by Feng Yue
“Success.”
After the flames were extinguished, the exhausted Ye Qingxuan leaned on his cane, panting for breath. With the flames gone, the black mass of spiders shrieked and converged toward him quickly. The darkness surged. The only noise in the silence was the chilling broken scraping sounds.
In this terrifying silence, someone sucked in a breath and raised his hand.
Snap! The crisp snap spread. As if it was an order, the hidden music notes in its path exploded with lightning. They connected with each other and affected the complicated threads of music theory, causing them to reveal their true appearance.
It was a music score created by lightning—the movement Moonlight!
Amidst the cold melody, moonlight descended from the sky. The illusionary moonlight illuminated the youth’s face and scattered equally in all directions. The spiders in its path screamed in terror. The sharp shrieks rose in waves but were unable to cover the sparse and cold music.
A pure white moon appeared over Ye Qingxuan’s head, scattering the clear radiance.
All demons trembled violently under the moonlight. Restricted by the formless moonlight, they were forced to ground, shaking. The all-reaching moonlight passed through their shells and compound eyes, melding into the spiders’ bodies. Gently, yet undeniably, the moonlight purified the demons from the inside out.
All chaotic auras were flattened and transformed into moonlight. They integrated into the silence and order, causing the clear radiance to shine even brighter.
The moonlight converged onto Jiu Xiao Huan Pei, making up for Ye Qingxuan’s energy loss. He suddenly recovered from his exhaustion. In fact, he was stronger than before. He could feel the Deva’s blood within him strengthening gradually.
“As expected of moonlight.” Ye Qingxuan sighed. He was covered in cold sweat. Thank God this idea worked. Otherwise, he would have had to run for his life!
-
An idea bloomed in his mind after reading the sub-originator theory. Since his blood contained moonlight and Indrah’s Eye sucked his blood, could it activate the music in his place? If it could withstand the enormous pressure, he could activate the overture of Moonlight with his current power. It was doable in theory. The most difficult was the conversion stage.
After studying for the night with Lola, he had used the newly-acquired music theory from the School of Abstinence and his enlightenment from Deva sensing to create this idea.
The Emerald Tablet was known as the source of all current alchemy techniques. Its content was deep and difficult to grasp. Ye Qingxuan was not an alchemist, but he had touched upon it during Deva sensing and was inspired by it.
The inspiration could also be called ‘creativity.’ For some reason, any method would become an unorthodox and astray path in Ye Qingxuan’s hands. Otherwise, he would not have turned into this from an average person in a few short months.
Using the compatibility of Jiu Xiao Huan Pei and Indrah’s Eye, paired with the translation method, he was able to create a one-time alchemy object by carving the music score in the surroundings with lightning. Thus, Moonlight’s effect became an alchemy ceremony. He could not personally create the effect, so he used other objects to make up for it. He was then able to perform the overture of Moonlight.
Here, Ye Qingxuan’s headache worsened. Moonlight did not consist of only one movement. The entire score comprised of forty-five movements. There were three overtures, four main sections, twelve pure sections, nine mixed sections… Other than the section’s own effect, different combinations had different effects as well.
Back in the day, Moon Chant had played around and created his own rules for purifying demons as the first demon hunter. Not only was there an immense amount of music theory, it also included the complete profiles of most demons in the world, their weaknesses, things to keep in mind, and ways to deal with them. It could help people in the future inherit his role and continue to kill. Ye Qingxuan could only say that this was crazily boring.
Crack. A crisp sound traveled to his ears. Ye Qingxuan rolled forward without thinking. The moonlight above him dimmed. It had been covered by white spider webs without him realizing. His original spot had been gouged by an invisible blade. It had been going for his head.
Strands of spider webs hung in the air. He did not know where they came from, but they hovered in the wind, quietly covering everything.
Ye Qingxuan’s head shot up. The giant spider mother behind the crack in the wall had disappeared. All that remained was the strands of webs falling to the ground like snow. However, they carried chilling murderous intent.
