Night of the Broken Gliph

The entire South was overrun by controversy recently. 

Kan Hang had become the first to rescind his contract of being the Emperor’s shadow before the Emperor's death. Drowned by reprimands, Emperor Lam had to declare by his command that nobody was allowed to find trouble with Kan Hang, or many powerful cultivators would have already killed him. Not only that, the Emperor’s long lost daughter named Ming Sum had finally returned to the palace. When Kan Hang and Emperor Lam rescind their contract, Kan Hang became Princess Ming Sum’s shadow. The public believed that this was Emperor Lam's way of compensating Princess Ming Sum for her suffering, and most of them were no longer angry at Kan Hang. Only a few members of the palace knew the truth. 

If these weren’t enough to flip the entire South upside down, an announcement by Cloud Palace would be. They announced that they would open their intake four years later, and all youths below eighteen could participate. 

On the night of that announcement, the Mung Clan, the clan behind Blazing Skies Mountain, announced that they would send their most outstanding disciple over for the intake selection. The Imperial Sunset Palace also declared that they would be sending the direct disciple of the strongest gliphist, Man Chin Hung. Not only that, Four Seasons Heaven’s Yeung Tin Hun, Yeung Ha’s son, who shocked the world with his innate double chambers, would participate too. 

As the ruler of the South, the Imperial household would definitely participate in it as well. The current crown prince, Lam Zaa, openly made it known that he was confident in getting a Cloud Palace’s disciple slot. As crown prince of the South, the intake was held in his hometown, and many were optimistic about him. 

Numerous well-known institutions in the South also said that they would be sending their best students for this intake. It might only be happening four years later, but the world was going insane about it. 

Be it North or South, the entire world was watching that event.

Time passed by quickly. In a flash, the announcement by Cloud Palace was made two years ago. All the organizations and clans were anticipating the event. It seemed like the announcement was slowly forgotten, but only they knew that this was the calm before the storm. Two years later, the time would come to reveal the fate of this continent for a hundred years to come. 

However, not everyone knew what was going on—for example, a certain person in Southary who kept his nose in his grindstone. 

As the only metropolis at the border of the South, there was naturally an auction house. It was named the Southary Auction House. It was able to take the city’s name because it was related to the government, which meant that all entry fees and service charges would go to the Lam dynasty. 

A man walked out of the auction house gloomily. He was the housekeeper of the Chan Clan, Chan Ching. An older man followed behind him. Many gliphers stared at the old man warily, as the old man was a two-chambered glipher sent by the Chan Clan as Chan Ching’s personal bodyguard. Not everything can be done by gliphers, just like Chan Ching who didn’t have any talent in cultivation but was talented in running a clan. 

Chan Ching brought the two-chambered glipher to Weapon Street and into the Chan Mansion.  

In the main courtyard of the Chan Mansion was the current Clan Leader, Chan Tiet's residence. Similarly, Chan Tiet looked upset. “How was it?”

“They came again!” Chan Ching gritted his teeth. “The grade two gliph weapon personally forged by the mysterious great master was sold for 45,000 silver tales. Ever since this master appeared two years ago, our clan’s quality has been questioned.”

Chan Ching said as he took out his records like he always did, “Within these two years, our profit has fallen by thirty per cent. What’s worse is that many gliphers deliberately save up to wait for that mysterious great master’s works. If not for the grade three gliph weapon that the Old Clan Leader forged… We would have lost even more.” 

Chan Tiet looked extremely displeased on hearing Chan Ching. 

In fact, this was how their profit should’ve been like. But due to the lack of good metalsmiths in the market, most gliphers in Southary had no other choice but to buy from the Chan Clan. When competitors appeared, gliphers had more choices, and their profit slowly fell to an ordinary level. However, to the Chan Clan, which had been earning huge profits due to its monopoly, it was like cutting their flesh. 

Having heard the report from Chan Ching, Chan Tiet knew that the actual circumstances would only become even worse. 

