especially those who can't join the a.s.sociation due to them being older. Pick the strongest one amongst them to represent us for the match! Tell them that whoever wins can choose an ability corresponding to their level from the card library!

The branch will pay for it!" Zhang Yang gritted his teeth and said.

"I-is that good?"

The vice president swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Was this not considered as seeking the aid of outsiders? Although they would make them join the Card Creators a.s.sociation before the match, they would have joined for only a couple of days. Even a fool would know what was going on!

This did not seem too appropriate.

"There is nothing to be scared of!"

Zhang Yang glared at him. "The Chong Yang branch doesn't even want its face. Do you still want it? No matter what, it's better than losing. Humph. We're just competing on who is more shameless…"

"Who's afraid?!" Zhang Yang sneered coldly.

Would this really be okay?

At night.

When the mission was announced, most of the Card Creators accepted it. After a strict evaluation and selection process, they selected the most powerful two-star Card Creator.

"Welcome, welcome…"

Zhang Yang especially received him in person.

However, just as he looked up, his face darkened instantly. This was because he discovered that the so-called 'most powerful two-star Card Creator' was actually Lu Ming?

d.a.m.n!

Didn't he say that a novice two-star Card Creator was too weak?!