Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  “Are you crazy?!” Bai Xi glared at him as if looking at a madman. “He was going to explode and you just stayed there! If I didn’t drag you out, you would’ve died with him!”

  Ye Qingxuan pulled himself up. He watched as the rain washed the blood away in silence. He lowered his head, disappointed. “I’m sorry. I had some questions to ask.”

  “He clearly didn’t know anything.” Bai Xi eyed him. “I’ve seen a lot of people like him, stupid people who think they’re clever and work so hard for the people who betrayed them.”

  “…” Stunned, Ye Qingxuan chuckled bitterly. “Cousin, why do I think that you’re using him to scold me?”

  “Ha.” Bai Xi knocked the back of his head. “What are you still waiting for? There might be some stuff left over.”

  Shaking his head helplessly, Ye Qingxuan walked into the room and scavenged through the ruins. All he could find were some common performance material. The alchemy material had either shattered or broke. There were no other clues.

  On the other hand, Bai Xi cheered. She had found a high grade aether ball and stuffed it into her bag without hesitation. It was an extremely precise aether ball unique to the School of Revelations. They had to be custom-made by special alchemists and were extremely expensive. It would be a waste to throw away. She could take it back and reuse it!

  “Ah, what a pity.” When Bai Xi finished searching, she still felt that it was a pity. Why couldn’t this guy be more like the Indians and be loaded with treasure?

  Just as she was moping, she kicked something and a white bone flute rolled out from the dust. Her eyes brightened and she picked it up. After washing off the blood in the rain, she studied it and her face brightened with surprise. She did not care anymore that Ye Qingxuan had almost got himself killed.

  “Cousin, look at this!” she called, showing her discovery. “It’s an ecliptic instrument! And it’s a high grade replica. He probably put all his life savings into this thing! In the black market, it’s worth more than a hundred times its weight in green gold!”

  “You know what this is?” Ye Qingxuan took it in confusion and studied it.

  “Of course!” Bai Xi wagged her finger. “See, this is made of bone, but it’s an ecliptical instrument, so it must be precious material taken from the corpse of a natural catastrophe. The effect is actually better than metal.

  “And I don’t know what powers the alchemist had put on it, but if it enters the market, all the Resonance musicians will kill each other for this!”

  “It’s that powerful?”

  “Of course.”

  Just as Bai Xi began calculating the value in her mind, continuous pops came from Ye Qingxuan’s hands. She turned in shock to see an equally dazed Ye Qingxuan. A crack had appeared in the bone flute.

  Wait! A crack?! This was a rare instrument! It was sturdier than green gold and could withstand the force of aether! It should not have just broke like that!

  But the cracks did not stop. Instead, more and more appeared. The bone flute shook and a hole began to appear. The bits of bone that fell turned into powder and landed in the puddles. Through the hole, one could see the complex runes carved inside. One would need a magnifying glass to see the markings clearly, but now, all the runes and music scores were disappearing, like faded ink…vanishing without a trace.

  Crack! Crack! Crack! The Silver Virgo shook continuously as if it was dying and could not defend itself… In the end, it cracked in half.

  As if an urn had broke, starry light floated from the crack and floated into the air like dust before surging into the offender…

  “What’s going on?” Bai Xi asked, her eyes wide.

  “To be honest, I’m not really sure.” Ye Qingxuan was a bit dizzy too. “I never knew that it had this function…”

  At his fingertip, Jiu Xiao Huan Pei glowed dimly. It sucked the Silver Virgo’s essence without stop, like a greedy and starving beast. As it hummed lightly, it delicately and familiarly broke the Silver Virgo apart, bit by bit. Jiu Xiao Huan Pei did not return to its original shape until the Silver Virgo was turned to dust.

  Ye Qingxuan flipped it around, still not sure what had just happened.

  Bai Xi moved over too. After studying it for a long time, she looked up. “Do you think it broke? What if it broke?”

  “No way!” Ye Qingxuan gasped. According to his father, Jiu Xiao Huan Pei had been passed down from his great-great-grandfather. If he broke it, he would be a shame to his ancestors!

