Night of the Broken Gliph

Therefore, the Mok brothers could be considered gods in their field, water-casting! It wasn’t that grandmaster blacksmiths were rare; there had been many grass-refiners who achieved this state successfully ever since its inception, but water-casters were comparatively weaker. Nobody except Mok Ching Sau had reached the grandmaster state in a hundred years!

This was why Hidden Vanguard City, where Mok Ching Sau resided, had become the holy city of water casters. They flocked to the city yearly whenever Mok Ching Sau held public lessons, the city becoming lively as if they were celebrating.

So this arrogant teen is Grandmaster Mok’s disciple!? Even with this information, the crowd was still furious at his arrogance.

However, as the target of his disdain, Chai Fook Sau only smiled and didn’t take his comments to heart. “May I know your name?”

“I’m Yau Suet Chung,” The teen kept his fan as he replied lazily. “I came to South Imperial City today to meet the Southern forging elites.” As courteous as he sounded, his expression showed that he looked down on all the “forging elites” he was referencing.

Fung Seung furrowed his brows and chastised him. “Enough. Submit your work and cut the nonsense. We are not in Hidden Vanguard City.”

Yau Suet Chung glared at Fung Seung as disdain washed over his boyish face. Unlike grass-refining, which had been around for a thousand years, water-casting was a new faction, and it was ten times harder to reach the grandmaster state. This was why Yau Suet Chung disdained Fung Seung.

But even he knew a strong dragon couldn’t suppress the local snake. He opened his left hand and smiled confidently. “This is my final product.” On his palm stood an ice sculpture of a lifelike frog from which a strong, freezing aura was felt. It made the face of all the participants’ present change! Their eyes darted between Chai Fook Sau and Yau Suet Chung’s submission. The former emitted a hellish aura, while the latter was freezing cold; it was difficult to determine a winner!

Fung Seung nodded at Yau Suet Chung’s work. Indeed, Mok Ching Sau’s disciple.

Water-casters used special liquids to congeal their gliphility or other ingredients into permanent ice. The whole process was called freezing, and casting would only be successful after this process. This frog sculpture was free of fog, proving the teen’s skill. For Yau Suet Chung’s casting skills…be it him or Chai Fook Sau, the frog already resembled the beast in the painting, which was commendable for their age.

Just that…Fung Seung couldn’t help but feel helpless when he glanced at Chui Yim, whose eyes were closed as if it was none of his business.

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Time trickled by, and both Chai Fook Sau and Yau Suet Chung sat in a corner as they awaited the results. Meanwhile, Fung Seung only responded with a cold “next” for most participants.

A few hours had passed, and the crowd was losing their patience. Eventually, the last participant submitted his work, and the crowd perked up their ears once Fung Seung finished inspecting it. It was time for him to announce the participants that successfully made it to the finals.

The participants called were obviously happy as their schoolmates cheered for them. Now, he was left with the last three slots.

“...Chai Fook Sau.” The Blacksmith Academy cheered but weren’t surprised since they had been confident in him from the start.

“Yau Suet Chung.” Yau Suet Chung fanned himself while his schoolmates were fairly calm in comparison. Yau Suet Chung was a transfer student who joined to participate in the exchange, so he didn’t have much relation with the South Heaven Academy.

“Lastly…” Fung Seung was full of hesitation. He was tempted to fail Chui Yim. The commoners and disciples wouldn’t know how well Chui Yim did, but the teachers from the various institutions would. They would have felt the strong aura from his work, and there would definitely be a commotion if he were to eliminate the boy without reason.

Many viewed Chui Yim as nothing, or even hostilely due to his ordinary background, but it was a double-edged sword. As he was neutral, this meant that all organisations stood a chance in acquiring this thirteen-year-old forging great master, an almost guaranteed future grandmaster! The Big Three and Eight Institutions, even the Blacksmith academy that Fung Seung represented, had their eyes on him, waiting for him to graduate from the outer sect so they could approach him.

Who wouldn’t want a genius blacksmith to join them? Without reason, these people wouldn’t let Fung Seung ruin Chui Yim’s reputation.

“Chui Yim,” Fung Seung announced his name helplessly. “These eight participants will be participating in tomorrow’s finals, and the grand prize is the Divine Bracelet of Five Elements.

Chai Fook Sau’s jaw fell together with Yau Suet Chung’s fan. The important figures on the stone seats simultaneously turned towards a plump, pale man. The man was currently wearing a huge smile as he enjoyed the shock on everyone’s faces.

These important figures were aware that Grandmaster Fung Seung was only a guest lecturer, and the actual authority of the Blacksmith Academy was this innocent-looking man, Chau Tai Fu. He was born without talent but had a special status; he was a tycoon of the Southern banks.

In other words, the notes that people used to replace silver taels were all from Chau Tai Fu’s bank.

Nobody knew how rich he was, but all of them knew that when the South experienced a famine, with many cities descending into chaos, Chau Tai Fu’s bank donated five years’ worth of food to every city. It was said that the carriages delivering the food formed such a long line that you couldn’t see the end of it. Even though nobody knew his true wealth, he could be as wealthy as the royal family!

Chau Tai Fu knew that the Lam dynasty was wary of him, so he paid extremely high taxes and regularly donated to disaster victims, the Lam dynasty army, and even built an institution; the Blacksmith Academy, sponsoring all their finances.

Thus, the important figures quickly understood when they realised Chau Tai Fu sponsored the Divine Bracelet of Five Elements.

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