by Feng Yue
A musician who had just entered the Disturbance level was fighting with four Distortion level musicians from miles away. Within two short minutes, two of the four were close to death, one was disfigured, and another’s mind was wounded.
It was illogical. Whether it was the dumbfounding result or the terrifying nature of Ye Qingxuan’s silent dream in that moment, both would turn Ye Qingxuan into a horror story or myth once the news spread.
The Wyrmrest Enchantment that had been lost for centuries was too powerful, especially when it was grasped by such a threatening man. He was like a nightmare to enemies. Thankfully, the nightmare was ending for these four musicians on their last breath. After restricting those explosions, the silent restriction was slowly loosening. There was no more strength. Once again, they felt the weak aether and faraway aether sea. The four exchanged glances. Ferocity flashed past their eyes in unspoken agreement.
They had built their reputation through the years. If they were beaten by a junior and failed in the Sacred City, their reputation would be ruined. Now, they no longer looked down on Ye Qingxuan and instead saw him as a true enemy. An oddity like him should never be underestimated. Therefore, they began to fight for their lives!
In an instant, the Abstinence musician pressed down on his chest and ripped a hole. Blood spurted out. His music theory reorganized and his territory spread out. It forced back the silent encroachment and pushed up a zone. The disturbing light moved through the air, clashing against Ye Qingxuan’s music theory. The two instantly fell into a fight. The pressure on the other three lessened. Under the Abstinence musician’s protection, almost tangible shadows appeared around them.
It was the heart of sound illusion, only one step away from the symphony of predestination. There was an electric ring that cut through the darkness, a fleshy dandelion full of spores, and a dwarf with six eyes and three hands that could separate into countless avatars. These were their final products. In the future, they would be fused into the symphonies of predestination as the source for the scepters. Now, the musicians poured practically all their power into them without hesitation to fight against the silent dream’s omnipresent pressure.
But Ye Qingxuan could not help but sigh.
The four musicians shook and spat out blood again.
Ye Qingxuan had opened his eyes and the silent dream vanished. The immense pressure instantly disappeared. The equilibrium of conflict was broken as well. Their bodies were hurt again by the great contrast.
This was like taking a fish from the bottom of the sea and putting it in the air. The huge pressure difference would cause it to swell into a ball and explode. Under the music theory’s entanglement, the four all spat out blood and roared. They were humiliated and furious.
It was this trick again! Ye Qingxuan used their own strength to fight against them! Couldn’t he f*cking fight fairly?
Originally, the power of the four musicians working together could pulverize Ye Qingxuan once he retracted the silent dream. It was suicide. But the moment the aether returned, Jiu Xiao Huan Pei was reactivated. The Heaven Ladder turned, pulling the uncontrolled pressure into the aether sea with ease. Huge waves crashed!
And so nothing happened…
The four musicians were about to cry. How could Ye Qingxuan be so good at this? Regardless of anything else, Ye Qingxuan was best at these tricks. Ever since he had started this life, he had never fought against enemies at his level. Other than having a good foundation, he survived solely on his shameless and devious techniques. To him, fighting against the big guys was just a basic course. Using up everything he had was the normal state. It was just gambling his life. If he didn’t win, he would die. Of course he would use dirty tricks!
Ye Qingxuan did not know what fighting fairly meant. He only knew fair sneak attacks and honest stabs to the back. Since the beginning, he had spared no expense the drag the enemies into his rhythm. Then, he used countless tricks and lies to make them show their secret weapons… He did not plan on winning. He just didn’t want the other side to win so he would obviously just make things hard for them. He would do whatever was most shameless.
The most important was the silent dream, a joker-like card. He could even fight four Distortion musicians with it! Sadly, he had put out this card already. Now, the four enemies had nothing else to worry about. The thing about sparing no expenses was that he had to kill the enemy in one go. If the enemy wasn’t dead after that…he would be the one dying.
