Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  “Sick?” The young man blanched. “What sickness? You’re my servant so do you know who I am?”

  “Young Master, your name is Ye Qingxuan!” the Indian yelled with all his might as he grabbed the young man’s hand. “Roll up your sleeves and look.”

  The young man looked down and did so. He saw tiny words on his wrist: your name is Ye Qingxuan.

  322 Naica Cave of the Crystals

  Your name is Ye Qingxuan. You will lose a portion of your memory every few days. You should trust A’san. He will take you to your treatment.

  “Ye Qingxuan?” the young man murmured blankly. “That name sounds so familiar. Ye Qingxuan? I’m Ye Qingxuan? I’m an Easterner?” He looked down and saw his reflection with trademark silvery-white hair in the water. His broken memories instantly reconnected. It dawned on him. “Is it…like this?”

  “Yes, Young Master.” Tears of joy appeared in the old Indian man’s eyes. “You finally re-re-remember.”

  Ye Qingxuan was stunned but he embraced A’san. He did not know what to do; there was just the feeling of pain and tension in his heart.

  “Young Master, I’m gravely injured. I might not be able to accompany you anymore,” A’san said in Ye Qingxuan’s embrace. “Next, you must be careful about others’ attacks…”

  “A’san, get yourself together!” Ye Qingxuan could not help but panic. “I—What should I do?”

  “Go to Auschwitz,” A’san exclaimed with his last ounce of strength while grasping Ye Qingxuan’s hand. “Go to Auschwitz and find your father!”

  “Father?” Ye Qingxuan was stunned.

  “Yes, your father. His name is,” A’san choked out, “is…Old Phil…Old Phil Wang!”

  Ye Qingxuan nodded with tears in his eyes. But soon, he felt something was wrong. He asked, “A’san, why is my father’s surname Wang?”

  “Because…because…” A’san’s mouth opened and closed with difficulty. Then his expression slacked and his breath cut off. His hand fell from Ye Qingxuan’s; his pulse and heartbeat stopped. He was dead.

  “A’san? A’san!” Ye Qingxuan shook his shoulders forcefully but no one replied. He sobbed and screamed but A’san was forever gone. After a long time, the lifeboat floated to a shore. The crying young man stumbled onto the shore and took one last glance at A’san who was on the boat.

  “I-I’ll take revenge for you,” he sobbed. Wiping away his tears, he turned and left.

  After a while, A’san, who was long dead, climbed up on the boat. He massaged his neck and sighed. “Ah, the tears were so tragic. I should’ve just said that I was your father. Ah, would that be too sad?” With that, A’san jumped off from the boat and watched as ‘Ye Qingxuan’ faded into the distance. He waved. “Safe travels, ‘Ye Qingxuan’!” Seeing his determination as he traveled westward to Auschwitz, his journey must be very interesting!

  -

  According to the original plan, Ye Qingxuan needed to get there within one month. After the ship landed, he needed to take the carriage train for five days and walk for half a month across valleys and mountains. In the end, he would find the grouping area in the barren land. Simply put, he would get there when he had no other place to go. That was what he was supposed to do.

  But Ye Qingxuan refused.

  Since he knew that everyone was targeting him, he definitely would not keep traveling on that dead end. Why not let Simon forge on under his name? After all, Auschwitz was not going to move. Ye Qingxuan could go in a circle and take it slowly.

  -

  Six days later, a hunter on horseback pointed deep into the mountains for the youth who was still dressed as an Indian. “Go around this and keep going for two hours and you’ll be there.”

  The youth nodded. He pulled two pieces of paper money and offered them. The hunter thought for a moment and rejected it. Instead, he pointed at the youth’s ring. “I want this.”

  “Sorry, I can’t give you that.” Ye Qingxuan chuckled. Tucking the money into the saddle, he turned to leave.

  Two steps later, the hunter was in front of him, blocking him with the horse. Looking down, he repeated, “I want this.” This time, he pointed at him with a dagger. Sometimes, in these faraway mountains, the line between hunters and robbers was very blurred.

