Night of the Broken Gliph

Chui Yim looked around as the duo strolled along the streets. “Where are we going?” 

“Brother Chui isn’t from the South Imperial City, so I’m afraid it’ll be strange to you no matter the number of books you read.” Kam Chin Kee smiled warmly. 

“The centre of South Imperial City is the Evergreen Palace, which some know as the city’s heart. As for the external city, it’s separated into four main avenues. The Northern Black Tortoise Avenue, Eastern Blue Dragon Avenue, Western White Tiger Avenue and the Southern Vermillion Bird Avenue. Every avenue is the size of a small city, and every avenue branches into countless streets… I’ll not go into too much detail for now. For example, the Chor Mansion is located on Blue Dragon Avenue, together with brother Chui’s residence that sits in the South East. 

“Now, we are heading for the Northern Black Tortoise Avenue.”  

Luckily their destination was relatively near the Cloud Palace’s outer sect. It only took about half an hour for the duo to arrive on foot. They arrived at a majestic skyscraper, like most buildings in the South. It was donned in gold, making it sparkle under the sunlight.

They must be really wealthy!

As an expert blacksmith, Chui Yim could easily identify that real gold was used to coat the building; of course, the building itself wouldn’t be made of pure gold. They melted gold down to coat the building. 

Even so, the amount of gold used to coat the building was exorbitant. On the top of the building stood a chubby, gold spirit tortoise with a snake’s tail. This was obviously a statue of the divine black tortoise. 

“Here we are, South Imperial City’s Black Tortoise auction house,” Kam Chin Kee introduced. 

The Black Tortoise auction house was the largest and only auction house in South Imperial City. Despite it being named after its location, there weren’t any other auction houses to be found in the city. Legends had it that this location was chosen because the auction house’s founder believed tortoises represented good fortune, thus he chose to build the auction house in Black Tortoise Avenue. 

As centuries went by, the auction house indeed prospered, becoming one of the largest auctions in the South. Furthermore, it was located within South Imperial City, where all odd and precious items of the South could be found.

Its scale was shocking. Ordinary items couldn’t be found here, the same went for their customers. There were strict requirements for entry; it would be impossible to enter without the corresponding status or strength. 

Kam Chin Kee walked into the auction house with Chui Yim at his side. A teenage girl greeted them immediately. The teenager wore the auction house’s uniform, a traditional Southern cheongsam with low leg slits. It displayed the girl’s beautiful figure elegantly while not revealing too much, perfectly representing the auction house—elegant and beautiful yet uncommon.

The teenage girl didn’t look down on Kam Chin Kee and Chui Yim. Rather, she was surprised to see the snow-white uniform of the Cloud Palace outer sect. 

“May I see your badges?” she asked respectfully.

Kam Chin Kee took out a jade badge the size of his palm from his pocket and showed it to the girl. A weird expression flashed on her face when she saw it, but she swiftly gathered herself by lowering her voice. “Noble guest, allow me to bring you to your room.” 

Chui Yim watched this exchange curiously. It seems like he has quite the status here, huh?  

Chui Yim realised that the girl was bringing him to a higher level. After some time, they stopped outside a door.  

“Noble guests, please enter,” she said respectfully, leaving with a bow after they entered.  

As soon as she left, she heaved a sigh of relief. “That was a red token! I nearly had the shock of my life!”  

The auction house was currently full.  

Amidst the crowd was a middle-aged man who was watching his surroundings curiously. Next to him was a teenager who was explaining things to him. “Mister Mok, the auction house has its grades too. White refers to the most common guests. We are currently sitting in the white seating area. Look at the area directly above us, near the auction’s stage. That is where the yellow-graded guests sit.  

“What about those rooms?” Mister Mok nodded as he pointed at the rooms at the top of the hall.  

“Those are for black grade guests,” the teen answered enviously. “Above them are the red grade guests. It is said that there are no more than 30 red-grade guests, and they are all noble personages. It’s said that even the emperor is only of the red grade,” he whispered his final sentence. 

“As for the legendary gold grade guests, there can be no more than five among the entire auction house; they will even demote current members if there’s a new gold grade customer. Their rooms are made using the Mirage gliph formation, which requires more than ten hundred-gliphic gliphists to set up. Their rooms are like a mirage. You can’t see or touch them.” 

“Oh.” Mister Mok hummed. “I heard the South values art, which is why I travelled here to sell my works. After this auction, I guess I’ll become a black grade guest at minimum, huh?”  

“I look forward to that, honourable Mister Mok.” The teen looked at him respectfully. Mister Mok felt that this was natural. He viewed this world’s art disdainfully. After all, he was from another world. 

In his past life, he was just an ordinary wood craftsman from the company Ki Industries. Horrifying changes took place in his world. A game merged into reality, and he was killed.  

He felt like he fell asleep, dreaming and waking up in the body of a middle-aged man wearing weird traditional clothes. He only understood what happened after a few months. It took another few years getting used to his new body.  

The owner of this body died in an accident, and somehow he gained control of the body. The previous owner was a single-gliphic gliphist. It felt great to gain something for free. 

He was pleasantly surprised to find out that wood carving, a career that was about to vanish in his previous world, was highly valued in this one. Besides its artistic value, carvings engraved with energliph could be used to help one’s cultivation.

Since it was difficult to pick up the skill, it often took trainees a long time to become a craftsman. This reduced the number of people who wanted to become a craftsman, and there wasn’t any such grandmaster in this world. 

It was an industry brimming with potential! 

Mister Mok, Mok Muk, was satisfied with where he was transported. He had loved crafts from a young age, which led him to becoming a craftsman, an obsolete job. Thanks to Ki Industries, he was barely able to feed himself. Still, the lack of demand made him feel like he was wasting his life.  

Now that he had arrived in this world, he felt that he was God’s chosen, destined to shake this world up. Mok Muk aimed to become the first divine craftsman in the world!

The thought of this made him burn with passion. Today would be the day people would first hear of his name! 

Unique and unmatched, everyone was the main character of their own life. However, when compared to the entire world, one was just like a grain of sand, insignificant. 

No matter how fantastic, knowledgable or unique your experiences were, staying humble was essential in such a huge world, as there would be others with even more weird experiences and greater strength than you.