Ye Qingxuan could not help but smile bitterly. Charles spat out blood too. Using Heaven Ladder to cast the silent dream from so far away was consuming. The Heaven Ladder was where the Dreamweaver’s foundation was. Like a container, it would not be disturbed by the dreamscape. Otherwise, he would really have no solutions. But now, he was at the limit.
In Charles’s eyes, the moonlight flickered and died out.
The Heaven Ladder cut off.
In the silence, the four musicians stared at each other. They could sense Ye Qingxuan’s departure but they were unsure if this was another trick or a defeat.
In the suffocating silence, Charles stood up expressionlessly and stepped forward. The four musicians stepped back together. Their eyes were cautious and the aether waves around them sharpened. Did this guy have another trick up his sleeve?
Then they saw Charles sneer and then…he knelt down!
With a plop!
Charles flattened himself to the ground and cried out, “Please have mercy! I’m innocent! Ye Qingxuan forced me to do this! Ye Qingxuan is an *ss! He drank, and got girls, and owed the school thirty-five million, and escaped with his cousin! We could only sell our bodies to pay the debt…”
The only sound in the long, long silence was Charles’ cries. The expressions of the other four grew uglier and uglier.
“You think…I’ll let you go by begging?” The Summoning musician’s eyes were dark and his voice was raspy. He stepped forward. Fireflies grouped on his hand again. One, two, three, four…they were like dazzling stars. Piercing murderous intent enveloped Charles. The strength was enough to flatten a building, enough to tear a man apart and evaporate him!
“I know I can’t take back what I’ve done,” Charles continued to cry. “But just let me lie here and express my apologies!”
“What’s the use of lying down?!” the Summoning musician roared. He raised his hand and the countless fireflies flapped their wings to tear Charles apart.
But then the wall behind him shattered. Clattering sounded very close to them. Horse hooves clacked against the ground with sparks. The thundering was heart-stopping. Two horses of at least three meters tall galloped over, dragging a metal carriage. They burst through the wall as if it was a sheet of paper.
Amidst the flying bricks and mortar, the black carriage charged forward, crashing into the musician without mercy. In the messy boom, there was the sound of bones cracking and a pained cry.
Then the stallions stopped. The carriage floated in place. The wheels scraped against the ground with a sharp screech. After bursting through two walls, the carriage stopped between the remaining three musicians and Charles and Constantine.
After being ran into and over, the musician (who had been proud a moment ago) rolled out now as bloody pulp. It was unclear if he was alive or dead. The directionless fireflies scattered in all directions and quickly disappeared. This meant Charles had made the right choice. Getting to the ground was effective.
In the dead silence, the only sounds were the horses’ pants. The already distorted carriage was kicked open from the inside. The door fell to the ground with a clang.
In the carriage, the white-haired youth leaned in the distorted seat. His eyes were like moonlight. Studying Charles who was on the ground, he smiled.
“Senior, I’m here to save you.”
458 Purple-eyed Griffin
“Senior, I’m here to save you.”
Hearing this, Charles completely collapsed on the ground. He did not even want to move a finger. Ev
en the headache that was driving him crazy for days seemed to have disappeared. Reaching out, he wiped his tears and snot. “Yezi, you’re so slow.”
“I’m already fast enough.” Ye Qingxuan got off the carriage and helped Charles into a seat carefully. “I rushed over as soon as I woke up. You don’t even thank me and just start complaining.”
“Don’t mind all that. I’m so handsome. It’s worth it to save me.” Charles patted his shoulder weakly. Warm blood stained the shoulder. He studied Ye Qingxuan’s uniform with affection. “Nice clothes. Get me one someday and we can go act cool on the streets.”
“Sure.” Ye Qingxuan took off his jacket and put it on Charles. “We’ll go out as soon as you’re healed. We’ll go wherever we want. With me here, no one will stop you.”
“Great.” Charles smiled. “Those people are powerful. You have to be careful.”
“Don’t worry.” Ye Qingxuan looked back at those livid musicians. “They’re just…some failures who can’t become grandmasters despite their age.”
