Night of the Broken Gliph

“When a glipher reaches the three-chambered state, all three chambers complement one another’s growth. Every chamber would possess a certain level of immunity towards poisons, so ordinary hallucination and poisonous elixirs will likely not affect gliphers above the three-chambered stage. However, this elixir can still work on three-chambered gliphers with much effect, just that it will be a waste to use this on gliphists who mainly train their mental state and energliph. There’ll be barely any effects if this elixir is used on ten-gliphic gliphists,” Ping Ching continued. He spoke slowly and flatly, yet very confidently. 

He nodded to Mo-Yung Kit, shut the box, and returned it to him. “This elixir is a quality product. I see that Mister Mo-Yung is especially knowledgeable of hallucinative reagents to be able to produce this. Our generation should learn from Mister Mo-Yung and study hard in alchemy.” 

“Thank you for Mister Ping’s advice!” Mo-Yung Kit took the box back with a smile. He might be smiling, but he also felt uneasy. Mo-Yung Kit knew that the Ping Clan was the best at alchemy in this world. But he didn’t think that Ping Ching would be able to identify this elixir in such a short time and expected him to concede defeat. It surprised him that Ping Ching was also skilled in alchemy to the extent that he could identify elixirs just by their shape and smell. 

Cheers rang from the ground floor. All the spectators subconsciously looked up to the Ping Clan even more. To them, Ping Ching was definitely the most talented youth of the Ping Clan in alchemy. If not for his lacking cultivation, Ping Ching might be able to make grade three elixirs just like Mo-Yung Kit. Some even felt that Ping Ching would have the ability to become a great master as soon as he broke through! 

Mo-Yung Kit tried to remain calm. He knew what went wrong. The Alchemical Ping Clan had the best alchemy skills in the world. It was stupid of him to challenge someone in their expertise. Instead, the Mo-Yung Clan was skilled in medicine. I should have chosen my key strength to compete with instead. 

After some thought, Mo-Yung Kit came up with a new question. 

“I’m impressed by Mister Ping’s alchemical knowledge. However, I now have another question to ask,” Mo-Yung Kit smiled and asked. 

“Please,” Ping Ching replied, as if he didn’t have anything to worry about. 

“A month ago, I was invited to the Great Wisdom city to treat a disciple of the Hung Clan.” Mo-Yung Kit smiled. His words excited all the spectators. Great Wisdom city was one of the South’s Five, and the Hung Clan was famous for their fighting style and strength in the South. This debate made them feel close to the world of gliphism. 

“I’m sure everyone knows how important having a gliph tattooed is. The disciple was injured by a ferocious beast on an expedition, and his left leg chamber along with its gliph was destroyed. What would Mister Ping have done in this situation?” 

“What gliph was it, and where was it tattooed?” Ping Ching furrowed his brows. 

“The Ocean Waves gliph,” Mo-Yung Kit answered immediately. “The Hung Clan’s Ocean Waves gliph that was passed down for generations. The disciple had the gliph at the front of his lower leg.” 

“How badly damaged was it?” Ping Ching continued. 

“More than half of it was gone.” 

Everyone in the restaurant, even the commoners, could already tell how dangerous the situation was. Tattooing gliphs into one’s chambers was the process of turning natural energy into their own. Because the energy didn’t belong to the cultivator, it had to be balanced with the gliph that was tattooed before the glipher could activate it via energliph. Slight damage to the gliph was already considered the worst thing possible for a cultivator, and now it was severely damaged. 

Ping Ching said nothing more as a frown creased his face, thinking hard. All the youths on Mo-Yung Kit’s team were glad to see this, making Ping Ching’s teammates look anxious. Mo-Yung Kit watched with a gentle smile as if everything was going according to plan. 

“May I ask how Mister Mo-Yung dealt with this? Did that disciple survive?” some Ping team members couldn’t stand the silence and retorted. 

The other Ping team youths smiled and nodded. “Yes, if Mister Mo-Yung couldn’t come up with a solution either, it would be normal for Mister Ping to struggle.” 

“Of course he survived.” Mo-Yung Kit smiled confidently. “I used gliph strings to cut off the connection between his left leg chamber and the other five chambers, then amputated his leg!” 

All the clan disciples faces’ turned pale when they heard the word “amputation”. At the same time, they admired Mo-Yung Kit’s decisiveness. Amputation was a bloody process, but in an emergency, every second mattered. One second might cost a life. 

Mo-Yung Kit’s action might result in the disciple being crippled, but he still survived. 

“I don’t think brother Mo-Yung’s actions were… appropriate,” Ping Ching spoke slowly, still frowning. 

“Why not? Please enlighten me, Mister Ping.” Mo-Yung Kit froze and turned towards the other party. 

“It’s just my thoughts. I have yet to develop a solution, but I feel that there can be a better way,” Ping Ching replied, the frown still on his face. 

“It was an emergency.” Mo-Yung Kit laughed. “Any delay might put his life in greater danger. Does Mister Ping think that treating a patient is the same as refining an elixir where we can take our time to do things slowly?” 

“Brother Mo-Yung is right.” Hearing his words, Ping Ching nodded. “My mistake. I’m not proficient in Medicine.”

Everyone, including the youths from the Mo-Yung team, looked at Ping Ching respectfully. They were all outstanding geniuses in their generation, very confident and full of pride. It wouldn’t be easy for them to swallow their pride and admit their mistakes. 

Sensing that Ping Ching was put off, Mo-Yung Kit immediately laughed and cornered him with his words. “Mister Ping, this isn’t right. Southern Ping is famous for both alchemy and medicine. How could the Ping Clan, representative of the city, only excel at one of the two?” 

Mo-Yung Kit might’ve been overbearing, but he made sense too. Some spectators even nodded in agreement. They came to Southern Ping due to its reputation, and some of them were glipheons. If they were only skilled in alchemy, what about the doctors and glipheons that came to learn medicine? 

Silence fell after Mo-Yung Kit spoke. One could even hear a pin drop. It was as if all of them were pondering and anticipating Ping Ching’s response to Mo-Yung Kit’s words. 

“Nom nom nom… What on earth! Amputation is equivalent to destroying the glipher’s future! Yet this person is still speaking so proudly, I’m shocked!” A voice rang out suddenly. His words were interrupted by what seemed to be munching sounds as if he was eating.

Everyone on the ground floor looked over to see a bald youth with a pig knuckle in his hands, oil all over his face as he spoke confidently. “I would’ve slapped this idiot to death if he said that in front of me… Eh, old man, why aren’t you eating?”