Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  The music notes flashing on Hades’ Door had suddenly started extinguishing. It was as if they had been poking holes into rock for a long time and finally pierced through the surface layer. He thought the next step would be even more difficult but then he realized that the stone was hollow…

  “Is it actually low-quality?”

  347 Good Star

  Ye Qingxuan froze in place. He gaped at Hades’ Door. It seemed that no one had been regularly maintaining it through the centuries. The music theory array within it had actually eroded by itself and fell apart quickly with their outside pressure. The speed was unbelievable. As Hades’ Door broke down, mournful cracking sounds began one after another. The wildly advancing clay puppet battalion froze in place. They quickly began to melt and cave in, returning to the mud and disappearing.

  “It’s over?”

  “We won!”

  “They’re outdated puppets. They have a lot of tricks but they’re all too rigid. They’re not threatening anymore once you understand the pattern, no matter how large the quantity is.”

  “Is the Underground Palace open?”

  Everyone started talking at once. They surged to the door, rubbing their hands in anticipation to start exploring again.

  “Wait! Don’t rush.” Ye Qingxuan stopped them, still not feeling exactly right. “Don’t you guys think something’s wrong?” Amidst the noise, some grew serious and started pondering. Others thought that Ye Qingxuan was just scaring them and started interrogating him. He could not reply either. He did not know what the problem was. Even the bad premonition was just a strange feeling.

  The door opened gradually amidst rumbles. Dust fell down in clumps onto his hair, shocking him from his thoughts. Stunned, Ye Qingxuan turned around and furrowed his brows. “Who opened the door?”

  No one replied.

  Before the door, Colt and Torre stared back at each other. They exchanged glances. Suddenly understanding something, their faces changed dramatically, turning stark white. No one had opened the door. This meant that someone had pushed the door open from the other side!

  “Oh, Tityrus,” someone sang hoarsely from the solid darkness behind the door.

  A foul miasma spread out. A tall withered figure limped forward. The shackles on his legs dragged on the ground with grating clanks. The chains seemed to be red-hot. Sparks flew as they scraped against the ground.

  “Tityrus!” the pained voice sang hoarsely. “You, ‘neath a broad beech-canopy reclining, on the slender oat rehearse your silvan ditties.”

  In the darkness, the hunched figure slowly straightened up. The creaking of joints sounded painful like cracked wood. He stepped into the palace outside the door. Firelight shone and illuminated his face. The shackles on his feet were still singing painfully.

  “Look,” they sang. “I from my sweet fields, and home’s familiar bounds, even now depart. Exiled from home am I; while, Tityrus, you sit careless in the shade!”

  When the dim flickering firelight illuminated the figure’s face, everyone shivered. It was a withered skeleton. It walked through the darkness and crossed Hades’ Door, stepping into the grave palace. The bone-dry skeleton still wore a pure white robe. The silver thread tattoos had broken down but he was still abnormally solemn. Even if he was now a shackled prisoner.

  Now, everyone realized that there was nothing on his neck. He was holding his skull in his right hand. Someone had poured melted gold into his mouth, twisting his face into something menacing and ugly. However, his lips were still open, chewing on the dark gold and singing The Eclogues.

  He gripped a sacred and solemn scepter in his left hand. The scepter thudded on the ground with a sonorous sound like a whip cracking in everyone’s hearts. Waves crashed in the aether sea the moment he stepped from Hades’ Door and shook along with his hoarse singing.

  It finally dawned on Ye Qingxuan why it was so easy to break Hades’ Door. The power source was connected to this skeleton!

  He could see through the Eye of Silence that countless strands of gold light extended from the entire Underground Palace and wrapped around the skeleton. That was the music theory that should have been on Hades’ Door. Now, this skeleton was the core of the array and the controller of Hades’ Door!

  It did not even have reinforcement but it was terrifying enough. It was a complete…

  “A saint’s remains!” someone yelped and stumbled back, finally recognizing it. “Those maniacs! Those Romulusians-they…they turned a saint’s remains…into that thing!”

