Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  Bai Xi’s face was practically green with terror.

  “Cousin!” Ye Qingxuan coughed. Things would really get out of hand if they kept playing, so he reached out to stop the Indian ball.

  He grabbed Bai Xi, who had almost passed out in the woman’s arms, and laughed. “They’re all beauties. My brother likes them a lot. Where’s the room…we can’t wait!”

  The steward froze. Studying them, his facial muscles twitched, “The two of you want to be together?”

  “My relationship with Shah is as close as the sacred mountain and the sacred woods. We’ve sworn to never part. We eat together, sleep together, and of course we have to be pleasured together!” Ye Qingxuan laughed weirdly, looking at the steward aggressively, “What, is it not allowed?”

  “No, no, it is!” The steward felt his shattered worldviews crumble to powder. Peering at the ball that had been washing plates in the kitchen a few moments ago, he felt like he had really run into the devil today. Watching the drunken man walk away, one hand on his cousin, the other on the ball, he shook his head. He sighed, “Young people nowadays really know how to have fun!”

  —

  In the room, Bai Xi stared at the dancing ball. She had never felt the need to wash her eyes so strongly before. In fact, she had the urge to perform Pomp and Circumstances and wash the entire room with blood.

  “Cousin, how much longer are you going to play for?” she grit out between clenched teeth as she pinched Ye Qingxuan’s waist. The corner of Ye Qingxuan’s lips twitched in pain.

  “Don’t worry, don’t worry…soon!” With that, he clapped his hands, telling the ball to stop bouncing on the ground. Smiling, he pulled out a rope from his pockets. “My lady, would you like to play something new?”

  “…” The ball froze. She collapsed before she could reply.

  Behind her, Bai Xi put her hands down coldly. “Why a rope? Just get it done like this.”

  “Cousin, you’ve totally ruined the atmosphere.” Shaking his head, Ye Qingxuan sighed and tied the ball up. Then he poured anesthetics into her and finally let go.

  “Okay, she’ll sleep until morning.”

  Bai Xi kicked him fiercely, “Where’s the great bargain? Is it this ball? Did Old Phil eat your conscience? You took an underage girl to a brothel!”

  “You were the one who wanted to come so badly,” Ye Qingxuan replied helplessly. “And Cousin, you don’t count as underage. In a few years, you’ll be the young master of downtown! Don’t tell me you’ve never seen this stuff…”

  Bai Xi kicked him again, “I don’t care. I’m angry!”

  “Don’t be so impatient.” Ye Qingxuan took off his long robe, revealing the tight black robe inside. He took off his wig as well and wiped off the oil on his face. Putting on his hunting hat and opening Jiu Xiao Pei Huan, he transformed back into the man who stirred trouble in downtown—the dark gentleman, Holmes.

  Bai Xi did the same, but she put on a cloth over her face. Then she pulled a bunch of stuff from her pocket, finally turning it into a bow—it was her reward from the Pyramid Scheme, along with Medusa’s Mirror.

  “Okay, where do we start?” Bai Xi projected her anger of being harassed by the Indian women. She spat out, “I want to empty these currys’ treasure storage!”

  “Very good, very powerful.” Ye Qingxuan snickered behind his hand.

  —

  In the giant commotion that swept through downtown a few days ago, the group that suffered the most losses was not only the Pyramid Scheme. There was also the Indians who had thought themselves to be clever. They had wanted to catch Ye Qingxuan and use him as bait, but did not expect the Black Hands to be even dirtier. They hired a musician from a criminal family, chopped up their leader and a bunch of skilled men, and threw them into the sewer.

  The Indians’ power consisted of several illegal trade systems. Shahrukh dying itself did not have much effect, but the other gangs had taken advantage of their momentary weakness and took over one-third of their business and territory. It was a giant loss.

  To make a comeback, the merchants who traveled between India and Avalon decided to increase their strength. They spent a fortune to buy ninety percent of the alchemy material and precious items on the black market. They even transported am important treasure from India: the saint’s relic.

