Magic Card Era: Infinite Deck Enhancement — Chapter 151

Chapter 151: Let Me Laugh a Bit More Arrogantly!

“Rare. Why are you two old fossils looking for me at the same time?” Inside the grand, echoing halls of the Cang Capital Lord’s mansion, Cang Ao sat completely at ease. He casually swirled a cup of tea, his gaze fixed on the glowing holographic light screen hovering before him.

If an outsider were to witness the two figures projected on that screen, they would be paralyzed by shock. These were the remaining two pillars of the Eastern Region’s Three Capitals: Yong Anlu, the Capital Lord of Lan Du, and Zhuang Dongyi, the Capital Lord of Yao Du.

“Cang Ao, let’s cut the pleasantries. You know exactly why we’re calling,” Zhuang Dongyi barked. Among the three Immortal Realm masters, the Yao Du Capital Lord possessed the most volatile temper, his voice crackling with barely contained static over the feed.

“I’m not a tapeworm in your gut. How would I know what you want?” Cang Ao replied, completely unfazed. Having traded blows and political barbs with the man for decades, he easily sidestepped the provocation. The nonchalant dismissal nearly made Zhuang Dongyi pop a blood vessel.

Though the three Capital Lords presented a united, impenetrable front to the outside world during major crises, their private dynamic was a relentless tug-of-war. Every one of them desperately wanted their own city’s achievements to eclipse the other two. This year, Luke’s absolute, suffocating dominance in the college entrance examination had given Cang Ao an unmatched amount of face.

Such a one-sided massacre hadn’t graced the exams in generations. Historically, it was always a balanced board—soldiers against soldiers, generals against generals. Even among the apex prodigies, the power gaps were marginal. But Luke’s sudden emergence had shattered that scale. He wasn’t just a general; he was a king stepping onto a battlefield of infantry, stripping away all suspense from the very first round.

“Alright, enough. Can you two rein in your tempers for one minute?” Yong Anlu rubbed her temples, the deep lines on her face tightening. “You aren’t young hotheads anymore.”

As Immortal Realm Magic Card Masters and fellow Capital Lords, both Yong Anlu and Zhuang Dongyi were well aware of the whispered rumors surrounding Millennial Powerhouses and Original Magic Card Masters. Unfortunately, their clearance levels didn’t grant them access to the raw surveillance footage of the Cang Capital examinees, meaning they hadn’t witnessed Luke physically creating Sistermon Blanc during the first stage.

However, the mere reports of Sistermon Blanc’s performance had tripped every alarm in their heads. Even with their centuries of combined experience, neither Capital Lord had ever seen or heard of such a peculiar, specialized Magic Card. At the very least, a card with that specific structural signature simply did not exist within the vast archives of the Ancient Kingdom.

The Sistermon Blanc that Luke summoned was almost certainly an Original Magic Card. That singular, terrifying possibility was exactly why the two lords had cornered Cang Ao today.

“Old Woman Yong, don’t think I can’t read that mind of yours. I’m telling you right now—neither of you can handle this,” Cang Ao stated, his tone shifting from playful to an immovable, heavy baseline.

His bluntness caused the Lan Du Capital Lord’s eyebrow to twitch violently. If they weren’t separated by thousands of miles and two massive city borders, Yong Anlu would have gladly let Cang Ao taste the crushing weight of her dragon-headed staff.

Taking a slow, measured breath, she suppressed the urge to shatter the communication screen. “Cang Ao, what exactly do you mean by that?”

He clearly knew what she and Zhuang Dongyi were after, yet his dismissive attitude was deeply intriguing. ‘They couldn’t handle it?’ Who were they? They were two of the twelve Capital Lords governing the Ancient Kingdom’s only twelve cities. They were Immortal Realm entities, second only to the Undying Realm Territory Lords. If they couldn’t handle a mere student’s background, who on earth could?

“Old Man Zhuang, drop the act,” Cang Ao sneered, his lips curling as he looked at the supposedly furious Yao Du lord. “Others might buy that explosive temper routine, but do you really think I don’t know you by now?”

