Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  He sighed and picked up a strange stone from his bed. He had tried to communicate with this ruin last night with the interpretation method; he had wanted to decipher the strange words on it but to no avail. Then he had fallen asleep without realizing and tossed in his sleep, struggling nonstop.

  Now, it seemed that this rock truly was filled with strangeness. In the weak morning light, the wedge-shaped words on the stone shone dimly with a dark green light. It looked like toxic poison left over from ancient times and made the hair on one’s neck rise.

  “What weird thing is this?” Ye Qingxuan really did not know why he suddenly wanted to bring that thing back and try deciphering it. Maybe it was a random urge, or that thing truly had an attractive pull on him, luring him into it.

  He sighed and stuffed the stone into his pocket. He rose to wash up, crept past the silent living room, and walked out. Not many were awake at five in the morning and the academy was quiet.

  Faint white mist shrouded his surroundings. There was only a stray cat crossing the grass in the stillness. Sensing his presence, it looked up with emerald eyes. For some reason, stray cats really liked him that day. They continuously ran over and rubbed against him, purring.

  Ye Qingxuan felt a lot better with this furry guy clinging onto him; however, like a misconception, he always felt that the stone vibrated slightly whenever the cats meowed, but nothing seemed different when he pulled it out.

  He sighed. He had not been sleeping well these past few days and would often have these misconceptions.

  Ye Qingxuan did not get up this early voluntarily either. In reality, he was so tired he could sleep for a whole day after recent events. He just could not stay in bed any longer.

  The sublimation ritual had already been prepared. Once all materials were put in, he would not be able to wait much longer. Unless he really wanted to give up on his award, he must run to the library early in the morning and go through the ritual.

  This should be something great, but he could not be happy with what Ingmar had done and the following solution.

  “We shouldn’t live in a world where we can’t sleep in…” Ye Qingxuan muttered to himself.

  He could not help but sigh. It looked like he was destined to be laborious and could not even catch a break. Just as he walked toward the library gloomily, he heard a familiar voice.

  “Oh, good morning.” On the road-side bench was the former leader of the School of Modifications who had been defeated by Ye Qingxuan, James.

  As if he had stayed up the whole night, there were dark circles under his eyes and he waved weakly. When he saw Ye Qingxuan, his expression became upset.

  “Uh, good morning.” Ye Qingxuan was a bit confused, not knowing why James would be here. James shoved the heavy leather case beside his feet over.

  “My professor wanted me to give this to you.”

  “Mr. Egor?” Ye Qingxuan was stunned. Looking at the stuffed leather case, he did not know what he would receive from the professor who had never liked him.

  “There are some treasured resources from the School of Modifications.” James sneezed and sniffed. This guy had gotten a cold from being in the wind for too long. Even his voice had changed. “The School of Revelations is huge. Their archives are bigger than your entire department. How can you fight them with just your sad amount of books?”

  Ye Qingxuan opened the case. It was filled with old books of Voynich Manuscript interpretations. There were also rarely seen resources and research, as well as brand new notes. They were simply stapled together; it was clear they were copies made overnight.

  He could not believe the School of Modifications supported him so much. It was only a box of books, but he still felt touched. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t misunderstand. No one likes you.” James scoffed, turned, and left.

  After a few steps, he had already sneezed continuously multiple times. Even his snot had come out. It was clear that he had been keeping it in so he would not lose his dignity before Ye Qingxuan.

  The corners of Ye Qingxuan’s lips twitched. Just how much did this guy care about his dignity?

  Ye Qingxuan sighed. He lifted the case with some effort and continued toward the library, but after a few steps, he was blocked by a black shadow that had jumped out from the side.

  It was a black shadow leopard. Agile yet huge, it was half of his height even while sitting. Stared at by those eyes, Ye Qingxuan felt goosebumps all over.

  “Hey, Junior!” Beside the leopard was Elsa, the leader of the School of Summoning. She studied him, her eyes filled with anticipation. “Where’s your dog? It sounds really impressive and Bi’er was unhappy when she heard. You’ve been getting the limelight recently, so why don’t we find some time to have fun together?” She rubbed her hands together excitedly as she spoke. Her eyes flashed too, like a beast that had found something interesting and wanted to try it out!

