Night of the Broken Gliph

In another part of the North was a dreamy place unlike Four Season Mountain. There was no mountain range, but a range of exquisite palaces and fog that surrounded the area all year round. 

This was another powerful organisation situated in another well-known danger zone of the world, the Imperial Sunset Palace. 

At the core of the palace stood a courtyard, which was the Imperial Emperess’s residence. It was such a simple home which made it hard for others to believe that this was where Man Ching Hung, the renowned gliphist lived.

She was currently sitting in the pavilion, stitching something with a long needle, while outside the pavilion stood a teenager. He tried to remain motionless, but it was apparent that he was shaking slightly in the horse stance. Not only that, there was an emery wheel on each of his fingers. 

Besides doing the horse stance, having emery wheels on your hands was the worst exercise. As the saying went, the pain from your fingers reached your heart. This exercise wasn’t designed deliberately to make his fingers hurt, but it was extremely tiring for his entire arm, especially his fingers. This was a challenging exercise as it trained one both physically and mentally. 

「時間到。」萬千紅微微一笑，手上的動作也停了下來。

“Times up.” Man Chin Hung smiled gently and stopped. 

The teenager didn’t rest immediately at her words, but he relaxed slowly and only sat down to rest after placing all the emery wheels onto the ground. Man Ching Hung watched him silently. She had high expectations, but this teenager beat every single one. This teenager was extremely gifted in cultivating, but to Man Ching Hung, the thousand-gliphic state gliphist, his aptitude was nothing to her. Many talents in the world either died early or ended up getting stuck in the hundred-gliphic or four-chambered state for their entire lives. 

Aptitude wasn’t everything when cultivating. What she admired most was the teenager’s self-discipline that bordered on cruelty. The teenager arrived at this place every day at the same time, with only a few seconds’ difference. He also cut his rest time short before forcing himself to stand up.

With his talent and hard work…

Just then, the teenager stood up. He bowed towards Man Ching Hung and said, “I'll get going.” 

“Hold up.” Man Ching Hung stopped him, and he stood still, looking at her blankly.

Man Ching Hung made her way out of the pavilion. She might’ve been more than a hundred years old, but a cultivator’s age was different from commoners. Even her loose, red robe couldn’t hide her slender figure. “You might still be a boy, but you can’t go around wearing nothing all the time.” She returned with a dark green robe in her hands and a wide smile. 

“Wear this when you come back tomorrow.” 

The teenager looked at her, dazed, without replying. After some time, he got back to his senses and nodded slowly, then left with the robe. There were no thanks or unnecessary words as if it was an ordinary affair. But he did keep this in his heart. 

He walked out of the courtyard towards a particular place, reaching out his middle and index fingers. There was energliph on the tip of his fingers. If anybody else were here, they would be stunned to see a teenager control two gliph strings before even entering the one-gliphic state. However, he was alone, so there were no such cries of surprise. 

It seemed like he was drawing something in the air. After some time, the fog in front of him dispersed, and the teenager disappeared into the Thousand Mile Layered Yarn. After accidentally entering the mountain previously, Man Chin Hung told the Imperial Sunset Palace members not to stop him when he entered the mountain. Moreover, considering his age and Man Chin Hung’s prowess as a powerful gliphist, everyone thought that he could do nothing to her. 

Below the Imperial Sunset Palace were the Spiky Tree Woods, the woods that not even ordinary gliphers or gliphists dared to enter. Yet it was like home to the teenager. He jumped up high, dashing across the spiky trees without getting injured. 

After some time, he went into a mountain range outside the woods. Many cries belonging to various beasts rang across the mountain range along with his footsteps. Numerous iron-armed apes came from all directions, calling out to the teenager. There were even a group of baby iron-armed apes tugging on the teenager as if looking for his companionship. 

Smiles rarely appeared on the poker-faced teenager, but this time, he was smiling as only this way could the apes feel his kindness. What mattered more was that he was truly happy to be here, living in the woods with these beasts, unlike life in hectic cities full of conflict and schemes. 

He was satisfied with this simple life. The teenager said no more and walked towards the depths of the mountain range with a smile. 

There was a residence made of wood which was weirdly satisfying to look at. Amongst all the iron-arm apes, only one qualified to live in such a place, and it was their leader. The teenager walked into the house, and the apes following closely behind him left immediately as they knew the house was restricted. 

A huge iron-armed app walked towards him. It had a weird body, with its metallic and shiny arm extending to its chest before changing into a bolt of gold lightning which formed a crisscrossed lightning picture. It was a mystical sight. 

“My son, you’re back?” The giant ape spoke in the human language. But the teenager wasn’t even slightly shocked, as he was the one who taught it.

“Yes, mother. I’m back.”