The only great master in the Chan Clan was Chan Tiet’s father, Chan Lai Faat. A grade three gliph weapon cost 200,000 taels, but it was as rare as a phoenix feather to have people coming specially to Southary for grade three gliph weapons. Therefore, grade two gliph weapons were the clan’s main source of income. 

The Chan Clan had only one great master, but seven grade two metalsmiths. They could make more than ten grade two gliph weapons yearly, and Chan Lai Faat only made grade three gliph weapons due to his status, unlike the mysterious great master. 

Everything started to change from the day the Fallen Star’s Rod was sold for a high price. Gliphers weren’t stupid, and they had their own expectations and requirements. Especially after seeing such an outstanding grade two gliph weapon, they started to have higher expectations for gliph weapons. They were loyal customers of the Chan Clan, but now they’d rather save their silver taels for splurging extravagantly on a high-quality gliph weapon instead. 

Within two years, the great master sold gliph weapons seven times, including the Fallen Star’s Rod, and none of them were sold at a price lower than 40,000 silver taels.

Every grade two gliph weapon from that grade master was an outstanding work, essentially the cream of the crop. 

It wasn’t because the Chan Clan’s grade two gliph weapons were bad, but with comparison came differentiation. Comparing the mysterious great master to the Chan Clan, their work felt lacklustre. 

“Clan Leader, we can’t continue like this, or the clan’s profit will decrease further. We cannot allow this to happen. We need to do something,” Chan Ching said to Chan Tiet solemnly. 

Chan Tiet nodded. Running a clan meant that he’d do anything to succeed; unlike his father, he never said no to playing dirty tricks. “That great master will definitely send someone to the auction house to collect their proceeds. Track that person down and find that great master for me!” 

“Yes!”

Outside the Southary Auction House, The air was so silent that one could hear a pin drop. 

No abnormality could be seen, but a silent pressure could be felt. If one were to look closely, there were all kinds of people outside the auction house. 

A buff man was drinking tea in the teahouse next to the auction house and an old man selling tanghulu nearby. There was another aunty selling buns next to the teahouse, and all of them were staring at the door of the auction house from the corner of their eyes. Even if it was a slight movement, it wouldn’t escape them. 

Suddenly, a black figure came into their sight. The spies all focused on him. A figure almost two metres tall, wearing a black cloak big enough to cover his entire body tightly and a bamboo rain hat, walked into the auction house and exited shortly. 

As soon as he left the street where the auction house was located, the buff man, old man and aunty all disappeared, following right behind him. 

The figure in black walked slowly. It was as if he was taking a stroll, not knowing that somebody was following him. The spies exchanged glances, sensing the dismay in each other’s eyes. 

None of them were strong cultivators. The strongest amongst them was just a one-chambered glipher. It wasn’t always that the stronger you are, the more skilled. They were all experts in spying, and the Chan Clan paid them heftily, even close to the pay of a two-chambered state glipher, thanks to their excellent work. 

Spies hoped to get information the most, but on the other hand, they also hoped that things weren’t that easy for them. The more challenging a mission was, the more valued they would be for completing it. This time, the Chan Clan sent out all their spies, making all the spies think that it was a challenging mission. However, seeing how careless the other party was, it was a piece of cake to trail him. 

They were all disappointed, but it didn’t bother them as professionals did every job equally well no matter how boring it was. 

The man turned into a back alley, and the spies followed suit. But as soon as they entered the alley, all they saw was a young boy peeing while humming a song happily. As if noticing their stares, the young boy let out a scream and pulled his pants up. “Perverts!” He screamed. “What are you looking at!”

“Boy, did you see a man in black?” the buff man asked seriously. 

The youth let out a sigh of relief and pointed at a direction after a short pause, as if checking to see if they were really perverts. “The man who just passed? That way.” 

The spies exchanged glances and hurried towards the direction; only the buff man did a double-take at the youth’s… shiny bald head before following the rest.