  Sensing this girl’s serious challenge and pricking pain, Ye Qingxuan stepped back and shook his head. “Sorry, I can’t fight now.”

  “Ah, so not fun!” Elsa’s face fell instantly. She tossed a giant satchel into Ye Qingxuan’s arms. “This is for you.”

  Ye Qingxuan almost stumbled back from the impact of the satchel. He felt his hands being weighed down and almost missed. Before he could ask, Elsa and the black leopard shadow were already far away.

  Her voice traveled back, “These are some old books that the school wants to get rid of. Professor wanted me to throw them away but I didn’t feel like walking. Please take them to a suitable landfill.”

  Ye Qingxuan chuckled wryly and called, “Thanks!”

  In the distance, Elsa waved to him without looking back and disappeared in the mist. Looking at the satchel and case, Ye Qingxuan sighed. He pulled them up with difficulty and continued on. After a few steps, a familiar figure appeared.

  “Cullen?”

  Seeing Ye Qingxuan’s state, Cullen was shocked. He looked down at his small suitcase and could not help but chuckle dryly. “Seems like someone got here before me?” With that, he handed the suitcase over to Ye Qingxuan. “The School of Royalty’s resources have aged badly these days and need to be copied. Since you’re coincidentally a copyist…”

  Ye Qingxuan opened his mouth to speak, but Cullen stopped him with a hand. “Don’t thank me. To be honest, I really want to expel you. Your white hair is too blinding. Can’t you dye it?”

  Ye Qingxuan shrugged. “Can’t help you with that.”

  Cullen shook his head and waved, motioning for him to leave, but Ye Qingxuan did not move. He just looked at Cullen and asked, “Why are you helping me?”

  “To be honest, I really won’t if I have the choice.” Cullen sighed. “But if I think about it, compared to you annoying Easterner, someone who stole research results and disgraced all musicians is worse.” He patted Ye Qingxuan’s shoulder. Without saying more, he turned and left.

  Ye Qingxuan stood in his spot for a long while before hoisting up the satchel, suitcase, and case. These things were heavy and annoying but for some reason, he was in a much better mood now. He smiled involuntarily.

  He continued on in the still academy. When he walked past students, they would stand in place and see him off until he disappeared in the mist.

  Unclear humming traveled from the thin mist; it was hoarse yet drawn out.

  -

  When Ye Qingxuan finally set down all the stuff before the library’s entrance in the Jianlan Underground Palace, it felt as if his entire body was going to fall apart. He could not help it; physical labor was always his worse subject. He would be out of breath from just running a few thousand meters, let alone transporting things. Bai Xi had judged him for this too many times to count.

  A slight earthly breeze blew through the deserted library. There was an upset huff in the wind.

  “Help me look over this stuff. I’ll take it back when I come out at night.” The youth smiled apologetically at the air. “Sorry for not coming for so long. I’ll
play marbles with you all when I have time.”

  The huffing in wind seemed to be a bit more pleased. An invisible power pulled the suitcases and satchels, moving them into the shadows until they disappeared.

  “You’re a bit later than I had expected.” Dominic, the guard Ye Qingxuan had not seen in a while, pointed to the stairs behind him. “The alchemist the principal hired is getting impatient. Hopefully you have a good excuse.”

  “Uh, sorry. I ran into some problems.” Ye Qingxuan chuckled apologetically and hurried away.

  There seemed to be a path waiting for him in the darkness. The stairs came alive slightly. After being in the darkness for who knew how long, Ye Qingxuan’s steps halted before an ancient door.

  He felt his skin pulling taught. In his perception, he seemed to see a burning sea of light behind the door. The blinding brightness practically crushed one’s perception. It was like a giant vortex. The sea of aether revolved, sleeping peacefully. A gentle melody caressed it, creating faint ripples.

  This was the source of the entire Requiem enchantment, the location where the music score of benevolence was performed—the Cave of Sleep.

