Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  As the saying went, trouble never came alone. Following immediately, terrifying aether waves spread behind them, above them, and even under them. The Revolutionaries had done everything to kill them.

  Four Distortion level musicians!

  In an instant, the garrison and the Silent Authority musicians were on the ground. Now, only they were left again.

  455 Take This

  Blood dyed the entire alley red. Under the pungent odor, the shocking redness and ghastly white ashes created a messy painting on the wall.

  Everything was silent. There was only the sound of blood flowing and bones cracking.

  At the front of the alley, the wraith-like musician in gray stared at Charles and Constantine coldly. However, Charles looked behind him and could not hold back his pleasant surprise.

  “Yezi, you—”

  Yezi? Who was Yezi? And then it dawned on the musician who ‘Yezi’ was… Ye Qingxuan!

  The Ye Qingxuan who had killed six preparatory grandmasters with one blow! It was the young man who had shaken the world recently with his brash actions and the musician that even the Sacred Court could not handle!

  He was instantly nervous. When did Ye Qingxuan get here? And he was so close that in the musician’s daze, he could almost feel the cold breath on the back of his neck.

  The gray-clothed musician looked back instinctively. He gathered all his strength to fight to the death in an instant.

  But when he looked back, he froze. There was nothing there! He had been f*cking tricked!

  Fury instantly took over his expression. But when he turned around again, Charles’ face was right in front of him. As he ran, he used his feet to kick up a broken sword from the puddle of blood. Grasping it, he ran a finger over the blade, cutting down to the bone. The blood remained on the sword and converged into layers of runes under his mind’s control. The six-layered structure had more than four hundred notes. They were all different and yet connected.

  Flow, create, activity, form—these four zones overlapped into one. Something that an alchemist needed days of hard work was created in an instant. His blood seeped into the sword.

  After his music theory path was cut off, Charles became obsessed with mechanics because all he could use was his amateur alchemy and strange ideas that alchemists looked down upon. Even so, he was still shockingly skilled. After being guided and taught by Newton, no one knew Charles had reached this level… He completed the alchemy array within seconds.

  The notes were activated! The blade hummed with a screech! Aether lay on the blade. In the blink of an eye, the blade vibrated thousands and thousands of times, pushing the metal to its limits. But just before it broke apart, the sword in Charles’s hand had gone from trash to a war weapon designed specifically to target musicians. He had replicated the Chainsaw Fraternity’s alchemy technique perfectly. It was the Sighing Sword!

  Charles roared. Using all his strength, he grasped the only chance and stabbed. The sword shook thousands of times. It broke through the levels of shields and was only one inch away from the musician’s chest. Only one inch! And this inch…was like an abyss!

  In an instant, a blurry object emerged from the nothingness. Scales and metal pieces scraped, sparks flying. The gray-clothed musician snorted. He did not even need to look down. With just a thought, the music theory within him transformed. He shattered the frozen blade without touching it. Then he pointed forward. The beasts around him began sucking in aether. Mercury flowed over like liquid metal. It formed a shell that pounced at Charles. It was a mercury python! So long one could not see its end, the python reached out of thin air. Even the air in its path froze. Piercing coldness swept by.

  Charles could not even fight back. He flew backwards. The python restrained him and he instantly lost all feeling. He could only hear his bones creaking under the python.

  The Summoning musician did not even spare him a glance. He walked past Charles for the unconscious Constantine. As he walked, he slowly raised his forefinger. Under the distant yet cold melody, bits of metallic light grouped onto his finger. It was a firefly that looked like metal sand. This tiny firefly without any aether waves had traveled past four walls and three skulls instantly. Now, it was aimed at Constantine.

  The murderous intent was clear.

  “Stop!” Charles tried to roar but he could not utter any sound. He heard his bones cracking joint by joint. His ribs seemed to have already pierced his lungs. There should have been pain but under the terrifying temperature of the python, even the pain was frozen. His flesh shattered like stone.