Shadows that the moonlight could not shine onto began writhing like living creatures. Endless streams of tiny spiders climbed out and flowed forward.
A huge and oddly-shaped shadow had appeared above the empty wall without him realizing. There was nothing there but when the moonlight shone upon it, it cast a menacing and dim shadow.
There was something there!
267 Elegy of the Crow
It was as if a giant beast had quietly ‘seeped’ from the wall. Sensing Ye Qingxuan’s gaze, it looked down. One of its compound eyes lit up. And so rock-like material and color began spreading under the path of its gaze—the fossilizing gaze! This spider mother had the slight bloodline of the stone statue demon!
The moonlight struggled to maintain equilibrium. Where it met the gaze, powder would fall down. It was the dust bloated after turning to stone. Broken noises continuously came from the spider. The youth could vaguely see the menacing shadow of the spider slowly raise two pincers.
“This is kind of difficult.” Ye Qingxuan rolled his stiff neck and gripped his cane. “It’s challenging!”
Boom!
-
Three minutes later, Ye Qingxuan was running for his life in the dead-silent street. The giant building behind him was covered in spider webs. Countless spiders rushed in all directions like a flood. They passed through some other demon nest, causing a commotion.
The guy who had started all this was squatting in a tight corner, wiping away his sweat. He let out a sigh of relief as he watched the chaos in the distance. As expected, he could not beat it!
He sighed. Once again, this strengthened his decision to take shortcuts and use tricks whenever possible and never fight face-to-face! Ever since the infamous Vengeful Spirit debuted, he had never fought straightforwardly. He had always relied on despicable tricks. He could not help it. His actual abilities were not enough.
Using tricks was more fun too; it was less troublesome. He just set it off and everything was fine!
Sighing, he caressed his cane. The gem Jiu Xiao Huan Pei had been sullied. It was ruined in his hands. He could only awaken its true strength when he became an official musician. A hat could contain so much music theory. Ye Qingxuan believed that the Ye family had put some good stuff into the instrument as well.
He did not need powerful scores like “Guangling Zhixi” or “Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute,” but there should at least be “Changmen Yuan,” right? There should be at least two or three copies of trademark Modifications scores too.
Ye Qingxuan felt much better from fantasizing about the impossible but beautiful future. But soon, a caw sounded again, shattering the silence. Furrowing his brows, Ye Qingxuan looked up slowly. On the withered tree above his head was a giant black crow. It was staring at him and screaming, attracting all the surrounding demons over.
This was how they lived. The crow could eat his decaying flesh after the demons killed him. Unfortunately, the demons living in surrounding neighborhoods were either attracted by the commotion caused by the spiders or were hiding in fear.
“Caw! Caw!” Seeing that no one was responding, the crow panicked. It cried louder, “Caw caw!”
Still, no one came. The only sound in the silence was the youth’s sympathetic whistling. He rose slowly and walked over, an eerie smile on his lips.
“Caw caw caw!” The crow tried to fly away, but Ye Qingxuan’s off-handed frost r
ay froze its wings together. It dropped to the ground and cried pitifully while curling up in a corner. Sadly, all cries for help were useless. The youth’s black shadow swallowed it. His smile was cold.
“You like to scream, huh?” After thinking for a bit, Ye Qingxuan pulled some ropes from his waist. Tugging it, he smiled in pleasure. “Then I’ll let you scream some more.”
Five minutes later, the tortured and damaged crow was tied up and hanging from the youth’s cane. It trembled as it swung side to side.
Two mussed feathers fell amidst the cold drizzle. It looked so pitiful but the crow was much more obedient now. It knew when to scream and when to shut up.
“No wonder they say crows bully the weak and fear the strong.” Ye Qingxuan sneered. He strode into an alley while holding the bird.
When he found a dead alley he liked, he hung the crow on the wall. After preparing everything, he pulled some beast traps out of his bag, placing them all over. Finally, he wiped his sweat in satisfaction. He looked up at the trembling crow and began hitting it with his cane.