  A blonde youth sitting cross-legged in the dazzling silver light behind the door smiled at the shocked Ye Qingxuan, “Hey, kid, I’ve been waiting for a long time.”

  230 Sublimation Ritual

  “Hey, kid, I’ve been waiting for a long time.”

  Ye Qingxuan stood at the entrance, unable to process what he had seen. Hermes looked at his shocked expression and laughed joyously.

  Behind him, the silver vortex spun silently with faint ripples. Under the vortex, a large track made of mercury, gems, and other material Ye Qingxuan could not recognize transformed slowly. It absorbed the endless strength from the aether and opened an invisible cavern that seemed to lead into another world.

  This was the sublimation ritual.

  Under Hermes’s manipulation, the mercury in the gully flowed soundlessly. The thick and heavy silver-white liquid radiated with burning brightness. Ye Qingxuan could never have guessed that Hermes would be the one performing the ritual for him.

  “Are you shocked?” Hermes asked with a subtle smile.

  “A little.” Ye Qingxuan nodded honestly.

  “Your principal spent money and I had time, so I came over for a look.” Hermes shook his head and lamented, “I haven’t been to this stupid place in so long but I’m surprised you’ve all been maintaining it well. It’s just that the newer buildings are too ugly. There’s no style at all. If would be fine if you just followed the original design. Why did you have to add stuff? Tsk…”

  Ye Qingxuan listened obediently as Hermes judged and destroyed every inch of the Royal Academy of Music. In the end, Hermes finally looked down at the flowing mercury. Without caring about being poisoned, he reached a hand into it.

  Pulling out, the mercury in his hand shone and quickly dissipated from his fingertip. Hermes nodded in satisfaction.

  “The coherence of the track will be complete soon. Other than the sublimation ritual, the heart mark’s inheritance will be done at the same time. Musicians have really regressed these days. They can’t even do these compound alchemy processes, how can they call themselves musicians?

  “Hey, white-haired kid, have you thought about which heart mark you want? This is a treasure chest. There’s Bach’s Chaconne, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2—Resurrection, Nocturne, The Four Seasons…There are even dozens of Concerto No. 1s. Since your principal said that you can choose whatever you want from the Resonance level, just go all out. You’re not the one paying, after all.”

  Hearing Hermes’s words, Ye Qingxuan finally snapped out of his daze. After hesitating, he said, “Night on Bald Mountain. I choose the Night on Bald Mountain from the School of Abstinence.”

  Hermes’s smile stiffened and instantly grew odd. “That really…suits you…” He really wanted to say something along the lines of, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” or “like father, like son.” He had not thought that Ye Qingxuan would happen to choose this out of such a large archive.

  It was not that this music score was very weak, but that it was just really weird. Not only was it from the School of Abstinence, it was also created for targeting fallen dark musicians and demons.

  These days, other than judgement musicians who hunted dark musicians and strange beasts, no one else would choose this extremely difficult and unpopular piece. Its composer had concealed his identity and joined the satanic believers and witches that worshipped natural catastrophes.

  The so-called Night on Bald Mountain was a fiesta for the fallen ones. Every year, bonfires would be lit in the middle of a certain night. Witches, satanic believers, and dark musicians would praise Satan, perform blood sacrifices, receive blessings from Satan and dance crazily around the fire until daybreak.

  At dawn, the composer, hidden among them, would join with the judgement musicians hiding in the surroundings and kill all the celebrating satanic believers. They would use a majestic melody that announced the coming of dawn to kill the cantos to Satan, and thus created this music score.

  Only judgement musicians would study this piece because it was infallible at defeating demonic followers. No matter what type of demon or dark musician, anything with the aura of natural catastrophe would be sealed by this music score, nailed onto the stake and burned to ashes in the fire. No matter how dark it was, the night on the bald mountain would be illuminated by a forest of stakes. But if the enemy was a human, it was powerless, save for the shackle and sealing effect.

  “It really…suits you,” Hermes finally said after his mind went blank.