  This saint’s remains that had been sealed for centuries now dragged his shackles forward. The skull singing in his hand seemed to smirk. Flames of fury burned in his eyes. He opened his mouth and roared soundlessly. The scepter slammed down.

  Boom! There was a rumble like a mountain crashing down. Mud fell to the ground like an endless waterfall. Under the sound of mud bubbling and boiling, countless burly clay warriors walked out again. The hundreds upon thousands of clay warriors held square shields and spears. Like soldiers from Hell, they knelt in the palace and bowed to the ‘prisoner’ who had walked out of Hades’ Door, offering him pure respect. They were welcoming their ruler back!

  “Their ruler…I see!” As if struck by lightning, Ye Qingxuan’s muddled thoughts suddenly cleared. He finally realized what was wrong.

  The Romulusian formation contained everything they needed, from lancers, javelin-wielders, warriors with shields and swords, to chariots. Only one thing was missing. This entire time, they had used set processes and modes to chase away invaders but they lacked their leader and commander. How could an army without a commander fight to their full strength?

  Now, Ye Qingxuan finally realized why it was so easy to decode Hades’ Door.

  This was probably a trick the dead Romulusians had designed! When the core of Hades’ Door decided pure defense was unable to fight off the invaders, the music theory would break off and guide all the power into the saint’s remains behind the door.

  Next, the invaders would be celebrating ecstatically, thinking they had succeeded. At that time, the saint’s remains would walk through and lead the endless Romulusian formation into a massacre! It was all a trick! The deceit was pure evil!

  Ye Qingxuan felt numb. Those dead Romulusians had really put everything into keeping their dead safe from outsiders. But what should they do now?

  Those that could be acknowledged as a saint were undoubtedly powerful musicians who were influential in the material world and had status in the aether world. Their power in the material world would dissipate once a saint had fallen but their scepter would still remain in the aether world.

  This meant that this corpse before them was at least a Scepter grandmaster! He had also covered this underground palace with an alchemy array, continuously supplying Hades’ Door with inexhaustible power.

  In Ye Qingxuan’s eyes, this skeleton was a giant vortex. Other than the skull shining like the sun in his right hand, the ‘scepter’ in his left hand was also covered in complex music theory. This was his symphony of predestination! This was the unique music score the saint had used all his soul and will to write before his death!

  Under everyone’s stares, the saint straightened and slowly raised the cracked scepter. A majestic horn sounded out of thin air. A holy realm was about to descend.

  At that moment, Ye Qingxuan slammed his cane down. Jiu Xiao Huan Pei rang with a cold and sharp sound. Dozens of silver nails shot out of his bag. Countless shackles wove together in the air, forming a net and tightening. It locked the saint in place.

  Cracks appeared on the shackles instantly. Ye Qingxuan felt as if he was restricting an active volcano rather than a dead object. The strength of the anti-shock was enough to make his vision go black. Blood seeped from the corner of his lips. The silver nails shooting toward the saint pulverized silently; the shackles fell apart.

  Ye Qingxuan was not trying to restrain a mere body. He was fighting against the entire realm that had descended from the aethe
r wall—the miraculous power that had been called forth by the symphony of predestination.

  It was light fighting against the entire Avalon’s Shadow…

  It was as laughable and incredulous as an ant trying to stop a car.

  At this moment, everyone finally realized what they were facing. There was no need for hesitation. There was no need for yelling. There was no need for communication.

  At this moment, everyone awakened their instruments in unison and cast their most destructive music scores at the skeleton! If they were still in a daze and allowed this guy to finish expanding his scepter, it would be a massacre… They could imagine hundreds of ways to die!

  For a third or fourth level musician to fight against a saint in his territory was as useless as a chicken trying to fight the butcher on the chopping board. No matter how quickly the chicken waved its claws, it was nothing against the butcher’s knife. So if they wanted a chance to live, they had to do it before getting placed on the chopping board!