  Faced with the blade, the emotionless youth smiled after a short pause. “Good, I like this too. I want this one.”

  One minute later, the youth was on horseback with a dagger, humming a tune from Avalon as he restarted his journey. Two hours later, Ye Qingxuan came to the big conclusion that horseback riding was hard. He had used a Mind score to make the horse cooperate but the lower half of his body was practically numb. If he did not have the Governor to help support his body, he would have probably slid down from the jolting horse.

  Thankfully the hunter had provided a good horse. Otherwise, all the brambles and obstacles on the road would probably take his life. Ye Qingxuan had learned his lesson: he should never overestimate his physical strength, especially since he was too weak to even run a marathon.

  But he somehow reached the destination. The chestnut horse snorted and stopped in place, refusing to go forward. Before them, the dense forest had disappeared. The vegetation was sparse and the black dirt looked as if it was crystallizing. The signs grew stronger further in. The crystallization of dirt and dust spanned a few hundred miles in radius.

  This was a flat plain between the hills. He could practically see crystal crumbles scattered on the ground. In the middle was a giant cave. The black cave seemed bottomless. He could only see huge overlapping crystals. Just as fungi grew in a damp tree hole, translucent and beautiful crystals grew here.

  He tossed a lantern into the darkness. The dim light fell onto the humongous crystals and created magnificent reflections. The cave instantly became a multicolored dreamscape. But the light was quickly extinguished and the cave fell into still darkness again.

  “It’s been centuries. Has the environment not recovered yet? The aether is still so dense and messy. It’s like a red zone…”

  Ye Qingxuan stood before the cave. Looking around the barren territory, he sighed. He peered into the crystal cave, his eyes growing solemn. “It’s our first meeting but I’ve heard much about you, Naica Cave of the Crystals.”

  This was where the natural catastrophe Diamond Snake was killed by the Silent Authority centuries ago. At that time, this was not the hinterland of the human world yet. Within the chaotic red zone, waves of beasts and natural catastrophes fought. The Diamond Snake built its nest here. After that, grandmasters from the Sacred City came to kill it.

  The place turned into this state after that. Nothing grew for hundreds of years. There was not even a worm or caterpillar within the radius of a few dozen miles. This was the legendary battlefield relic between the mountains and forest. There was no life here.

  Other than exploratory musicians who studied history and geography, no one else cared about this place. And other than the fact that the Silent Authority would periodically survey this place through the Sacred City Hall, it was practically forgotten by the world.

  If Ye Qingxuan did not flip through Abraham’s archive and the school’s library, he would not know that there was such a place near his path. Since it was along the way, he decided to come take a look.

  After all, someone was taking the brunt for him, so it wasn’t a problem for him to ‘vacation’ and do some archeological digging, right? Thinking like this, Ye Qingxuan pulled out a pendant to measure depth and tossed it into the dark cave. He did not feel the weight lighten until the rope was almost to the end.

  “Three hundred and seventy meters?” Ye Qingxuan eyed the scale and started to pull the pendant back. When he retracted it, he realized that the pendant was actually severed by the sharp crystals halfway down. The cave was actually much deeper.

  “How deep is it actually?” Ye Qingxuan sighed. He nailed the rope on and added two protective measures after pulling it tight. He adjusted the aether ball to the illu
mination mode and hung it at his waist. Then he started going down.

  The fluorescent light illuminated the colorful crystals. They looked like mirrors that led into an inhuman world. He stopped to rest many times along the way. Even with the Governor supporting him, he was close to giving up and going back several times. However, he gritted his teeth and forged on.

  Unfortunately, the rope was used up before he got to the bottom. He stepped on the wall of the crystal cave and stared blankly into the darkness below him. Under the aether ball’s illumination, the layers of gorgeous light grew like a forest.

  They had stood there silently for hundreds of years, growing slowly as they absorbed the chaotic aether. It probably took a few decades to grow one inch.