  He quickly expanded Jiu Xiao Huan Pei. After trying to play some measures, his expression changed. “Uh…” he trailed off.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know why but…I suddenly remembered an extra section.” He looked at Bai Xi with a strange expression. “Black Friday should only have five parts, but now there’s suddenly an extra part and it’s totally different.”

  “An extra one?”

  “Yeah.” Ye Qingxuan nodded. “I think even the name has changed.”

  “What did it change into?” Bai Xi had not processed it yet.

  “Moonlight,” Ye Qingxuan murmured. “Its name is Moonlight.”

  “…Cousin.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Your dad really knows how to be dramatic.”

  148 Revenge Musician

  The prayer room was covered in blood. Blue Teeth was covered in wounds, but compared to his injuries, his appearance was more terrifying. He had completely turned into a monster! The mutated skeletal system had burst through his skin. The sharp protruding bones were like blades. His body was covered in bloody scales. The blue teeth that poked out from behind his regular teeth looked as if they were made of steel. He seemed to be a baby dragon that had been dragged out of the egg before it could finish growing. He was ugly, menacing, and terrifying! The double swords Snake Scales shattered as he chewed them, falling to the ground in metal pulp.

  Across from him, the Professor gazed at his mutated body coldly, and shook his head. “So the natural catastrophe you signed the pact with was the Dark Mother?”

  Blue Teeth roared and his two tongues began chanting. A dangerous light flashed in his vertical pupils. Everything he looked at began growing wildly, maturing, withering, then finally turning to dust. It was the Withering Eye!

  Even the Professor weakened under this gaze. The surrounding illusions were destroyed without a direct attack.

  Blue Teeth had been forced to his limits by the Professor. He had opened his mouth wide and swallowed the white-faced woman and the Chainsaw monk, and began growing until he turned into this monster. Not caring about Avalon’s enchantment at all, he transformed into a dragon, mutating into a demon. But even so, he did not have any confidence in winning. He was so fast that one could barely see his movements anymore. He chased after the Professor, toppling many walls in the process.

  The traps that the Professor had set were all ineffective in the face of the strong and aggressive body. Not even the acid, crossbows, and spears protruding from the ground could damage the demi-dragon.

  For the first time, Blue Teeth had the upper hand, but he still did not have a grasp. He wanted to escape, but he feared that he would be dead as soon as he showed his back to the Professor.

  “Oh, you’re scared? You want to escape?” the Professor taunted him after noticing the fear in Blue Teeth’s eyes. He laughed mockingly. “Don’t be afraid. I’ll try not to destroy your body completely. After all, a dark musician changed by the Dark Mother is very valuable to research.”

  “In your dreams!” Blue Teeth roared. His bony tail suddenly shot forward and ripped the Professor’s robe in half like a crossbow.

  And so the injured body was revealed. In contrast to the awesome contours of the outer robe, the Professor’s shoulders and arms were thin and delicate. They were the pale white of sickness, and had faint blue-green veins under the skin. Across his shoulder blades was a wound deep enough that one could see the bone underneath. Blood still flowed from the various wounds. T
he fresh blood flowed in complex lines, like a thread sewn into the skin. They crisscrossed until it formed a chain wrapped around his body.

  “The Oath of Revenge?!” Blue Teeth gasped in a hoarse voice. He stumbled back as if he had seen a ghost. When he looked at the Professor again, it was as if he was looking at a creature crazier than himself. His eyes were full of awe and…fear!

  “You’re crazy! You pledged your soul to the Indigo Moon?!” Blue Teeth exclaimed.

  “If I really have a soul, why not?” The Professor looked down, taking in his wounds. “It’s a pity. I had wanted to get some answers from you, but I guess I can’t keep you around since you’ve seen this.” With that, he faced Blue Teeth and thanked him. “Thank you for giving me so much information about the parliament.”

  Blue Teeth stumbled back. Panic and shock were written in his beastly face.