  Painless death was coming.

  But in this numbness, shattering pain burst from his skull. It swept into all directions like lava. It seemed to want to evaporate his blood, turn his skull into cinder, and burn his sanity into ashes with hellfire.

  The next instant, his eyes were aflame. The dust and illusions were gone, revealing the dazzling yet cold appearance. Some power controlled his body, filling his consciousness. It made him furious, made him roar, made him open his mouth and scream at the python.

  “Get the f*ck away!” It was a not a human’s voice but countless rumbles and noises put together. Thousands of wails and wild laughter from hell fused into one and left his mouth. It was as if hell was shaking!

  Instantly, the coldness and pain disappeared. The mercury python screamed and shot back as if trying to escape into the aether world to save itself. But in the air, it stiffened, crumbled, and turned to dust. His music theory was wiped by the aggression, turning into blank white space. The beastly nature fell apart. The gray-clothed musician trembled and growled in pain. The fireflies at his fingers almost scattered.

  The mercury python was a piece of his consciousness. After being raised for so many years, it had evolved into an aggressive beast. But now, the beastly nature had been defeated. His pieces of consciousness boomeranged back, cutting his sanity like icy knives with extreme pain.

  He roared. Fireflies shot from his fingertips. They cut through the sky with white air waves. They seemed to have transformed from insects into sharp knives, coming for Charles’ skull.

  But then, on his last breath, Charles smiled and raised a finger. “Take this!”

  Water vapor threads floated from his fingers, flying into the distance. It was Bolero! Instantly reaching the sixth measure, thirty-two perception threads came out of Bolero and reached in all directions. They instantly covered the entire street. They let out Charles’ desperate cry in unison.

  “Yezi, save me!”

  The next moment, a moonlight perception thread rose up to the sky. It crossed thousands of miles, sweeping across the air. Instantly, they tangled with the thirty-two strands and became one. The instrument strings that crossed the aether and material world have come from the aether sea!

  Jiu Xiao Huan Pei descended from the sky!

  In that instant, Jiu Xiao Huan Pei followed the perception threads and unfolded inside Charles. The pure music theory opened up. It flowed with his blood and followed the rhythm of his breaths. Countless complex music notes bloomed. They wove together and grew, forming a music score in Charles’ empty body.

  It formed an authentic…Heaven Ladder! The resonance had begun!

  Charles instantly closed his eyes.

  Murderous moonlight lit up from his eyes.

  Ye Qingxuan opened his eyes.

  456 Dreamland

  Instantly, the four musicians sensed the rapidly rising aether waves on Charles’s body. Student, Rhythm, Musician…he soon broke through the Barrier of Knowledge, Resonance, Disturbance… A spirit that was not his awakened in his eyes. The musicians felt a sense of danger and attacked at once!

  A magnetic field appeared from the aether. They were tangent to each other and sparked with lightning. Beastly nature burst from thin air. It transformed into a six-eyed giant and roared.

  Music theory crisscrossed. It sealed off the outside world with a disturbing nature. Air waves crashed, creating a vacuum. Formless poison
rose up from thousands of bacteria strains. They formed spores and shot into all directions…

  Time seemed to slow. The entire world slowed before the quickly operating consciousness. In the frozen world, Ye Qingxuan was still in Charles’s body. He reached out. Jiu Xiao Huan Pei sounded. Thousands of strings shot out of thin air. They intersected, all playing different melodies. However, it was not disordered but in harmony.

  Cold wind from the tundra instantly blew over. Winter was here!

  In the cold wind, the four musicians instantly sank into a daze, about to fall asleep. However, in their daze, they saw a flag guiding the wind. Emerald will-o’-wisps snaked out of the cracks. Frozen tears rolled from their eyes. The withered Bodhi tree froze in the icy wind. Life elapsed rapidly and their hair turned white. A frozen flood swept out of nowhere. Crows that symbolized death flew from their fingertips… It was Winterreise!