  Ye Qingxuan had considered his choice for the heart mark carefully beforehand. He was not qualified to look through many of the library’s important music scores, but he could at least look at the catalogue, so he copied it and asked Abraham and Lola for advice.

  After Abraham looked at the catalogue, he marked some scores from the School of Revelations and Modifications. After hesitating, he also marked Night on Bald Mountain as Ye Qingxuan’s backup.

  Lola’s suggestion was to improve on his shortcomings rather than further strengthening his strong points. For pure destruction, he already had Indra’s Eye and the Deva’s blood to help him fight with furious fire at a level far above his own. Even if he learned other music scores, it would be useless in the meantime, due to his own restrictions.

  In comparison, Night on Bald Mountain was more specialized, but offset his weakness at lasting face-to-face fighting. He would also be able to kill the enemy without worrying that he would go too far.

  Understanding Ye Qingxuan’s intentions, Hermes could only lament, “Children these days are so creative…Okay, the preparation is almost complete. You can go in.” He moved aside, motioning for Ye Qingxuan to hurry inside and stop wasting time.

  Ye Qingxuan entered and instantly felt that he was about to suffocate. The almost tangible aether flow shone in the air, thick and heavy. It felt as if he was in a pool of water and he could barely breathe. After looking around, Ye Qingxuan had a new discovery and almost jumped out of his skin.

  “Wait, where’s the most important medium for the ritual? Boss, are you cheating?”

  “Medium?” Hermes side-eyed him. “Isn’t it on you?”

  With a hum, the palm-sized stone flew out of the youth’s pocket. It hovered in the air, absorbing the aether almost endlessly, and transformed into a small sun. Within the blazing sun-like glow, the words on the surface transformed. They seemed to have new changes and dazzled before his eyes. His mind was shaken and he could not control himself.

  “Hey, kid!” Hermes suddenly hit him on the shoulder, shocking him out of his thoughts. “Let me warn you though, the alchemy I’m good at is pure classicism. There aren’t many safety precautions and it’s definitely not comfortable. You can say that the longer it lasts, the more torturous it gets. During the ritual, you’ll see unexplainable hallucinations, hear weird sounds, or feel
something frightening. I’m not taking responsibility if you go crazy from all that. So, are you ready?”

  Ye Qingxuan was speechless and could not help but sigh. “To be honest, I can’t wait. Can we start soon?”

  “Good kid, I can see that you’re a true man.”

  Hermes pressed a hand on the top of Ye Qingxuan’s head. His fingers were icy without any warmth. Ye Qingxuan shivered at the cold, steel-like hand.

  “One last question.” Hermes suddenly asked, “You know that it’s highly possible to die during the sublimation ritual, right?”

  “Huh? Wait…” Ye Qingxuan yelped but then his vision went black and he lost consciousness.

  -

  Just as he sank into unconsciousness, a solemn song and melody rose above the ritual. The aether seemed to ignite in that hoarse singing and majestic song. It echoed like a tidal wave. The immense strength fell onto the youth’s body like a flame, burning his clothes. It dug into his limbs and bones, forcing him to struggle involuntarily and scream in pain.

  However, his eyes were soulless as if his spirit was gone. It had already risen to the sky or had fallen into the abyss.

  “We grow under aether and die as aether—we must be in awe of aether!” Hermes announced gravely.

  He held down the youth’s forehead. He did not seem happy or sad, but there seemed to still be emotions in his expression; he was like a saint’s figure carved by the Church and was awe-inspiring.

  Behind him, twelve wings of light burst through his robe and unfurled, covering the sky. The wings of light flapped soundlessly, creating huge ripples in the invisible sea of aether.

  “Ye Qingxuan, the so-called sublimation ritual is to purify your soul.” He gazed at the youth’s dull eyes and murmured in his ears, “You shall see your true self in the muddled chaos.”

  -

  Ye Qingxuan felt as if he had fallen into a nightmare again. In that endless nightmare, the ineffably immense chaos swallowed him. He felt himself being thrown into the sky, leaving the world of men, and entered a cold world that was icy yet difficult to describe.