  According to the police force’s hypotheses, they collected all the items such as rune stones and ancient silver so the Indian musician in their care could enter the Resonance level.

  The old Pusoptkata had been stuck on the third Musician level for decades. He was close to death, but still could not make a breakthrough. Due to various reasons, he decided to take a risk and perform the Resonance Ceremony. He planned to sign an agreement with the Holy Spirit and forcefully break through the Barrier of Knowledge.

  According to the estimates of other musicians, the saint’s relic that Puspotkata had found matched well. He had more than a ninety percent chance of success at a breakthrough.

  The Indians kept this secret well. If not for the police force’s spy, this plan would still be unknown. And according to the news Ye Qingxuan had received, the ceremony would either be tonight or tomorrow.

  But there was a problem. Should he wait for Puspotkata to be bathing and fasting, take advantage of his weakest moment, and…do something major? Only an idiot would not! Ye Qingxuan loved to bear grudges, and he had amazing memory! He would never let his enemies become stronger. After calculating that he had more than a seventy percent chance of succeeding, Ye Qingxuan slapped his thigh, and exclaimed, “Let’s do it!”

  He had spent the entire day collecting information. Lestrade had also gotten some intelligence on the Indians. Using all this, Ye Qingxuan hatched an entirely new plan called “Empty Room.”

  “So basically you just want to act cool.” Bai Xi rolled her eyes with expertise, expressing her scorn, “Why don’t you just call it ‘Research of Blood Words’?”

  “But there aren’t any words written in blood, and there isn’t research,” Ye Qingxuan shrugged in regret. “But that’s a good name. Save it for the Professor.”

  “Wow, cousin, you have great fantasies.”

  “You flatter me. I need to work on them more.” Ye Qingxuan acted shamelessly, just like how he had learned from Charles. “Wait a second.” He pulled out a thick stack of white paper onto the table, as well as an aether ball. After gazing around, he brought a chair over and pushed Jiu Xiao Huan Pei to the ceiling. “Wait for me to make a map.”

  Clang!

  The zither’s strings twanged, shattering the silence, spreading like flowing water. The clear and crisp sound echoed through the room, bouncing against the walls without fading. The echoes snaked up the beams in the ceiling…yes, the echoes went up the beams!

  As the strings thrummed, invisible strength poured into the beams. It spread instantly along the entire structure of Ganlu City like water. For a moment, the entire building trembled as if the illusionary music went through the beams, ceiling, walls, and foundation. The entire structure resonated softly. It seemed to be responding to the instrument’s calls. The distant and lonely music transformed into dreamy murmurs, echoing throughout the building.

  The music was like chimes but also the roaring of a dragon. It was a weapon which could control life and death.

  125 Stealth

  This was the reason why the Jiu Xiao Huan Pei had been hidden by the Ye family for thousands of years. No matter if one looked at its specifications or shape, this instrument could be regarded as a very rare zither, a treasure. There was only one string left, but its sense of aether remained unchanged.

  Ye Qingxuan had never played any instrument before, but he could feel that no other instrument could be compared to Jiu Xiao Huan Pei. After all, the Ye family’s reputation of being experts at aether was not just an exaggeration.

  With the zither’s ringing, the aether ball began to light up. Then the ball heated up in the young man’s hand like fire. Silver dust rippled vi
olently in the ball.

  Like a conductor, Ye Qingxuan used Jiu Xiao Huan Pei as a signal amplifier, magnifying the aether ball’s detection accuracy hundred-fold. Large amounts of information poured into it, practically making the ball explode, but Jiu Xiao Huan Pei cleverly controlled the brink of collapse, maintaining the ball at the junction between overclocking operation and complete collapse, ruthlessly squeezing out each function to work at its peak.

  A brilliant light illuminated the room. The ball in Ye Qingxuan’s hand rose up slowly, suspended and revolving in the air. The silver dust inside shook along with Ye Qingxuan’s thoughts, faint images flashed through the ball.

  A crack appeared.