Zhuang Dongyi always weaponized his feigned rage to pressure people into dropping valuable intel. But as rivals who had danced this tango for years, Cang Ao was entirely immune.

“To put it simply, stop obsessing over Luke. He is a Magic Card Master born of my Cang Capital. Even if you have grand designs for him, you are entirely out of line.”

“Are you serious?” Zhuang Dongyi, who had looked ready to incinerate his own manor a second ago, instantly dropped the fiery facade. His expression cooled into a mask of sharp, calculating intensity, his brows knitting together.

Just as Cang Ao had called out, Zhuang Dongyi’s fury had been a calculated performance. Anyone capable of sitting on the throne of a Capital Lord was a shrewd, ruthless operator with preternatural self-control. If they could be genuinely triggered by a few taunts, they would have been devoured by the political machine long ago.

“So… Luke’s situation is tied to the Night Queen?” Yong Anlu suddenly interjected, her voice dropping to a cautious whisper. If Cang Ao was being this fiercely secretive, and claiming they lacked the qualifications to intervene, there was only one logical conclusion. It involved an entity dwelling on a higher plane of existence than them.

In the Eastern Region, the undisputed apex predator was the Region Lord herself: Night Queen Yue Nishang.

“I didn’t say a word. You two can spin whatever wild theories you want,” Cang Ao waved his hand dismissively, refusing to leave a verbal trail. “Instead of wasting your twilight years guessing at shadows, why don’t you focus on planning your retirements?”

Cang Ao had three distinct reasons for his silence. First, they were competitors; handing them intel on Luke was strategic suicide. Second, he intimately knew the bloody history of what Meng Ningdie had endured after being taken in as the Night Queen’s student. Third, anything involving a Region Lord required absolute, airtight discretion.

‘Retire? Go to hell!’ Were they really that old? They only had fourth-generation great-grandchildren! Yong Anlu and Zhuang Dongyi cursed him out in the privacy of their own minds, but the irritation was quickly swallowed by a deep, chilling shock.

Both were ancient foxes who had handled the kingdom’s treacherous waters for centuries. Even without Cang Ao’s direct confirmation, his evasive silence was all the proof they needed.

How long had it been? The Night Queen had actually taken another student under her wing. And the only candidate monstrous enough to catch her eye was Luke!

Suddenly, every single one of Cang Ao’s defensive maneuvers made perfect sense. This involved the Night Queen, which inherently dragged up the grim specter of the assassination attempt on Meng Ningdie a century ago. No wonder Cang Ao was guarding the boy so fiercely, keeping even his peers in the dark.

“I didn’t expect the winds to shift like this,” Yong Anlu murmured, her weathered face lined with complex emotions. Because her own Lan Du had produced Meng Ningdie, she understood the lethal gravity of the situation better than anyone. She wisely let the matter drop.

Still, she was reeling. The Night Queen was notoriously solitary. To take on two students in such a relatively short span of time was a model shift she wouldn’t have dared to imagine yesterday.

Meanwhile, Zhuang Dongyi looked ready to pace a hole through his floorboards. He suddenly felt entirely left out of the loop between Cang Ao and Yong Anlu.

‘Damn it!’ Why did all the heaven-defying fortune land in Cang Capital and Lan Du? Where were the peerless geniuses of Yao Du? Were they all dead in a ditch somewhere? In that bitter moment, Zhuang Dongyi swore a silent oath to ruthlessly drill his city’s next generation of rookies the second he logged off. He refused to accept that Yao Du couldn’t forge a monster on par with Luke or Meng Ningdie.

“Alright, I promised that kid Cang Fenghua I’d make an appearance at Cangling City’s dismissal ceremony. I’m done wasting breath on you two. And remember—don’t harbor any foolish intentions,” Cang Ao warned.

Without giving either of them a fraction of a second to reply, he severed the connection. The holographic screen dissolved into motes of light.

A moment later, a booming, arrogant laugh erupted from the Capital Lord’s manor, echoing through the grand halls. The guards and servants stationed outside exchanged bewildered glances, wondering just what kind of spectacular news had put their lord in such a dangerously good mood.