  Only maniacs who had no hope for the world would choose the power of the Oath of Revenge. After resonating with the world through a complex Abstinence ritual, the musician would swear an oath to the Indigo Moon which represented death and catastrophe, pledge everything he had, give up any pleasure, and become an apprentice of the Moon. He would then transform into a Revenge Musician. From that moment on, there was no meaning in life, other than revenge. Even if he died, he would become a demon and chase after his enemies. Only catastrophe and nothingness existed in that life.

  The Professor smiled at Blue Teeth’s extreme fear. He raised the silver flute to his lips and a thin melody floated from the instrument. It was delicate and beautiful with a tinge of dreamy grace. It was intoxicating.

  But amidst the beautiful melody, Blue Teeth’s face twisted and he began howling. As if he had lost all reason, his body bloated as if it was filled with boiling water. His body grew and grew…until he completely transformed into a bloody and messy dragon. He could not care about Avalon’s enchantment anymore. When the flute began playing, the church seemed to enter another world.

  The moon shone down in this world. The Indigo Moon hung in the air, radiating with catastrophic light! The moonlight sonata!

  The cold indigo moonlight shone past the church’s dome and scattered evenly throughout the room. The light covered the bloody dragon. And so the dragon became immobile, frozen by the cold light.

  While everything had dulled, the moon was indigo and the blood was red, in stark contrast with each other. A decadent and desolate aura emanated from the light. The melody hung in the air, radiating with the serenity of a dream.

  On the ground, the immobile dragon wailed in pain. As Blue Teeth wailed, his body broke apart and melted into the moonlight.

  Now, only the moonlight was real. Everything else was just an illusion that would dissipate at the snap of a finger. Destruction had arrived.

  Blue Teeth finally surrendered. A menacing face appeared on the collapsing dragon. The face broke down quickly, but the smile was still wild and sinister.

  “Ha, haha…you’ll have a bad ending.” Blue Teeth cackled and roared like the curse of an evil spirit in hell. “There is no good ending in becoming the apprentice of the Indigo Moon! Your future will be more pathetic, more hopeless, and darker than mine! You’ll fall into a deeper hell! No, things like you won’t even die. You’ll forever be the puppet of the Indigo Moon, an insignificant tool!”

  The Professor gazed at him silently. His eyes were emotionless. Cold moonlight seemed to flow deep in his eyes. “So what?”

  The Professor clenched his fist and the bloody dragon turned to pulp. All that was left of it was the mighty but broken essence of its life.

  —

  When the Indigo Moon disappeared, the cold and still world vanished as well. The Professor reappeared in the church. As if exhausted, he half-knelt on the ground, panting and sweating. By manipulating the Indigo Moon’s power, he was able to use Satan’s power to kill Blue Teeth, but it was a great burden on him. The Indigo Moon was not an entity he could just order around!

  The Professor was clearly weakened, but the wounds all over his arms, back, and under his robe quickly meshed together as if he had applied precious medicine.

  Medicine would merely heal him, but now the wounds seemed to have never existed. No sign of the injuries were left behind. All that remained was the blood-red curse that wove around his body as if it was woven deep into his bones.

  He snapped, fixing up his torn robe. With a wave of his hand, he swept away the marks on the ground. It was as if he had never been here. But when he made to leave the church, he suddenly turned.

  His flute sang and a dark green arrow shot into the darkness, landing on the broken statue of a saint. The statue was pulverized instantly. Behind the statue stood a figure supported by a cane. He was wearing a beastly black robe as if he had just returned from a demon’s banquet. Broken light illuminated his silhouette and the mocking smile on his face. “It’s not good to start fighting as soon as we meet, right, Mr. Professor?” the figure said.

  Standing in the center of the hall, the Professor gazed coldly at the uninvited guest. He stated, “Oh, Mr. Holmes? What a coincidence.”

  “Yeah, such a coincidence.” Ye Qingxuan nodded as he chuckled, but he gazed at the Professor’s flute with a bit of fear. “Can you put down your instrument? I just want to talk.”

  The Professor did not move. “Don’t mind me. This is the standard treatment for uninvited guests.”

  “Ah, you’re so heartless,” Ye Qingxuan sighed as he shook his head.

