Night of the Broken Gliph

Chapter 495

Sung Tsz Hin’s residence had a minimalistic design. Only a few cushions and a rectangular table were placed in the living room.

Sung Tsz Hin sat on a cushion expressionlessly, with Siu Chu on his side making tea helplessly. After four years, the chubby boy was now ten years old, but maybe due to the great environment in Cloud Palace, he still looked like a seven-year-old young boy.

Currently, he was filled with fear at how the smiley Sung Tsz Hin had turned expressionless and heaved a sigh of relief the moment he saw Chui Yim.

Chui Yim glanced at him, and Siu Chu dashed off after bidding Sung Tsz Hin goodbye.

Sung Tsz Hin ignored Chui Yim and continued to stare at the table in front of him as if there was important paperwork that he could not take his eyes off of.

Chui Yim walked over and continued Siu Chu’s task – and struggled since he rarely made tea. He poured Sung Tsz Hin’s cup seventy per cent full and stood up, coming over and massaging his shoulders for him respectfully. “Is this fine, Great Senior Brother?”

Even the angry Sung Tsz Hin couldn’t help but feel less angry at Chui Yim. He shook his head and sighed. “You kid…”

Chui Yim heaved a sigh of relief seeing how Sung Tsz Hin looked less angry. “Did Great Senior Brother perhaps know about it already?”

“Why do you think I banned you guys from eating golden scales? Sixth Junior Brother’s cultivation has already reached the bottleneck, and his body is weaker than yours. Moreover, he has not yet understood the Heavenly Realm seed that Master gave him,” Sung Tsz Hin said calmly.

Golden scales were not some random pond fish, but an almost extinct beast in the world. One might only find it at the depths of the Eastern Sea now.

According to legend, it was said that the golden scale was an evolution of a school of ordinary fish that consumed the blood of a dragon in the past – the last dragon in the world, who fell into the ocean bleeding before it passed on. Its shiny gold scales which were as tough as the dragon’s scales were the best ingredient for defensive items.

But the key focus was none other than its flesh. Being a beast with dragon lineage, its flesh was an incredible supplement to the human body and energliph!

But this was the same reason that caused it to go nearly extinct. Due to the high demand from cultivators, they were greatly poached within five years of their discovery and nearly went extinct. Nobody knew how Sung Tsz Hin managed to get them in his pond, but its effects were not what made Chui Yim crave it.

Chui Yim simply missed its delicious flavour.

Even so, it was still a treasure to cultivators and would boost their energliph to a large extent, but because the teens were only in the one-chambered state, it was hard for Kam Chin Kee who didn’t have a powerful body like Chui Yim to withstand the boost.

“As the saying goes, misfortune and fortune are closely intertwined. Sixth Junior Brother is currently in a coma, but it’s a chance for him to be enlightened at the same time. If he can successfully wake up, his cultivation will improve greatly.”

“Otherwise?” Chui Yim probed, massaging Sung Tsz Hin even more lightly.

“Mentally injured. Recovering within half a year would be considered fast, and three years to fully recover at worst.”

Chui Yim frowned. He never thought that consuming a fish would bring about such a significant consequence. “Great Senior Brother should have just told us if you knew,” he said unhappily.

Sung Tsz Hin sighed and shook his head. “Little Junior Brother, you still don’t understand what it means that nothing matters other than following your heart. For our institution, we learn to follow our hearts and instincts. If I had notified you beforehand, it would be going against your heart. It’s destiny that you decided to steal the fish despite me trying to stop you with all my might.”

Chui Yim shook his head. He still felt that Sung Tsz Hin’s words were so mystical that he could only barely understand them. 

“Gold scales are almost extinct in this world; there should only be these few in my pond left.” Sung Tsz Hin sighed.

“I know Senior Brother, we calculate the days and only steal your fish after they lay eggs,” Chui Yim said immediately.

“I know. Or what makes you think that you could successfully steal the fish during the previous attempt?” Sung Tsz Hin turned to him with a smile. Chui Yim felt that Sung Tsz Hin seemed to be able to read his mind. He couldn't help but be reminded of how Sung Tsz Hin was able to materialize his consciousness during his time of silence and even had the ability to confine the entire garden…

The Cloud Palace disciples didn’t have many secrets amongst each other; they would answer whatever was asked. Sung Tsz Hin had told Chui Yim that the silent moment before he started his day was a must in his cultivation style, as that was the period where day took over the night – the negative energy had yet to fully disappear while the positive energy was just arising.

During this brief moment, he absorbed this dualistic energy, and this was the first teacher’s weakest point of the day. By right, they would not spread this secret information, and Sung Tsz Hin was honest about it because of how close they were.

However, Chui Yim made use of this weakness and chose to steal his fish precisely during this period of time. It might’ve been a small deal to Sung Tsz Hin, but Chui Yim couldn’t help but feel guilty. “I know my mistake, Senior Brother, and I’ll never do it again.”

Being the gentle guy that Sung Tsz Hin was, he couldn’t be angry at Chui Yim after hearing him admit to his wrongdoings. He turned around to Chui Yim. “You’re going to break through soon, right?”

“Great Senior Brother is brilliant.” Chui Yim nodded. “I reached the bottleneck half a year ago, but I heeded Senior Brother’s words and did not break through as I wished and delayed the process instead. I feel that I might be breaking through soon after consuming the fish.”

“I planned to have you and Sixth Junior Brother break through together when you both reached the same state, but it seems that you have to make your way over by yourself first.”

“Make my way over?” Chui Yim looked at him in a daze. “To where?”

Sung Tsz Hin smiled and caressed Chui Yim’s head like an elder brother looking at his playful brother. “Nobody except for you on this planet has ever tattooed their gliph with fire, which means that you must continue to do so for your future gliphs as well,” he said, staring at the gliph on Chui Yim’s chest as if trying to get an answer out of it. “Even though I don’t know how you did it… but are you still planning to keep your father’s identity a secret?”

Chui Yim lowered his head silently. As mentioned before, the Cloud Palace disciples were a family and they kept no secret from each other. For example, Yim Mo Chiu was from Blazing Skies Mountain, part of the Yim Clan, and Wat Suen was so seriously injured that even the Divine Doctor could not cure her.

Thus, Chui Yim always felt bad about how he couldn’t tell them who his father was when Sung Tsz Hin asked after seeing the gliph on Chui Yim’s chest which shocked him.