Night of the Broken Gliph

Strolling through Night Lion City, Chui Yim felt like Southary was a joke in comparison. However, he disliked the city. The residents felt repressed, unlike Southary where everyone was carefree. There was no loud hawking from the stalls and they held up signboards instead, making the city more solemn but less lively. 

In the evening, Chui Yim, Bak Wun, and Chor Shing Chit arrived at the Lion Dance Inn. 

Named after a lion, this was the best inn in the city. 

“Bring us to your best room!” The richest of the three, Chui Yim naturally didn’t bother about the cost. He turned to the inn’s staff, speaking loudly.

 The staff naturally wouldn’t believe a boy like Chui Yim. He turned to Bak Wun and Chor Shing Chit for confirmation, only to see Bak Wun smiling at him. “Anything he says.” 

“Alright, sir!” 

Under the staff’s lead, they headed for the third floor of the inn. Compared to the other floors, the third three were only occupied by one other person with the area mostly empty. The man glanced at them and continued drinking alone. 

“Get me two catties of the best wine, and serve all your famous dishes!” Chui Yim said immediately as he sat down. 

Having gotten instructions from Bak Wun previously, the staff immediately did as he was told. “Alright! Just a moment, sir!” 

The staff returned with the wine in no time after seeing how generous they were. 

“Young brother Chui, you’ve just recovered and you’re only twelve. Can you drink?” Chor Shing Chit frowned. 

“I’m only twelve and I’ve already saved your life. What do you think?” Chui Yim rolled his eyes and patted his bald head. He picked up a jar, opened the seal and poured the wine into his mouth directly. “Great wine!”

Looking at Chui Yim enjoying himself. Chor shing Chit said nothing else as he took another jug, serving himself and Bak Wun. “Cheers to our escape from death.” 

“Cheers!” The trio laughed heartily and drank. Sensing the trio’s mood, the person drinking alone took another glance. The trio was sitting in a particular way, with Bak Wun and Chor Shing Chit facing away from the man and Chui Yim facing him directly. Chui Yim could see the envy in the man’s eyes. 

Feeling generous, Chui Yim invited the man over. “Brother, why are you drinking alone? Come over and drink together! My treat!” 

The man looked young. In fact, he was just a teenager who looked about twenty years old. He was dazed upon receiving Chui Yim’s invitation. Do they not recognise me? 

But soon, he laughed. What if they do? And so what if they don’t? Being straightforward, the person nodded, saluted them and answered straightforwardly, “Since this brother here has invited me, I’ll accept the invitation happily.” With that, he walked over with his own jar of wine. 

“C’mon! Drink up!” Chui Yim served wine to the other party excitedly and drank first. Chor Shing Chit and Bak Wun exchanged helpless glances but decided to let Chui Yim be after considering that he must’ve been exhausted and bored after spending a month doing nothing. Bak Wun and Chor Shing Chit only drank a few sips, making Chui Yim roll his eyes. However, the teenager who just joined them was drinking heartily. As if he and Chui Yim were drinking buddies, they started drinking cup after cup continuously, almost like they were competing to drink the most. 

After finishing three jugs, Chui Yim, who had just recovered, started to feel drunk together with the teenager.

“Little brother! Let me ask you: why is life so unfair!” the teenager mumbled. He stood up abruptly with his cup of wine, unable to stand straight. “I'm so gifted! Yet I’m trapped in such a small city! Why is life so unfair!”

“Yes! Life is unfair!” Despite not knowing what the teenager meant, Chui Yim agreed to him subconsciously while taking another mouthful of wine.

“This is so unfair!” the teenager said like a drunkard and pulled open his robe. “I, Tse Yu Bak, aged eighteen, was born with an innate heart chamber, yet I’m not even in the one-chambered state! 

“This is absurd! If the heavens wanted me to end up a commoner, then don’t give me the innate heart chamber to begin with!”

Chor Shing Chit and Bak Wun exchanged glances, lamenting silently. A glipher’s life was filled with challenges; if one were unable to break through their first chamber at twelve, he’d remain an ordinary glipher  even if he broke through in the future. Reaching the two-chambered state would be almost impossible.

Only those with innate wind chambers could break through their first chamber late. Thus there was nothing Chui Yim and Lam Ming needed to worry about. 

Being blessed with an innate heart chamber was a powerful talent. But being trapped in this state… was like having heavens to play a joke on you. 

Chui Yim, who was so drunk that he couldn’t even see properly, looked at the teenager with his chest exposed. “Brother! You’ve been poisoned. Of course nothing will work no matter how hard you cultivate,” he said drunkenly after drinking another big mouth of wine. 

“Poisoned?” The teenager asked in a daze. He almost sobered up on hearing Chui Yim. “What did you say?!”

But when he turned around, Chui Yim had already laid down on the table, asleep and mummering in his dreams. “I want more wine…”