  “Being heartless is better than being brash, is it not?” The Professor closed in. He said in a cold voice, “You ran away last time. Where did you get the courage to stand before me once again? I won’t go easy on you this time. You should know that there’s no one here for you to call on.”

  Ye Qingxuan chuckled. “That’s okay,” he said, shrugging. “I have something more precious, like a just heart, hot blood and…this.”

  The Professor halted.

  149 What the Professor Truly Is

  The Professor halted. Silver dust suspended in the air before him, drifting in the wind like catkins. Under the dim light, they glittered slightly, clear and translucent. But as soon as they fell on the Professor’s body, they began to sizzle as if burning!

  Ye Qingxuan smiled. He slowly raised his right hand which carried a heavy and thick leather bag. When he loosened his grip, the bag fell on the ground and a huge amount of silver sand flowed out. Bai Xi had spent the entire day searching through Avalon’s jewelry processing workshops for them. A bag full of pure silver sand.

  “What’s the matter, Professor?” Ye Qingxuan squatted down, picked up some silver sand from the bag and held it in his hands. He watched as the silver metal dust fell from his fingertips. They reflected a beautiful rainbow under the dim light. “I bought these just for you. What do you say? Do you like it?”

  The Professor was silent. He stood rooted to the spot, unable to get closer. But his eyes were full of a rage that Ye Qingxuan feared! Seeing his reaction, Ye Qingxuan smiled. He seemed to like it. That was great.

  “Mr. Professor …” In silence, the young man gazed at the Professor’s cold and cynical face hidden under his hat. “Or perhaps I should call you one of the legends of Avalon—Mr. Vampire.”

  The Professor remained silent, but Ye Qingxuan’s voice came from the darkness. He spoke at a steady pace with a calm voice that was full of annoying arrogance and elegance. “It’s been so many years and no one discovered that you’re the legendary vampire, a moon spirit hiding in Avalon. No wonder you’ve always been mysterious, nocturnal, and never one to show your face…Do you vampires really have pointy ears?” Suddenly changing to topic, he looked curiously at the Professor’s hood, wanting to have a look at his ears.

  The Professor finally spoke with extreme coldness. “Holmes, knowing too much is not a good thing.”

  “Oh, really?” Ye Qingxuan played with the silver sand through his fingertips. “But I love this feeling! If this is a crime, I’m willing to spend the
rest of my life in the prison.”

  The Professor gazed at him and asked coldly, “How did you find out?”

  “It was probably because of…the blood words. I really have to thank that traitor of yours.”

  Ye Qingxuan slowly stood up, supported by his cane, and leaned lazily on the wall. “Did you want to use his death to lure the parliament into the trap and retaliate against them? It’s very clever! I went to the scene.” Ye Qingxuan shook his head and exclaimed, “It was so tragic. You burned his entire body to crisp. But was this for the sake of killing him, or to conceal what you did to him?”

  The Professor froze.

  Ye Qingxuan reached out and touched his own carotid artery. “There were two very small holes on his neck here, where it had been burned. If you don’t look with a goal in mind, you wouldn’t even notice. But the moment I saw the two holes, I realized what the so-called ‘Professor’ is.

  “The coroner said the murder was very cruel, and that the temperature was high enough to evaporate half of his blood, but the blood had actually been drained by you, right? He betrayed you, so you drained his blood. Maybe it was to heal yourself, or maybe just to punish him.

  “Finally, you set him on fire in order to destroy the corpse, silence him, leave your own breath to guide the house to come, and supply your healing with blood…you hit three birds with one stone!” He paused and smiled lightly. “But you’ve underestimated his revenge on you.”

  The temperature around the Professor seemed to drop, but Ye Qingxuan was still enjoying it all. “Let me guess, when you noticed someone approaching, you lit him on fire and watched him scream and die before turning away, am I right?

  “But a viper can only raise another viper. He used his last moments to take revenge. He left some words in blood on the wall, revealing your ‘big secret’. Initially, I was very confused because I’ve never seen that type of text before. Finally, I suddenly realized that what he left was not words, but just blood.” He narrowed his eyes at the silent “legend.”