“Scream! Hurry and scream! No one’s gonna save you even if you scream your throat out!”
And so the crow began to scream under the immoral torture. It did not scream stupid things like “Your throat out! Your throat out!” but it did have some effect. When Ye Qingxuan heard scattered footsteps from the distance, he hid into the shadows, gripping the ‘trick’ Jiu Xiao Huan Pei. He was happily waiting for the prey to fall into his trap.
-
Today truly was the day of misfortune for crows in Avalon’s Shadow. They used to be so loved, but today they were being hunted cruelly. A shameless black shadow was searching for these poor fellows and tying them up one by one. He would lure demons into his trap and then destroy them all. If he killed a crow, he would switch to another one. If the second one died, he would get a third.
In a few short areas, all the crows of South Buck had become victims. They had practically all died in this guy’s hands. The demons were confused too when they rushed forward at the signal only to find a seductively tied up crow. And then they would get hit in the back of the head.
Boom! Another primate demon fell to the ground. Before the shaking crow, Ye Qingxuan expertly pulled out his knife and slit the demon to let out the blood. After collecting the most valuable material, he kicked the thing into the sewer without hesitation.
After accumulating enough, he used one-time moonlight to purify them all!
The most valuable material to a primate demon was the two vertebrae. Ye Qingxuan soaked them in alchemy liquid and stuffed them into his bag. His bag was already filled to the point of bursting now.
Seeing that he had made ten-thousands of pounds in a few short hours, Ye Qingxuan suddenly felt that Avalon’s Shadow was a good place to get rich. He just had to catch some crows. If the demon attracted was too powerful, he could turn around and run, and catch another crow to start over. It was all gain and no pain! Unfortunately, his could not put more in his bag.
After purifying the last group of demons, Ye Qingxuan was tired enough to collapse onto the floor. He had used Moonlight multiple times in one afternoon. Indrah’s Eye took the burden, but he was still mentally exhausted. He decided to take a break and wait for Old Phil to contact him. However, he saw faint mist in the distance when he looked up again.
Stark white fog creeped in from every corner under the eternally-unchanging night. The heavy whiteness swallowed all commotion in its path, causing all to sink into deadly silence. The fog had appeared though there was no water vapor here. It was like the mist that shrouded Avalon in the morning, but it had a slight decaying odor and it swallowed everything.
He could not see his own fingers in the heavy fog. Thunder roared in the distance, resonating faintly.
Ye Qingxuan halted. He studied the white fog heavily. As more surged in, the song that had haunted his ears disappeared as if it had been strangled. The youth shivered at the thought.
Though the song disappeared, he felt that the animosity of this shadowy city had multiplied tenfold or thousand-fold. Each inch of air and earth was filled with disgust and animosity toward outsiders. He could barely even breathe.
“Traitor,” someone spat in the fog. “Traitor…” The voice was old and hoarse. It seemed to be a roar that had traveled from far away and was filled with raw hatred. It repeated over and over, “Traitor…traitor…traitor…”
Ye Qingxuan froze. He subconsciously tugged his hat but the power sleeping within it seemed to have awoken. The fleeting sound grew clearer in his ears. He could hear the unclear yet spiteful murmur. It was a list of all the traitors; it was a declaration filled with hatred.
“Guinevere, Gawain, Percival…and Merlin. Merlin, you clown, you b*tch, demon…” The voice was filled with deep-rooted wildness and fury. “Traitors…all traitors…they’re all traitors!”
Ye Qingxuan felt a chill to the bone as he listened. To be honest, he did not want to know who was talking, but he could not help but suspect the undead king sleeping in the palace.
“Arthur, what exactly did you all do?” he muttered to himself, not daring to think. Perhaps the Shaman was right. Some secrets were too dirty and should sleep in darkness for eternity. Brashly going after them would lead oneself into danger.
In the few short hours, he had thought that he was getting familiar with Avalon’s Shadow, but now it was unbelievably unfamiliar now.
