Night of the Broken Gliph

“Old man, you’re here just in time!” Chui Yim spoke to Bak Wun casually and brought him to his guest room in the Chor Mansion. After leaving Southary, Bak Wun discarded his authoritative persona and interacted with Chor Shing Chit and Chui Yim relaxedly. 

 “Indeed, the Chor Clan’s mansion. Plain and simple,” Bak Wun picked up a fruit from the table and munched on it as he commented. 

However, he was ignored by Chui Yim who was thowring glares at him. “Old Man, you tricked me here to enrol me into the Cloud Palace. I bet you know about the Cloud Palace outer sect, right?” 

“Of course,” Bak Wun replied nonchalantly. “Why else would I bring you here a year early?” 

 “That’s right! So what am I going to do without a quota?” 

“Didn’t you reject the Chor Clan’s offer very coolly?” He gave Chui Yim a disdainful glare. “Why are you panicking now?” 

“I wouldn’t have done that if you hadn’t misled me into thinking that a place was easy to get! But now it seems like only prominent families and organisations have them!” Chui Yim flared up, making Bak Wun burst into laughter.

It feels great to see this little monster fretting. 

“Relax, you don’t have to worry about getting a place. Just report your name to them when the class starts. School fees are what you should be worrying about.” 

“What do you mean by school fees?” Bak Wun’s reply confused Chui Yim. 

“What do I mean?” Bak Wun was similarly taken aback by Chui Yim. “The fees you pay to attend their lessons! Wait, you think the Cloud Palace teaches for free? Why would they set up an outer sect and go through so much trouble to teach outsiders? The outer sect is one of their main sources of income!”

“How much are the school fees?” Chui Yim asked subconsciously, failing to notice Bak Wun’s weird tone. 

“It’s a quarterly instalment. Five hundred thousand silver taels every term.” 

“Five hundred thousand silver taels!? Are they insane?” Agitated, Chui Yim slapped his bald head. “Five hundred thousand for four terms… That’s two million a year!? What the hell!” 

Back in Southary, Chui Yim could survive and even lead a comfortable life just by making grade two gliph weapons from time to time, earning around forty to seventy  thousand per weapon. A meal in Southary only cost a few silver taels at most. 

But now, the Cloud Palace was asking for 500,000 taels per term, with forty-two students total. With 2,000,000 per person, they’d earn 84,000,000 in total! 

“Are they the Cloud Palace or the scam palace? This is absurd!” 

No wonder the enrollment only takes place every four years! They earn eighty-four million per enrolment, spend it slowly and then repeat it four years later! 

In Chui Yim’s mind, he pictured the Cloud Palace as a coal-black monster laughing slyly as it grabbed all silver taels in the world with its claws. 

“You think they’re a scam?” Bak Wun sneered disdainfully. “Do you know how many people in this world are begging to get scammed by them? That’s the Cloud Palace’s outer sect, something you can’t buy even with money! You need strong connections and a background to even survive there. All students of the outer sect come with terrifying backgrounds. When they grow up, the network they make there will become horrifying. 

“Moreover, the Cloud Palace is a place where you ‘glorify’ yourself. As long as someone says they graduated from the Cloud Palace outer sect, you’ll know they have a powerful background. Furthermore, the knowledge of gliphism you gain from them warrants their fees. 

“I’ll help you secure a place, but you’ll decide if you want to enrol in the outer sect,” Bak Wun said as he stood up. 

The next day. Chui Yim was still drowning in his money problem. 

He thought he had finally passed the tough times in Southary with the help of Kiu Chi Gong and that he’d never be poor again! 

“I’m going to add a condition! Besides the Bloody War Strike, I want two million taels!” 

“Is my young friend Chui really going to change our already agreed upon conditions? Are you committing an act of perfidy to become an untrustworthy person?” Chor Huet Zhin only flashed a smile in return. 

“...” 

 Since it doesn’t work on Chor Huet Zhin… Chui Yim dashed towards Chor Shing Chit. “Chor boy, let me ask you, are we brothers?” 

Chor Shing Chit was drenched in sweat while practising his rod technique. “We are. But don’t call me Chor boy.” He didn’t spare Chui Yim even a glance. 

“Great.” Chui Yim ignored the second part of his sentence. “Lend me a million silver taels. I’ll return it to you after a month.” 

“Do you think I’m a hen that lays golden eggs? A million taels is a lot!” Chor Shing Chit huffed. 

“Aren’t you the great talent of the Chor Clan or something? How do you not have a million silver taels?” Chui Yim replied angrily, which angered Chor Shing Chit. 

“It’s a million silver taels! An ordinary grade three gliph weapon only costs two hundred thousand taels, and a good one costs no more than a million silver taels! You’re asking for a superior grade three weapon!” 

“Whatever grade three gliph weapon, I’ll make you one! Deal!?” Chui Yim shouted in reply. 

Chor Shing Chit only snickered, not responding. 

“Deal!” Another voice rang out. Chor Shing Chit and Chui Yim looked over to see Chor Huet Zhin smiling brightly. But no matter how Chui Yim looked at him, all he saw was a sly old fox instead of the typical cold and ruthless Chor Clan member. “I’ll lend you a million silver taels, which you must repay within a year. But if you can’t pay us back with a top-tier grade three gliph weapon within a year, you’ll have to help Shing Chit tattoo all his gliphs when he breaks through in the future.” 

“Since when were you here?” Chui Yim looked at Chor Huet Zhin with his mouth wide open. 

“From the start,” Chor Huet Zhin replied, still smiling warmly. 

“Deal! Do you need a contract or something?” Gritting his teeth, Chui Yim asked. 

“No need, let’s high five as a promise. Young friend Chui looks like a trustworthy person who puts all your heart into cultivation. Such a talent, truly a young hero…” Chor Huet Zhin laughed, but everything he said made Chui Yim shiver. 

 “...Will definitely keep his word, right? Moreover, my time will soon be up; there’s nothing I can do if my young friend Chui doesn’t keep his promise… Heh… I just won’t be able to rest well in the afterlife, constantly keeping watch over the clan as a result… Don’t get me wrong, my young friend… I really don’t mean anything!” 

Chor Huet Zhin faked a cough when he finished, pretending to be extremely weak.