  Frantic music scores sounded continuously in an instant. Fierce melodies collided, resonating with the aether sea, and performing the blazing light of destruction.

  The earth spat out fire, lightning cracked… Countless streams of liquid fire descended from the sky amidst the rumbling, enveloping the eerie saint.

  348 The Hole of Destruction and the Holy Spirit’s Incarnate

  Ye Qingxuan observed the aether sea and saw countless wild waves. Rays of light shot out like ripples in a starry sky. They rose, exploded, extinguished, and formed an unobservable black territory. The explosions were swallowed by the darkness. All sound became unclear and strange. However, a speck of light appeared. Someone sang The Eclogues hoarsely, “O traveler from afar, ‘twas a god vouchsafed this ease to us…”

  Amidst the clanking of chains, the burning skull was lifted. Its mouth was filled with melted gold but it continued to sing loudly in the darkness. “See how it totters-the world’s orbed might; Earth and wide ocean, and the vault profound; All, see, enraptured of the coming time!”

  Thus, the aether sea was in turmoil. The radiant song that had recorded years of glory awoke the power sleeping within the aether world. It passed through the nine levels of the aether sea and fell upon the material world. A blazing sun ascended. It shone with boundless radiance. This was the Romulusian Empire’s light of glory!

  Darkness shattered the moment his scepter was ignited. The aether sea was no longer in upheaval. All chaos returned to serenity; all aether was singing for the empire’s radiant glory!

  All other music scores stopped abruptly. The musicians who had reached the Resonance level paled, their organs close to failing. Their sound of hearts had been hit by the Romulusian saint’s symphony of predestination and almost shattered.

  It was worse for the official musicians who had not finished the sublimation of their heart of sounds. Just the aftershock was enough to completely break them down. Black blood seeped from the noses and mouths of those who were still standing. They suffered grave internal injuries.

  In reality, those who had not collapsed from directly facing a Scepter were already considered elites of the group. Amongst them, Ye Qingxuan was in the best state. He was only an official musician, but his heart was the sub-originator created by the Avalonian enchantment. He had made the sub-originator independent from the outside world after understanding natural interference. Thus, he was affected the least.

  However, the situation at hand was worse than worse. Ye Qingxuan did not know who the saint was but he was definitely a fervent protector of Romulus to sing of Romulus’s former glory in his symphony of predestination.

  Blessed by the territory, everything that had fallen now regained their luster. The most obvious were the clay puppet warriors… Under the light, they upgraded from dead objects and transformed into giants. They were covered in dragon scale armor and held weapons shrouded in lightning and fire. They seemed to be blessed by a god.

  Countless breaths overlapped. Like the muffled wind before a thunderstorm, the destructive power of wind and lightning brewed within. Under the light, they became god’s messengers and an immortal army.

  As the saint raised the scepter, the almost-legendary army under the dazzling light yelled in the ancient language and advanced toward the invaders.

  The survivors paled considerably. This army was enough to kill all of them, let alone the skeleton in the center. Under the symphony of predestination’s pressure, the majority of them could no longer fight. If they could not orchestrate a decent attack, it was only a matter of time before they were defeated.

  The gears in Ye Qingxuan’s brain spun as his expression darkened. Originally, his worst case scenario was the entire underground palace being pulled into the aether world. However, this situation was not much better. Territory from the aether world covered the material world, changing the rules and physics. They were reduced to ants under the scepter.

  Scepter…scepter…wait, why did the supervising grandmasters not come out yet? Were they waiting for these young elite musicians to all die and be buried in this palace before they came and avenged their deaths? Or did they think the musicians could solve this crisis? If that was the case…

  Ye Qingxuan furrowed his brows. He pushed back against the heavy light with difficulty and looked back at Colt. The man’s expression was calm under the heavy pressure. He did not seem to feel any fear.