He could not sit here and wait. Even here, he could feel the breath of danger sweep past him. It was obvious that the closer he was to uptown, the more dangerous it would be.
After Avalon’s Shadow was covered in fog, it had transformed into an entirely different place.
He began packing immediately, throwing away everything unnecessary. With a lighter load, he walked quickly toward the city gate. He could not help but let out a breath of relief after brushing past the dangerous aura. He sped up but suddenly, he halted.
All was unclear in the silent fog. He could only see a few meters ahead, no matter how many Revelations scores he used. This was the limit.
Gazing around, he looked at the city’s serene silhouette in the fog. It was silent and cold as always. There was nothing wrong. But for some reason, he had a bad premonition.
“Is it my mind playing tricks?”
268 Honest and Open
“Is it my mind playing tricks?”
After hesitating, he took a few coins out of his pocket. They were pure silver coins carved with tiny music notes. He had stayed up all night making them to test the paths in this dangerous place but had, not used them yet.
Now he tossed one coin forward. It created a soft arc of light in the air like a lantern. Landing on the ground, it rolled on the crumbled stones and stopped moving. The light on the coin extinguished but nothing happened.
He tossed another one. It landed before the previous coin. Rolling forward, it lit up and then extinguished. All was silent still. He tossed yet another one but still, nothing happened.
Satisfied, Ye Qingxuan nodded. He turned around and walked without any regret.
He should have decided early on that if this place made him feel unsafe, it was either paranoia or he had detected something subconsciously. Either way, it was better to take a safe path than putting in all his effort to test things. However, after three steps, a sigh came from behind him. And then someone soared toward him.
Ye Qingxuan dove forward without looking back, and rolled on the ground. He felt a metallic hand brush past him and slam onto the table, flattening a large mass of stone and wreckage.
He looked back as he rolled and saw a strange figure appear gradually beside the silver coins. It looked like the average stray that he had seen in the Jianlan Underground Palace. It had a bony face and long and thin limbs, like steel wires coiled around a skeleton.
However, this guy was unbelievably long. Just squatting on the ground like a dog, it was already two meters tall. Other than two long and narrow arms, it also had s
even other arms of different lengths and shapes.
The youth felt goosebumps all over after seeing it clearly.
This *sshole had been sitting on the ground, waiting for Ye Qingxuan to walk over him unknowingly, then give him a warm hug. And then Ye Qingxuan would be shattered. But who had hidden it?
Ye Qingxuan had tested three times without finding anything weird. This was too scary. Even an expert at the School of Illusions would reveal some flaws under this type of targeted test.
He did not have any time to think. While rolling, he heard a noise under the stone. It was as if there was a pot of bubbling stew under the stone tiles. Strange bubbles kept appearing with a string of popping sounds. He raised a hand cautiously and pressed down.
Boom! The shaking Sigh. The stone tiles shattered instantly as the terrifying shaking lifted all the surrounding tiles. Ye Qingxuan had been propelled to the air too.
In the air, he felt that polluted blood was spewing from under the stone. He had killed the demons that had been called over at their most fragile state.
An ear-splitting scream followed. A hysterical melody rang out of thin air. The violin wailed, faintly freezing the air. An eerie deep-rooted chill spread out. First, it was the School of Illusions, then Revelations, and now it was Modifications?
Ye Qingxuan had no time to think further. He pressed his chest and unleashed the music score sealed onto his jacket. The gentle melody rang out!
Abraham had been worried for his safety when he had decided to jump into the quagmire of downtown a few months ago. He had sealed the score Tranquility into this jacket.
After all this time, Ye Qingxuan would have forgotten about this awesome thing if not for this life-or-death situation.
Tranquility was known as the trademark Resonance level score of the School of Abstinence. It was also proof that Abstinence could counter the other six schools. Once activated, everything in a ten meter radius would become a silent aether zone for half a minute. During this time, the aether would reject calls of any music score. Nothing lower than the Resonance level would work.