Night of the Broken Gliph

A weapon shop located in Southary’s Weapon Street. 

Unlike the arrogant and fierce vibes of its name, the shop could only shudder at the powerful Chan Clan’s shop opposite of it. 

Currently, the shop was brightly lit. 

“Master, are we done?” Kiu Chi Gong called out. His face was pale as a sheet of paper as he held onto something tightly.

“No, not yet.” Chui Yim sat on a chair, swinging his legs while popping fruits into his mouth. 

“Master, do you want to switch places?” Looking at how relaxed Chui Yim was, Kiu Chi Gong couldn’t help but ask. 

“Switch places?” Chui Yim shouted as he threw the fruit’s core at him. “How could you have the face to let your master work so hard? Can’t you see how red I turned after carving the gliph?

“I turned burning red! Just like the cooked shrimps you eat! Why do you have so much to say, it’s just inserting energliph! Aren’t you embarrassed to tell a ten-year-old kid who hasn’t broken through any chamber to take over your job?” 

Kiu Chi Gong gulped. “It’s because master is so knowledgeable that I forget your age,” he replied slowly. 

“You’re not that bad at flattery, I see.” Chui Yim rolled his eyes and stared at the item that Kiu Chi Gong was holding. His eyes lit up at the sight of it. This will be the first item I’ve forged after arriving in this world! As for the grade two-weapon that Chan Lai Faat praised? Even if the Chan Clan had not found trouble with him, he would’ve made it as practice anyways. 

“Done!” Chui Yim suddenly shouted. Released from his workload, Kiu Chi Gong collapsed on the ground, exhausted. 

Ignoring the puddle named Kiu Chi Gong that was on the floor, he walked up and snatched the unknown item away, placing it in a box skillfully. It wasn’t a big box, lengthed only about half an adult’s forearm. He looked at the sky and turned to Kiu Chi Gong. “It’s getting late, so I’ll head back first. Think about my words carefully. Metalsmiths need not just skills, but the proper mindset too.” With that, Chui Yim left the shop, leaving only Kiu Chi Gong to ponder his words. 

This was what he learnt from his master White Spark in the past when he had been Flame.

As the saying went, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.” Chui Yim could only pass on the knowledge, and Kiu Chi Gong had to understand it himself. Since he and Chui Yim cultivated different cultivation styles, Chui Yim chose only to guide and not tell him exactly what to do. 

After leaving Weapon Street, Chui Yim returned to the Riding Clouds Academy dormitory. As soon as he opened the door, he saw Lam Ming curled up in the corner. 

His hair was all over the place, and he was shaking subconsciously. Hearing the door being opened, Lam Ming looked up. He burst into tears at the sight of Chui Yim. 

“What happened?” Chui Yim asked with his face falling. Lam Ming cried as he told Chui Yim everything that happened. 

Hearing him, Chui Yim wore a grave expression. He knew that his father was no ordinary person. Aunt Sit befriended my father and even passed on her cooking skills to him; she can’t be ordinary either. The last thing I expected was for her to be killed so quickly! 

He stared into the air as he thought seriously. Chui Yim wasn’t stupid. He might’ve been obsessed with forging in his past life, which made him weak in socialising. But if he was stupid, he would never have become the best forger. If they came for Aunt Sit, it means Lam Ming is in danger too, seeing how anxiously Aunt Sit wanted Lam Ming to leave. In no time, Chui Yim absorbed all the information and pulled Lam Ming out of the room in a hurry. 

Whoosh! 

The sound of wind rang out. As the room’s curtains were closed, the room fell into darkness. Chui Yim subconsciously stood in front of Lam Ming, and Lam Ming hid behind him, pulling the hem of his shirt like a baby. 

Very soon, a man in black appeared right in front of them. Intuitively, Chui Yim clutched the black coloured pouch tightly. His aura is so powerful; I’m definitely no match for him…

“I’m not here to hurt you.” Sensing how anxious Chui Yim and Lam Ming were, he put both his hands in the air immediately. “I’m here to help.” 

Chui Yim lowered his guard barely. The other party was such a powerful cultivator; it was a walk in the park for him to kill them. There was no need for him to lie. 

“Who are you, and why are you here?” 

“We don’t have much time, and I don’t have enough to explain the situation to you. I need to leave with the boy behind you as soon as possible,” the person answered, annoyed by Chui Yim’s question. “He’s been targeted, and they will be here to kill him.” 

Chui Yim and Lam Ming both turned white on hearing him, especially Lam Ming. How would a ten-year-old not be afraid to hear that someone wanted to kill him? 

Chui Yim clenched his teeth and looked at the man, who didn’t avoid his sight and made eye contact with him. 