The expressions of the three changed instantly. An almost tangible aura rose from them. A faint melody hummed inside their bodies. The broken music theories were rebuilding in their flesh, forcefully weaving back together so they could squeeze out the last bit of strength. Invisible flames rose from their bodies. Under the illusion of their heart of sound, even the air around them became distorted. If one closed his eyes, he could sense three vortexes open up in the aether sea. They were furiously absorbing energy. It was a furious determination and anger to completely destroy Ye Qingxuan, Charles, and Constantine!
“Such energy at this age? Scary.” Ye Qingxuan laughed, shaking his head. He casually took out a pack. Taking out a cigarette, he put it in his mouth. He felt around his body before sighing. Looking to Charles, he asked, “Senior, got fire?”
“Hey, pay attention.” Charles helplessly raised a finger and created a spark. “‘Tis the season for acting cool and getting into trouble.”
Ye Qingxuan shrugged. He bent over and took a deep breath. In that moment, something furious roared. Three heart of sound illusions had become substantial—the ring of thunder, dandelion, and double nine-sided rune.
The ring of thunder puffed. A thunderstorm whistled over. Countless dark red spores were released from flesh. The corpses all over the ground swelled instantly, blooming with poisonous dandelions. The air solidified. Dust rose up and transformed into metallic sand. They collided with red sparks, whistling past. Under the disturbing manipulation, this had become a zone of death. But Ye Qingxuan was still not reacting.
In the deep night, the flame at Charles’s finger danced and sucked at the yellow tobacco. Ye Qingxuan inhaled, watching as the cigarette charred under the fire and lit up with a red glow. Thick smoke rose up and left as he exhaled, making his face seem handsome as a devil. Behind him, explosions continued.
And then stopped.
Ye Qingxuan took a deep breath. He took out the cigarette and looked behind him. “Oh right, did you think I came alone?”
The darkness rolled. Four musicians from the Silent Authority walked out. They were dressed in robes and held instruments. The aether sea became substantial behind them. They were four Distortion musicians! Using Ye Qingxuan as distraction, they shamelessly attacked from the back and instantly hurt the three. With the advantage of numbers, they forced the three back. They would have killed the three instantly if they did not want to catch them alive.
Now, defeat was only a matter of time. The Sacred City was the core of the human world. The Silent Authority naturally had a team of elites as well.
“Despicable!” the Modifications musician roared under siege. “Ye Qingxuan, do you have shame? Do you not have any dignity as a musician? Get over here and duel with me!”
“Listen to you. Didn’t we just duel already?” Ye Qingxuan looked at him while smoking. “I’m still young and not skilled enough. You have to go easy on me and let me rest, don’t you?”
“Shameless!” the Modifications musician growled. “Ye Qingxuan, you are f*cking shameless! You’re not a musician! You-”
Boom! With the explosion, half of his body turned to dust. Ye Qingxuan looked away and continued smoking with a smile.
“Worry about yourself first.” Taking one last inhale, he curled a finger and casually threw his cigarette into the darkness. It cut an arc in the sky and exploded with a crack. Countless sparks escaped from the white paper and danced like fireflies. Under the disturbance control, everything in its path—metal, water, dust, everything—was ignited. Powerful fire emerged from it, illuminating the darkness. Under the fire, all music theory was influenced by the disturbance, creating undetectable ripples. And thus, a blurry figure flashed into existence.
Someone was hiding there!
Among the flying sparks, the figure raised a hand in shock. He covered his face and retreated. However, behind the sparks, Ye Qingxuan’s face appeared. He reached out and grabbed the man’s head. “Sorry, you’re late!”
There was a scream and grating in the distance. Ye Qingxuan disappeared. In place, Ye Qingxuan shook and his finger quivered painfully. His illusion had been seen through and his fulcrum was destroyed. He had planned on using the sparks as the fulcrum. The moment the thousands of sparks blinded one would create Ye Qingxuan’s illusion and attack. While the enemy was in shock, he could also find a crack in his soul and plant a hint. Then, he would be able to advance further. No matter who the enemy was, he could instantly push him back. He would drag the time out until the Silent Authority reinforcements came with total advantage.