  Sensing Ye Qingxuan’s gaze, he smiled mysteriously. Twisting his ring, he quietly put several layers of shields on Ye Qingxuan. Then he stepped back soundlessly and hid into the crowd. Before Ye Qingxuan could react, there was a mind-numbing wail.

  Spears! Spears from the Romulusian formation!

  Countless spears fell from the sky. Like lightning striking a tree, they crashed down toward the musicians. They grouped in the sky and, in the end, created a terrifying shadow.

  The shadow was shirtless. His muscles knotted and he slammed the long spear made of countless lightning streaks toward the ground! This was the Father of Lightning from Romulusian legends.

  Scholars had verified long ago that all Romulusian gods were idols created by average people and priests. Their gods did not exist but when the shadow appeared in the palace, it still brought about the tremendous pressure of a god’s descent.

  Ye Qingxuan felt like he was getting struck by lightning even before the electric spears fell. His hair stood up straight and his skin stung; he was almost losing control.

  Supported by both Hades’ Door and the Scepter of Glory, the Romulusian formation had become a true battle machine. The mere throwing of spears could evaporate all obstacles. They could even destroy city walls so what were flesh bodies to them?

  That instant, Ye Qingxuan lifted the brim of his hat, preparing to activate Holy. However, the next instant, he felt a large vortex open abruptly in the calm aether sea. The source of the vortex was amongst the musicians. Right before the tip of the lightning spear, a musician clad in a scarlet robe lifted the amber ring on his hand and quietly chanted a spell.

  Next, a black hole opened in thin air.

  Strength also from the depths of the aether world was called forth, forming a giant vortex in the air. It instantly swallowed the boundless electricity. However, it did not dissipate after the electricity disappeared. The vortex remained in the air, radiating with wild attraction, swallowing everything it could touch and transforming them to nothingness.

  Ye Qingxuan could not tell what the thing was made of even with his Eye of Silence. He could only feel that there was another large hole in the aether sea but it was distorted, shattered, and dragged in by the music theory in the vortex. It was neither warm nor cruel; it was like a natural occurrence but everything that it touched was sucked into the blackness.

  It dawned on Ye Qingxuan and coldness spread through his body.

  This was the Hole of Destruction from Modifications! It was known as the product closest to total destruction! It was a destructive music score that imitated the s
igns of the end of the world created by Modifications musicians—the dark vortex that covered the world and swallowed all.

  How courageous must one be to put this thing in one’s ring and take it around everywhere? The slightest careless mistake could destroy a city! And how irresponsible must a senior be to give something like that to a student for protection and let him bring it to a trial?

  Ye Qingxuan had not expected for such talents to be hidden within this group of musicians. His scalp tingled as he tried to keep his body in place, resisting the attraction of the expanding dark vortex.

  The vortex was not caring about the musicians under it either. It was battling against the glorious scepter. Boundless light fought with the blackness, creating murky waves in the aether sea.

  At the center of the formation, the saint stood on a chariot. His eyes were bloody red. Raising his scepter, countless music theories were interwoven, creating dazzling light and pushing back the Hole of Destruction.

  Boom! With a soft sound, the cracked scepter cracked once again. The glorious territory shook violently; the light flickered. In his other hand, the singing skull suddenly opened its eyes. The dark eye sockets stared forward with a soundless command.

  The godly army roared. Unsheathing their swords, they charged! The earth shook.

  In the crowd, the musician controlled the Hole of Destruction with all his might. His face had turned red and was almost swept into the terrifying shaking. “The Hole of Destruction can only exist for one minute! What are you waiting for? To die?!”

  Before he finished, the anxious Sam let out a long breath. “I don’t care anymore!” Gritting his teeth, he decided to ignore his senior’s warnings and pressed down on the Copper Mountain. “Let me have a good time!”

  The Foehn wind whistled. Sam’s body shook and lit up with a halo of light. A ball of light bright as the sun emerged in his chest. Replacing his heart, it sent lava through his veins. Half of his body cracked like a turtle’s shell. One could see his fiery blood through the cracks.