  The Philosopher’s Stone transformed into the sub-originator, stirring huge tidal waves in the aether sea. Jiu Xiao Huan Pei rode the terrifying power that was born. It operated in the void and wove together under Ye Qingxuan’s guidance. This was undoubtedly a twenty-three layered illusion!

  The music theory grew out of nothing and shot out from Jiu Xiao Huan Pei. They instantly layered and dragged the four musicians in without warning. For the first time, Ye Qingxuan could experience the control Lola had towards illusions. It was as if a world of nothingness was created in his hands and turned into something.

  For a second, he felt like a god.

  But two seconds later, the first layer of Gute Nacht was torn apart. The four Distortion level musicians acted in unison. They communicated with each other and quickly found the flaws in the illusion.

  Another layer fell apart! The crows that announced death were instantly destroyed and disappeared. Ye Qingxuan sighed. His abilities were still not enough.

  The Disturbance level could disturb certain things and change them but it could not completely change something’s nature like the Distortion level. Otherwise, he would be able to let out the last layer, Der Leiermann, to complete Winterreise. At that time, the twenty-four layers would die and regenerate by themselves. There was no possibility of being undone.

  In addition, the spirit contained in Der Leierman was depressed by being unable to move forward one’s entire life. Once inside this illusion, all musicians would be forced to the standard Musician level. Unless they had a secret weapon or technique targeted specifically at illusions, the victim would be stuck until his body deteriorated and his mind fused into the illusion.

  Within a few seconds, fourteen of the twenty-three illusions were undone. If Ye Qingxuan still had no plans, the results would be bad. According to his Revelations sensing, these musicians contained three hidden yet sharp aether waves. They probably had some fatal weapon. If they were given the chance to take it out…

  Ye Qingxuan had a headache. He quickly clenched his fists. In an instant, the fulcrums of the remaining nine layers ignited. They exploded along with the music theory, transforming into a huge sensory bomb, bursting in the minds of the four musicians.

  The extreme force transformed along the Mind path. Containing the hidden hint for the formless river, it flooded into their minds. Like mercury, it exploded in the depths of their minds. It was a storm of emotions and a battle of feelings. Bitterness, ecstasy, depression, sadness… All emotions were forcefully stimulated. The musicians paled and went green. Their minds were in turmoil. Bits of memories flashed past their eyes as if someone had injected drugs in them.

  Even so, they did not let their guards down or give Ye Qingxuan any opportunities. They could sense that Ye Qingxuan was still far away. They didn’t know how he could cross such a large distance but he was not strong enough to threaten them.

  They were only passively accepting the attacks now because they were getting ready. Ye Qingxuan was using his now. When this wave was over, he would have nothing left. He’d just be a sitting duck!

  But just as they struggled to push down the unrest in their minds and music theories, they felt something serene rise from the broken fulcrums.

  It was moonlight.

  A white rim of cold yet arrogant moon rose from the broken illusion. It seemed so real. The white moon hung in the sky. Under the light, coldness seeped into every one of their pores, making them feel extreme danger and fear.

  Then the moon shattered.

  What replaced it was a sharp glint of metal. It was the Sword! Countless music notes flowed rapidly on the ice-cold sword of moonlight. They wove into a complex music score—detailed and beautiful. It was like an artistic masterpiece but with mind-numbing animosity.

  What was this?! The four musicians gaped and all swore in their minds. No matter what it was, it would be bad to get hit by it!

  They made a decision at the same time. Music theory erupted as they all used different methods to stop the sword from falling. They let out their hidden weapon! No matter what kind of music score, all would lose effectiveness once out of control. If they could kill Charles before the sword fell, then the sword would become nothing!

  But in that moment, Ye Qingxuan smiled and closed his eyes. He seemed to be waiting for death to come. But also as if he had…fallen asleep.

  He entered Dreamland!