After a short pause, Chui Yim turned around and stuffed the box into Lam Ming’s hands. “Take good care of this. When you’re in danger, the mechanism inside will protect you. I wanted to name it, but my naming skills are… So yeah, you’ll be the one to name it.

“Leave with this man, and survive no matter what. As a girl, you need to be meticulous in everything you do.” 

“You…” Lam Ming jolted, staring at Chui Yim in utter disbelief.

“What?” Chui Yim snorted. “We’ve been staying in the same dorm for four years. Do you think I can’t guess, seeing how you hide when you change and have a thick bandage around your chest?” 

The man in front of the door looked at them oddly. So he’s not a prince, but a princess. Even as a four-chamber glipher, I didn’t notice…

“Okay, leave quickly!” Chui Yim pushed Lam Ming towards Kan Hang. “Protect her for me.” Chui Yim turned to Kan Hang. “As my first friend… I guarantee that I’ll hunt you down no matter what it takes if something happens to her.” 

Kan Hang stared at the bald kid, his mouth slightly agape. Even more surprising was that he believed that the boy meant it. “I’ll definitely die before she does.” Kan Hang nodded solemnly. 

“Okay.” Chui Yim nodded. “Leave.” 

“No! I don’t want to! Brother Chui!” Lam Ming wailed. Before today, she had been leading a simple life consisting of only two people: her mother and brother Chui. But sadly, she lost both today. 

“Hah…” Kan Hang sighed and carried her. He touched her neck, and the next second, Lam Ming fainted. Kan Hang carried her up and turned towards Chui Yim. “Little brother, I’ll be going. In the future… Never mind, she’s not someone that you can… or have the right to befriend. Maybe if fate brings you together, you’ll meet her again. I admire you, but that’s the hard truth. Don’t look for her if you wish the best for her.”  

Kan Hang stared at Chui Yim before disappearing through the floor, leaving not even a shadow. 

Chui Yim stared at the floor silently. There was currently nothing left on the spot where they disappeared.  

He clenched his fist tightly. Boom! 

He slammed the table, shattering it. The memories from his past life started flooding back to him. 

In his previous life, because he did not have the ability to retaliate, there was nothing he could do but to leave his fate at the hands of others even as the best metalsmith in the continent. If he had the ability, he would have been able to protect Lam Ming this time round and not have to watch his first friend in this world leave him while he watched helplessly. 

At this moment, Chui Yim had a burning desire for strength. 

She woke up abruptly to pitch-black surroundings. All she saw was a bonfire burning in front of her and the crackling of burning firewood burning. Next to the bonfire was a man wrapped in shadows. 

Unlike the shadows, he had snow white skin and ordinary looks. The kind that one wouldn’t easily remember. 

Lam Ming struggled to sit up. She looked around her and asked timidly, “Where are we?” 

Kan Hang looked up to the starry sky on hearing her. “Roughly to the east of Night Lion City… Or should I say, we are on the way to South Imperial City.”

Lam Ming looked at him in a daze. She grew up in Southary from a young age. To her, leaving her home for the Riding Clouds Academy was already making a trip to another world. She hadn’t even heard of Night Lion City before. 

“How far are we from Southary?” 

Hearing her, Kan Hang looked at her oddly. “Who knows… Maybe a thousand miles, or perhaps many thousands… Very far, I would say. And we won’t be going back.” 

“How could it be!” Lam Ming stood up, tears rolling down her cheeks. She heard a thud. It was the box that Chui Yim gave her. Seeing the box, she burst into tears. “I’m going to look for brother Chui! Before mummy passed on, she said Brother Chui would take care of me!” 

Kan Hang frowned.  He knew very well who Sit Ting was. As the most famous g-chef on the continent, even though she wasn’t an expert in fights, she was definitely more knowledgeable than many others. For that bald kid to take care of the princess? 

“I don’t care.” Kan Hang shook his head. “I only know I am to send you home.” 

“Home?” Lam Ming said, smiling sadly. “You’ve already brought me away from my home.” 

“Your true home.” Kan Hang shook his head. “Do you know who your father is?” 

Father?

Lam Ming was taken aback by Kan Hang’s words. As a ten year old, she was definitely curious about who her father was, but since that day when she once asked Sit Ting, Lam Ming never once asked again  seeing that Sit Ting stayed silent for the entire day after. Despite this, she had always wondered who her father was. 

Being a straightforward person, Kan Hang went straight to the point. “This is just my guess, but it should be right,” he said, face turning serious. “Sit Ting, your mother, was previously the head chef of the imperial kitchen of the Evergreen Palace, and she had a relationship with Emperor Lam in the past.

”Just ten years ago, she suddenly disappeared from the palace, and you should be about ten years old, right?”

“You’re the current emperor’s daughter! The royal princess of the Lam Dynasty!" Kan Hang looked at Lam Ming with respect.