Sadly, this plan failed from the start. The hidden man had instantly seen through his plan as if he had predicted it. Even when he was discovered, he did panic. He easily destroyed Ye Qingxuan’s fulcrum and there was no crack in his soul for Ye Qingxuan to plant a hint. This was a troublesome enemy…
And that was not all.
Merely the man’s existence was hair-rising for Ye Qingxuan. He did not even know when the man had arrived. If Charles had not given him a signal with the fire, he would not even be able to sense that someone was hidden there!
The man had blended his aether waves with the outside world and breathed weakly. If Ye Qingxuan did not have prior knowledge, he would be unable to distinguish his existence. This was the legendary Eastern ‘one with the world’! This technique was rarely achieved even in the Abstinence musicians who specialized in territory!
Ye Qingxuan clenched a fist. Jiu Xiao Huan Pei burst out, crossing in the air. Behind him, the white moon rose gradually with a cold and dazzling wash. The sub-originator was activated. Ye Qingxuan was ready to go all out. But there was somehow fog all around him. Strands of mist rose up, not even scattering with the wind. They hung in the air. In its path, all vision was blocked. Even the sensing of aether was blocked!
Ye Qingxuan grew cautious. This was not mist. This was the result of ‘nature disturbance.’ The enemy used music theory to directly act on the surroundings, distorting reality and creating something that did not even exist. Even the moonlight could not pierce this strange mist or chase it away.
In the fog, the figure finally lowered his arm, revealing his face. It was eagle-like mask with a raven-like beak and dangerous aura. However, its arrogance and aggressiveness was way above that of a raven!
It was the griffin! The face of the griffin!
On the griffin’s face, the two eyes glowed with purple light! They were purple eyes…purple eyes! It was the eerie figure that had flashed past the Judgement Tower and destroyed all records. Charles had seen him and feared him like fearing a beast. He had warned Ye Qingxuan to be careful and escape at first glance… He had always thought that Charles was just scared. But now he truly felt Charles’ pressure. Stared at by those eyes, he finally experienced Charles’ fear. He had goosebumps as if he was thrown into icy water. In extreme anxiety, he was just waiting for death.
The purple eyes did not contain any Mind hints or Illusion disturbance. They
were just fully and completely inhuman. They were pure beastliness. Even the Butcher who killed without blinking in Avalon could not compare with him.
This guy was just a freak creature!
In a moment of inattentiveness, Ye Qingxuan heard a gloomy and depressing melody. His expression changing, he stumbled back. The purple-eyed griffin followed closely. He tapped rhythmically with his hands but it sounded like a steel drum. The rhythm was thundering, jarring him right down to the bone. The sudden yet cold music theory came like a planted seed. The nature of the seed kept changing. The surface music theory transformed, continuously adjusting its nature. It passed through the walls like a ghost. In an instant, it seeped into Ye Qingxuan’s body, overlooking all shields.
The School of Abstinence emphasized shields the most. The inner music theory structure was impenetrable. If Ye Qingxuan did not allow it, he could block all influences inside and outside his body, let alone foreign music theory. But that music theory’s seed mixed into his system seamlessly. It sneaked past the layers of shields and instantly sat above his heart.
Then, the seed exploded. The sprout of destruction began drinking fresh blood and growing…
459 True or False
It was fire! Blood was its fuel! In a flash, the ‘nature disturbance’ hidden in the seeds was released. They began to wantonly construct music theory and modify Ye Qingxuan’s body. All flesh and blood were turned into the fuel of the flame until the Ye Qingxuan was burnt out from the inside to ashes.
It was Over Burning Ashes!
The movement of Saint Tchaikovsky was the most vicious killing method of Abstinence with the least traces. It planted the music theory’s seed in the enemy’s body when passing by. The seed lived in the enemy’s body to bear fruit. It ignited fire in the sound of heart, used blood as firewood, and burned the enemy into ashes from the inside. But it did not disturb anything else. All that would remain in the end were a complete set of clothes and hot ashes on the ground.