Night of the Broken Gliph

The fight moved Chui Yim deeply. He knew that he was talented, be it in this life or the previous one. 

However, he had never learned many battle skills or met a bottleneck in the past. Before reaching the fifth level, he was already creating divine weapons, so Chui Yim never cared much about his physical ability. This was the first time in both lives that he was troubled by such a bottleneck, especially the Heaven’s Flame within him.  

Chui Yim was fraught with worry, but it all disappeared when he saw the boy on the stage drenched in blood. Some came from prestigious clans, and some were the kids of cultivators. Even if they ended up commoners, they could still live an easy life, yet they chose to risk their lives and make their way here to get the chance to become a cultivator. 

As the saying went, “If I become enlightened, I won’t regret it even if death comes now.” The boys were putting their lives at stake for a chance to break through and escape mediocrity. 

Since even they are like this, why am I still worrying? 

Chui Yim’s eyes lit up. He never dared to disturb the Heaven’s Flame in his chest as he knew that it could burn him to death instantly. Even the mysterious Chui Tin couldn’t understand why it co-existed with Chui Yim. But since it did, there was definitely a reason. 

By right, I should be dead anyway. So why be fearful and end up as someone defenceless again? I would rather die if that’s the case. 

Seeing how Chui Yim became carefree and regained his confidence once more, a quick smile flashed across Chor Shing Chit’s face. He might not know what was bothering Chui Yim, but he had experienced his own doubts with cultivation as a glipher before. 

As long as you thought it through clearly, it wouldn’t seem difficult once you look back. 

They didn’t stay in the Breaking Thorns City for long. After replenishing their supplies, the trio left. 

Nonetheless, Chui Yim learned a lot from the short visit. When night fell, he sat crossed legged with his eyes shut tightly, looking inside himself and murmuring to the Heaven’s Flame like it was sentient.

“Since you didn’t burn me to death, I believe there must be a reason why we are companions. The Heaven’s Flame should only exist in the highest layer of the heavens and not the mortal world. If I were to perish, I believe you would as well.

“If either one of us gets stronger, the other will too. So, I’ll make a bet with you.” 

Chui Yim started to cultivate his style slowly and fearlessly. He even controlled the energliph route to lead his energliph into the Heaven’s Flame. The bright red flame might be tiny, but it absorbed the energliph like a black hole despite nothing else happening.

“The day grow strong enough will be the day I breakthrough.” 

Unlike in the past, Chui Yim no longer saw Heaven's Flame as his enemy, but a source of strength instead. Others who couldn’t break through grabbed every chance they could, unwilling to succumb to an ordinary life. While I am someone who reincarnated, read countless books, is taught by good teachers and has Heaven’s Flame. I’m not qualified to worry. 

Time flew. In a blink of an eye, winter was arriving. Half a year had passed since they left Southary. It was summer then, and autumn was now ending. 

Chui Yim didn’t know how many villages and cities they had passed. The night wolf was still going strong, and a massive mountain with a checkpoint at its base slowly came into sight. 

The expansive mountain range was dyed dark yellow, the colour of autumn. With the fortification at the foot of the mountain, the only route towards the centre of South was guarded fiercely. There were three more similar fortifications: the Southern Bulwark, Western Bulwark, Northern Bulwark, and Eastern Bulwark, which faced each direction respectively. They protected the five core cities of the South, namely South Imperial City, Snow Stellar, Southern Ping, Hoklo and Great Wisdom City well. Be it the royal Lam Dynasty’s capital or any influential nobles, institutions or clans, they could be found in one of these cities. 

The cities  were so important that even if every other city in the South were destroyed, the Lam dynasty would be able to recover in a century or less if these cities survived. This was their foundation that had survived a thousand years. 

The trio was currently at the Southern Bulwark. They could only continue their journey to South Imperial City after passing this checkpoint. They weren’t the only ones trying to get through the checkpoint, and there was a long queue of coaches in front of them.

“It’s late autumn now,” Bak Wun said casually, “and it will be winter soon. Some businessmen are rushing back home for the winter, while others are rushing to sell their specialities in the five cities before winter.” 

Chui Yim nodded in response while thinking about the large difference between cultivators and commoners. Cultivators like Wong Kwan had the privilege of travelling via a teleportation gliph formation and reaching their destination immediately. In contrast, commoners had to undergo a long and arduous journey to reach the same destination. Soon, Chui Yim decided to change this one day if he had the capability to. 

This wasn’t his first life; he was born with his viewpoint from the Sallow Continent and disagreed that cultivators were superior to ordinary people. Learning gliphism shouldn’t purely be for cultivators; gliphism should also make the world a better place. 

As Chui Yim was deep in thought, the night wolf arrived at the checkpoint. Its cold glare caused a stir in the stables. The night wolf was an actual gliphic beast, unlike normal hardyhorses which were offsprings of a gliphic beast with an ordinary horse. The hardyhorses couldn’t help but go crazy in fear when they met a pureblood. 

The night wolf was a mount exclusive to the Tse Clan that couldn’t be imitated by any other breed. It represented the Tse Clan and was why it was ranked as one of the top clans in the South despite not having any five-chambered glipher. Moreover, they had the genius, Tse Yu Bak. He would definitely be able to protect the clan’s prosperity for the next hundred years. 

Even though a royal dynasty led the South, the power of the clans wasn’t to be underestimated. They were a fundamental reason why the Lam dynasty was able to unify the South after all. 

“May I ask if your honourable self is from the Tse Clan?” Seeing the night wolf, the guards wore a serious expression as they asked respectfully. 

Chor Shing Chit and Chui Yim stayed in the coach while Bak Wun did the talking. Experienced, Bak Wun plastered a smile on his face and replied, “Yes. I’m here to bring our young master to South Imperial City for a trip.”