  After short hesitation, Ye Qingxuan let go of the rope. He stood on a crystal a few meters wide and walked into the center of the cave. Below him was bottomless darkness. Above him was a sliver of weak light.

  All was silent; there was no sound at all.

  It was as if he had left the world. The bottom of this cave probably led to the underworld of legends. Loneliness and fear were magnified here. Explorers would most likely breakdown from their fear before they landed and leave this inhuman place. Especially because…

  Ye Qingxuan glanced at the aether ball in his hand. Its light was blinding and he could see countless tiny waves crashing against each other, struggling to break free from the prison. It was its reflection of the outer aetheric environment.

  If this was overly still and eerie for regular people, this place was the convergence of radiance and fury for musicians. The chaotic music theory remaining in the crystals would randomly ripple and distort the environment. This was caused when the Diamond Snake was killed.

  Just like the Jianlan Underground Palace, the material and aether world overlapped here, creating a strange realm. However, this place was not as stable as the Jianlan Underground Palace; it was filled with chaos. If Ye Qingxuan was not an official musician and did not have a deep understanding of music theory, he would probably suffocate here.

  “It’s been so many years but there are still remains of large-scale reverberations?”

  323 Are You Starving?

  Under the Eye of Silence, disorganized lights and ripples flashed through the dark cave constantly. Every crystal was like a piano key that was silently playing a melody. He could see all the way to the sky from the abyss. The war had ended centuries ago but the song still hung over the battlefield. It was the scars left in the aether by the glorious battle.

  Ye Qingxuan leaned against the wall and sat on a jutting crystal. He stared at the radiant glow. Compared to such a large relic, humanity was as insignificant as dust.

  “Abandon oneself,” Ye Qingxuan murmured as he pondered.

  The core of the School of Abstinence was the construction of order and disruption of nature. He felt that he might be able to find some inspiration in this chaotic aether environment. However, he realized he was too idealistic after he came here.

  Bolero’s perception threads dissipated the moment they extended from his fingertips. The water vapor was too fragile and could not explore in this type of environment at all. He could only change the medium.

  He slit his finger. A strand of blood floated out and spread in all directions, reflecting the pale moonlight. The moonlight spread as well, rippling like water when touched by stray aether currents.

  Next, a heartbeat sounded in the darkness. The dust began rippling in the air. They floated and danced. Called forth by the heartbeat, they formed various small rings. They gradually enlarged and enveloped Ye Qingxuan.

  Within the dust rings, the restless aether seemed to enter a stable white zone. They no longer crashed or changed and instead grew still. The small dust rings enlarged to about five meters in diameter before bursting like a bubble.

  Ye Qingxuan’s heart beat furiously and his expression twisted. After a short pause, the dust rings began to spread again. He was trying to create a zone of stable music theory within this restless environment. After dozens of attempts, he finally managed to maintain a range of five meters.

  Within that range, all was calm, even if all was in turmoil outside of it. Perspiration began beading on Ye Qingxuan’s forehead. If he did not have his sub-originator, he definitely would not dare to mess around in a black zone-like place. However, this was a rare opportunity so there was no reason why he shouldn’t try creating a stable white zone.

  Establish order, disrupt the nature, and create music theory…these were the essences of the School of Abstinence. There was no better way to grasp the essence than personally experiencing it. However, the pressure was so heavy it felt like he was suffocating. It was too much to manage.

  In the silence, Ye Qingxuan could only hear his heavy breathing and his tired heartbeat. Each beat felt like it carried a burden of a thousand tons. It took a long time before he was slightly accustomed to the giant pressure.

  He slowly took out some food and nibbled at it. The rest went back into his pocket. He was already ready to fight a long war. He would not leave unless he discovered something.

  Three days later, Ye Qingxuan climbed out of the black hole. His face was white and his vision blackened occasionally.

  He was well-prepared but he had forgotten one thing. Unless he had special containers, preserving food was a joke in such a chaotic environment. Six hours after he had descended, he discovered that all his food had all molded, dried out, or changed color. A portion had no changes but Ye Qingxuan did not dare eat them. So he starved for two days. And did not discover anything.