  Without a sound, something emerged from his body. It spread in all directions and enveloped the entire alley. All music notes in its path disappeared. The music theories broke down and even the music scores fell apart. It was as if a portion of the aether had disappeared and could no longer respond. The aether had fallen asleep with him.

  In the Dreamland, Ye Qingxuan felt as if he had fallen asleep but was awake at the same time. Everything in his dream was identical to reality. Through the dreamscape, he observed the world. Letting his mind loose, his consciousness transformed into a flood. It pulled at the endless supply of aether into slumber with him! Everything was swallowed by silence. The sword of moonlight dissipated. But so did the shields of the four musicians.

  As if they had put all their strength into the void, the music scores that contained their power all disappeared. They fell from the peak to the abyss. The sudden attack and terrifying emptiness paled them and they spat out blood. In their hands, the instruments that had accompanied them for decades turned into dead objects. The music notes on them extinguished rapidly and the music theory crumbled. The alchemy imprinted on was wiped away.

  The spirits that were created by playing countless music scores disappeared with wails. The shell was still there but the spirit was long gone. Four priceless and rare musicians were completely destroyed! However, they had no time to mourn. In their fear, a bigger sense of danger arose. Even more terrifying was that they had activated the three secret weapons just then!

  Ye Qingxuan’s grasp on time was beyond their imagination. These three alchemy equipment had been bought by chance and fate. They had just been filled with immense aether but before they could act, they were thrown into an aether vacuum.

  In the silence, even breathing was deafening. The equipment could not be saved either and were finally revealed under their gray clothing. It was a palm-sized figurine with a sword, a vial of beast ashes, and a strange key. They radiated like the sun even as cracks began appearing.

  Originally, their music theory had formed a system that blocked the outside world. But in the silence, the system was unraveling. The power sealed within…was completely out of control.

  In an instant, they became active and flowed out. The equilibrium of the four realms was upended. The once harmonious theories of the seven schools clashed with extreme heat and light.

  The four musicians paled. They tossed the weapons without thinking and ran. Sadly, it was too late. A boom erupted in the silence. It should have been deafening but it was like muffled thunder that faded quickly. The three secret weapons broke completely. The strength within exploded just like how Ye Qingxuan had once thrown out the Double Snake Time Meter to self-destruct.

&n
bsp; The terrifying yet dazzling light flashed. Under the silent dream, the explosion that should have obliterated the entire alley was restrained to a small area. This made the destruction worse.

  In a second, the earth split apart. Bricks and dust flew. Silently, three bloody figures flew out, dropping in different places. Other than the Summoning musician who thought himself above relying on secret weapons, they were all gravely wounded. After entering the Resonance level, the musician’s body would evolve under the music theory and aether, becoming less human. Otherwise, they would have evaporated instantly.

  The tide had turned.

  457 Take This Again!

  Among the three, the one who had evolved the most and had become semi-elemental was hurt the least. However, Modifications relied most heavily on aether. Under Ye Qingxuan’s heart of sound movement—the silent dream—he was the most restricted. The music theory within him had mostly fallen apart.

  The Choir musician, specializing in bacteria and spores, was most gravely wounded. Most of his body was burnt to crisp and his brain had denatured too. However, his core was not hurt. If he could escape from the silent dream, he could recover quickly. Compared to them, the Abstinence musician hidden behind the alley was the best off. The moment the explosion happened, he had swallowed his key rather than tossing it away! Like Ye Qingxuan, he was an Abstinence musician specializing in the way of the territory. He was not as destructive as those who chose the way of discipline but this path had the strongest protection.

  After entering the Distortion level, his music theory had become its own territory. It had certain characteristics of the aether world. Distortion of nature had become an instinctive ability. Even Ye Qingxuan’s silent dream was kept out, unable to invade in the short-term. That was why he took the risk to swallow the key that was about to explode to forcefully control it.

  He had succeeded. The explosion burnt his face, shattered his palate and throat, and turned twenty teeth to dust. For a Distortion level musician, this was just a scratch. However, the result was still terrifying.