When Butchie discovered him, Chen Mu also discovered her. His situation that day had gotten very strange, with his perception untold times more acute than normal.
Slightly squinting, he raised his head in the shadows. He recognized Butchie from the recent battle where he had discovered how breathtaking that female card artisan was. Her understanding of energy and her control of perception were something he could never overtake.
If he hadn't known his own perception had greatly increased during that time, he would have been afraid that even his perception was far from hers. Making the comparison with a cool head, Chen Mu stolidly found he wasn't her equal at that time. What was more, and what felt strange, was that he didn't feel any fear. He was a different person from when he'd just encountered Lu Xiaoru, with nothing to be seen of the novice's peculiar panic.