  The youth sighed. It was a basic piece of equipment after all. It could not manage much. If it was the legendary palace of the sacred city—the biggest aether ball in the world, it could detect the aether tide in any corner of the world. According to rumors, countless scholars would gather in the palace all any given moment to observe every aether movement in the world.

  Whenever a musician broke the Barrier of Knowledge and resonated with the world, the aether waves set off would create a rising star in the palace. Each musician’s data was recorded in the star field. All the powerful musicians in the world were under the observation of the sacred city. Even those who had seen some grandeur before would finally realize what ‘divine power’ truly was. It was a point of view that only the gods had.

  Compared with this legendary ball, the one in Ye Qingxuan’s hand was nothing. Even so, it was enough to display the entire structure of Ganlu City.

  Gradually, more and more fractures appeared on the ball in his hands. Finally, it shattered with a snap, crumbling to dust. This luxury item had cost Ye Qingxuan half a year’s wage, and it burned to ashes with one use.

  Ye Qingxuan’s heart hurt. If he could not get the money back from the Indians, this trip would be a total loss! He took out a pen and leaned over to scribble on the paper. The structure of Ganlu City gradually appeared amongst his scrawls.

  As the largest brothel downtown, it had hundreds of rooms and countless corridors. There were also dozens of private rooms for distinguished guests, as well as secret doors, secret passages, basements, and more structures needed for dirty work. Most of these structures appeared on the paper as the youth sketched.

  “Wow cousin, you’re really good at this. Where did you learn it?” Bai Xi took some sweets from the table.

  “My father taught me in a place called Hawaii.”

  “…It seems that your dad knows everything!” Bai Xi muttered. “What else did he teach you?”

  Ye Qingxuan shrugged, “Too much to count.”

  As the girl glared, Ye Qingxuan finally sighed, “Alright, I studied some mechanical engineering by myself. Architectural drawings and mechanical drawings are pretty much the same, so I just learned both at the same time. Done!”

  Ye Qingxuan put down his pen and gazed at the map that took up the whole table. He nodded in satisfaction, “The general structure is here. There are still many details I remember, but there’s no time to draw them all.”

  Bai Xi’s eyes lit up. “Where’s the treasure?”

  Ye Qingxuan pointed at three blanks on the map. “There are total of three places that the Jiu Xiao Huan Pei can’t get through. There’s either something interfering or there is an enchantment covering this area. The treasures should be hidden there.”

  “We’re going to go through it all?”

  “No, at least one can be ruled out…the most dangerous one.” Ye Qingxuan pointed at the blank in the center, “Of the three, there’s one in the very center of Ganlu City, one in a secluded courtyard in the back, and one in the basement.

  “I suspect that the one in the back should be the place where the Puspotkata lives. He is a musician of the Indian School of Asceticism and does not like noise. Besides, he’s old, and probably tries to avoid the prostitutes, so the treasure can’t be here.”

  “What if he put those things in his room?”

  “Not possible.” Ye Qingxuan shook his head, “The essence of the resonance ceremony is to let the Holy Spirit’s consciousness temporarily enter the body, then break the Barrier of Knowledge.

  “So he requires absolute purity, which must be established in absolute silence, isolated from the outer world. There can be no interference before summoning the Holy Spirit.

  “During this process, the musician himself must be bathing and fasting to remove all distractions. Puspotkata is probably deep in meditation now. He’s probably not even wearing underpants. For the sake of our eyes and safety, let’s rule out this possibility.”

  Ye Qingxuan crossed out the blank on the back of the paper and pointed to the central blank area of the city, “We’re close to this area. We can start here.”

  “Awesome!” Bai Xi nodded and looked out the window. “We need to walk on the roof?”

  “Not the roof,” Ye Qingxuan shook his head. “That’s the fastest way but it’s also the most heavily guarded. If I had a lair, I’d start with putting beast traps all over the roof, and then have people guard it twenty four hours every day. I’m afraid we’ll be caught within five minutes.”

  “So where do we go?”

  “The main entrance.” Ye Qingxuan twirled his cane and grinned, “I know how to make them blind to us.”

