Night of the Broken Gliph

Chapter 514

“Take your time to study it well.” The Seven-Star Elder nodded slightly seeing that the teens had awoken. With that, he threw an item to each of them.

Kam Chin Kee received a mirror from him that was in the shape of eight divination trigrams. The small mirror in the centre was surrounded by diagrams of the Heavenly Stems, Earthly Branches, Five Elements, and Eight Trigrams.

Chui Yim got a fist-sized metal ball covered in gliph patterns. Even with his current state, he felt nausea looking at them, just like the high-grade gliphs Chui Tin showed him when he was younger.

But Chui Yim managed to identify the Hidden Cloud gliph among them. It was carved in the middle and took up a huge proportion of the surface.

As if finishing his mission, the Seven-Star Elder turned around and picked up his rod.

“Master.” Just then, Sung Tsz Hin appeared out of nowhere and bowed to the Seven-Star Elder.

“They're good to leave the mountain now.” The Seven-Star Elder's immersive yet peaceful voice enveloped the place just like the fog surrounding Cerulean Mountain.

The Seven-Star Elder's words greatly surprised Sung Tsz Hin. “Master, they are only in the two-chambered state. Isn’t it too early-?”

“They are a pair.” The Seven-Star Elder waved his hand and cut Sung Tsz Hin off. “If they can’t even deal with worldly affairs as a group of two, how are they worthy of being my disciples?”

Sung Tsz Hin smiled bitterly. He knew that his master had already decided and wouldn't change anything about it. “Your disciple heeds Master's order,” Sung Tsz Hin replied respectfully.

“Let's go.” He turned to the boys softly and led them down the mountain.

Chui Yim turned back and looked at the elder. Like his first impression, the Seven-Star Elder was still… as lonely as ever.

The aroma of tea filled Sung Tsz Hin's residence.

Unlike Chui Yim and Hui Sai Cheong, Sung Tsz Hin preferred the bitterness and flavours of tea that lingered on his tongue, resembling the complex feelings of life. Hui Sai Cheong liked to call Sung Tsz Hin, Wong Kei, and Wat Suen the “tea faction,” while he, Yim Mo Chiu, Chui Yim, and Kam Chin Kee were part of the “wine faction.”

Of course, being at Sung Tsz Hin's residence, the wine faction had no choice but to drink tea under the owner’s pressure.

“Won’t it be dangerous?” Yim Mo Chiu asked worriedly.

“Master has his reasons for doing so.” Wong Kei shook his head.

Wat Suen was also looking uneasy, but she remained silent.

Being impatient like how he was always, Chui Yim could not help but ask, “Seniors, I say, what exactly is journeying down the mountain?”

Sung Tsz Hin took a glance at him and placed his purple clay tea cup down. “I believe the both of you have read many stories about Cloud Palace disciples from the scrolls, right?”

The teens exchanged a glance and nodded immediately. Ever since a thousand years ago, every single disciple of Cloud Palace for all generations was a walking scroll and legend.

“After spending four years on Cerulean Mountain, I bet that both of you are aware of the peaceful lives that Cloud Palace members lead, and that is to prevent us from being distracted by worldly affairs and ensure success.

“Thus, the stories of the disciples were all during their journey down the mountain. Every disciple who does so is known as an Itinerant.

“Normally, every Cloud Palace disciple will be given at most two chances to leave the mountain. When and how many times will be decided by Master, and normally, only disciples in the three-chambered state will leave the mountain.

“According to Master, you must experience worldly affairs to see through them. There’s also an unspoken rule in the world regarding Itinerants, which is that only cultivators at or below the three-chambered state can have a spar with the disciples.”

Chui Yim nodded. He was currently cultivating according to the ancient methods, which sought the combination of mental state and physical body and made them way more powerful than ordinary cultivators of their state. This could best be seen by how the one-chambered Chui Yim could fight Chui Sang who was possessed by Night Tiger and possessed power of the three-chamber state.

Of course, his physical body being as powerful as a three-chambered state cultivator’s played a huge part too.

Overall, it could be said that cultivating according to Cloud Palace’s guidelines made him invincible amongst those of his state.

“However… you and Sixth Junior Brother are only in the two-chambered state, and those that will challenge both of you will most likely be in the three-chambered state, which makes us worry.”

Wong Kei on the other hand nodded. “Junior Brothers might not be aware, but the more prestigious our institution is, the tastier we are as prey. Imagine defeating a Cloud Palace disciple, it’s no different from hitting the jackpot!”

Hui Sai Cheong and Wat Suen nodded in agreement, showing how they met with such situations back then.

“Luckily, you have each other. If the both of you work well, there’s nothing much for us to worry about.”

“Great Senior Brother, what if there are members of the public that go against the rules and four-chambered or hundred-gliphic state cultivators come for us?”

“Be at ease, Junior Brother.” Hui Sai Cheong patted his chest while the rest laughed. “There’s a reason why Cloud Palace is famous: because Great Senior Brother will deal with them.”

Sung Tsz Hin glared at Hui Sai Cheong and started slowly. “Well… it’s only an unspoken rule and we don’t expect the public to follow rules to begin with… but we are best at going against rules too.”

“Hundreds of years ago when the Big Three organisations of the North still didn't exist, a four-chambered elder took a risk and fought an Itinerant because the elder wanted his treasure.” The feisty Yim Mo Chiu smirked.

“That senior brother ended up seriously injured but alive, and according to the records of the Cloud Forest librarian back then, our master randomly picked a wooden rod from Cerulean Mountain and threw it at the elder’s organisation, destroying it forever.

“With a boom,” Yim Mo Chiu spread her arms out, mimicking the situation, “Master shattered the huge mountain with just a rod.

“The credibility is unknown, but it’s still able to keep rule-breakers away ever since then.”

“If such an incident takes place, I’ll take action.” Sung Tsz Hin flashed them a gentle smile. “And if even I can’t settle it, Master will. So be at ease.”

Chui Yim and Kam Chin Kee were secretly shocked. Destroying an entire mountain with just a rod, how powerful must that cultivator be? But recalling the elder fishing at the mountain's peak with deep eyes, everything made sense.

“The journey will be at least a year, and at most three years. You can return after a year if you wish, but you’re not allowed to have so much fun that you forget to return before three years.” Sung Tsz Hin fed them with the details. “And by journey, it meant that returning to your residence in South Imperial City for one year of holiday is not allowed.

“The rest is up to you guys. No tricks or anything, Mister Cheuk will be Spirit Roaming every single day.”

“Great Senior Brother, what makes you think that we would want to spend our days doing nothing at the residence?” Kam Chin Kee asked in all seriousness, while Chui Yim did not even have the energy to mock Sung Tsz Hin.