  Actually, his understanding of the School of Abstinence and aether had both increased but he made no progress with the question about “abandoning oneself.” Instead, he had almost “abandoned” himself in this giant ditch.

  He was starving. If he did not have the help from the Governor, he would not be able to climb up. Right now, Ye Qingxuan was the definition of “hunger” and “sad.” He even had the urge to eat dirt. An even sadder fact was that the horse he had tied to the tree had run away too.

  Staring at the gnawed rope, Ye Qingxuan wanted to die.

  “Oh heavens! Such hatred! I have to starve and…” The youth with a turban lamented to the sky. His sad cries traveled countless miles and mixed with the howls of wolves. It was indescribably pitiful.

  -

  “Wolves?” Beside the fire, Donald subconsciously gripped the hilt of his sword. However, he quickly relaxed.

  Dozens of carriages surrounded a notch in the mountain and set up a camp around the various bonfires. The merchants had traveled for the entire day. Now, they were holed up inside their tents and fell asleep instantly.

  Only some burly men were still sitting in the carriages and conversing casually. Beside them, oiled crossbows shone. There were even some alchemist bows. Usually, these illegal items would not appear in caravans. However, who really cared about laws in these barren places? The robbers did not. For their own safety, the merchants did not care either.

  “Boss, I told Rabbit to set all the traps,” a muscular man with a sword said beside the fire. “Those guys who want to come play at midnight need to worry about their life first. But to be honest, I kind of wish they’ll come.”

  “Don’t say that.” Donald shook his head. “It’s unlucky.”

  “Best to be careful, right?” The man laughed, playing along.

  Donald did not reply. Looking at the steel basin hanging above the fire, he thought for a bit and tossed some wild vegetables in. The stew inside the basin bubbled and emanated a smell that was not exactly delicious. It was good enough to have food in the wilderness. Who cared about the details?

  The stew was soon close to boiling. However, the basin suddenly started shaking as if it was shivering. An earthquake?

  No…

  Donald’s expression changed. He pressed his ear to the ground. “It’s a horse.” Before he finished speaking, a stallion neighed in the distance. It was followed by
a sharp whistle but it stopped as suddenly as it began.

  The muscular man jumped up from the bonfire. “Boss, there’s a situation!”

  Donald rose. He wished he could push this guy who had jinxed it into the fire. “No sh*t!”

  The camp soon fell into unrest. Everyone who could fight gathered with their swords, daggers, and crossbows. They stared nervously at the torchlight in the distance and the approaching caravan. Someone was yelling enthusiastically in the wind.

  “Whoever is there, please stop!” Donald stood up and unsheathed his sword. “If you want money, we can manage to give you enough for a drink. We’re all out here trying to survive. Can’t we help each other out?”

  The caravan stopped not too far away. The distance was enough for a charge and assault. They could see people unsheathing their sabers and scraping them against their saddles. The sound was grating.

  “How much money?” a raspy voice asked. “How much money to buy your lives?”

  Donald’s face changed. He looked back at the pale merchants behind him. He turned around said a sizeable sum. The leader laughed hoarsely.

  Someone nudged a horse forward until he was just outside the crossbows’ range and tossed something in. The defense group was stunned. They quickly retreated but the thing rolled in the air, fell within the illuminated area, and rolled to Donald’s feet.

  It was a head.

  “Rabbit?” He recognized his companion, as well as the whistle that he was not able to take out from his mouth. The horse had walked past him and cleanly beheaded him. There was no pain on his face.

  “That money isn’t enough at all. Keep it for your chickens,” the raspy voice said lightly. The bandits guffawed. “Think a bit more and tell me another number.”

  Gritting his teeth, Donald looked back at the merchants.

  “We can’t give more.” The lead merchant’s face was white as paper. “We already won’t have any profits and we all came with debts. We hired you so you have to help us and defeat them…”