  Thinking of Black Friday, Bai Xi immediately understood.

  But just as she was about to leave, Ye Qingxuan stopped her. “Still remember what we agreed on before we came?” he asked gravely. “No matter what, don’t make things more complicated! We take what we need and leave as soon as we can. Don’t touch anything outside of our plan.”

  “I know. You’ve said it hundreds of times!” Bai Xi pouted.

  “You promise?”

  “I promise. I swear.” Her face fell. “You don’t trust me?”

  “I trust you more than anyone else.” Ye Qingxuan smiled and pinched her cheeks. “My music score requires full attention to block other people’s senses. If anything happens, I probably won’t even have the ability to fight, you know?” He paused and whispered, “So now my life is yours.”

  “…” Bai Xi paused for a second. She looked up at him then lowered her head. Standing on her tiptoes, she patted Ye Qingxuan’s head, “Yeah, I’ll protect you.”

  “That’s great.” Ye Qingxuan smiled and opened the door. Soon he heard someone coming through the corridor.

  —

  In the corridor, the steward Salman paced in worry. He hesitated to knock the door. What if those two brothers were having fun and would blame him for disturbing them? It was rare to have such big spenders, but the two still confused him a little. He had worked here for so many years and had seen a lot, but he had never seen perverts like them. There must be something wrong with them.

  After a long time, he gritted his teeth and went to the door. For some reason, his mind went blank when he set foot in the corridor. He vaguely heard a plaintive melody, like a river flowing.

  The oil lamp on the wall flickered at just the right moment. He shook his head and could not hear the faint melody anymore. He stood outside the door, ear pressed to the door, eavesdropping on the room.

  Behind him a vague figure frowned and gripped his cane. The second measure of Black Friday—auditory interference.

  Salman’s expression suddenly changed. He heard heavy breathing behind the door and the sound of a whip. “These two kids know how to play,” he murmured. Knocking on the door, he called out, “Sirs?”

  “Don’t bother us!” came a voice of disgust from behind the door.

  “No, no, sir!” Salman pursed his lip and his suspicion dissipated. It seemed that there were all sorts of fetishes these days. He turned to leave, not seeing the two shadows following behind him. They walked toward the atrium under his lead.

  On another corridor, Salman saw a dark, sturdy youth on the steps. He rushed over hurriedly with a smile. “Master Po Sinai, long time no see. You’r
e looking more and more chivalrous.”

  The youth covered in gold jewelry hurried past. With no time to bother with Salman, he asked, “Where is my brother?”

  “Master Sila is in the atrium room. He has already been waiting for a long time.”

  “Tell the servants to not disturb my brother and I. We have important matters to discuss.” Po Sinai went past Salman to the atrium.

  After hesitating for a bit, Ye Qingxuan followed after Po Sinai. Soon, he found that Po Sinai was heading toward the atrium that he had planned to go to. But after getting closer, he realized he could not use the rune Blur.

  There was heavy aether interference there. It was probably in defense against musician assassins. Notes would go out of control there. Only a more stable measure could work. Ye Qing Xuan motioned at Bai Xi to be cautious, then he woke Jiu Xiao Huan Pei and began to play “Black Friday.”

  Soon the black river began to flow through the mind again. A gloomy, despairing melody followed, spreading. The first measure was visual interference.

  Ye Qingxuan caught up quickly after making sure that the people around him were influenced by the melody. It seemed that the Indians had really spent a lot for the Puspotkata’s breakthrough. No one was even left to guard Ganlu City’s enchantment. None of the search and defense measures Ye Qingxuan had expected were there.

  They passed a few transfixed guards and came to the fortified door, but he heard a faint voice behind the door before he could unlock it.

  That strange and shrill voice was full of astonishment. “The Professor is being hunted? Are you sure?”

  126 The Vengeful Spiri

  “The Professor is being hunted? Are you sure?”

  Hearing the words, Ye Qingxuan sped up while still keeping watch. He did not directly use the aether to unlock the door from the inside, but used Bai Xi’s hairpin instead. The door opened with a click.