Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  Jingming Zhangsun looked at the sword hanging on He Yuan’s waist and asked, “Could it be possible that your sword is also…?”

  He Yuan looked at his sword, which was called “Wenling,” and smiled without answering.

  “Here it is.”

  He Yuan suddenly stopped.

  In front of them, there was dark cave. Seeing this, Jingming Zhangsun was stunned and looked at He Yuan in surprise.

  He Yuan said, “Just walk straight, and you shall see the head of the Yuan Family. He has finished his morning lessons by this time, so you won’t be a nuisance.”

  Then He Yuan left.

  Jingming Zhangsun was in a daze and stood in front of the cave for a while. He forced a smile and walked into the cave.

  The cold wind blew towards him, and he felt very cold and as if he was being cut by a knife. The temperature in the cave kept getting lower and lower, and after a while, Jingming Zhangsun saw that everything around him was covered with at least two inches of ice.

  Although he was wearing a winter coat, he still felt so cold that he couldn’t help shaking. He wanted to warm himself by activating a music movement, but he immediately gave up this idea when he realized that he was now in the rear of the mountain of the Yuan Family. If he activated a movement, he was afraid that he might activate the alchemy array here and be cut to pieces.

  He continued to walk deeper into the cave. After a long while, he glimpsed a figure sitting in the middle of boiling lava.

  The pungent and poisonous sulphur air swirled around the boiling lava and the dancing fire. Right in the middle of the lava, there sat a man with an ancient sword in front of him. The ancient sword was ringing, and it gave off an infinitely cold air. The cold air spread and froze the lava around him.

  Jingming Zhangsun was awed by this scene.

  He was totally bewildered and worried, as if there was a big rock on his chest.

  “I have been waiting for you for such a long time, ‘Hu’ of the Zhangsun Family.”

  The fire and the cold air collided with each other and created a ball of gray fog. As soon as the man began to talk, the fog dispersed to both sides. Then a slim figure showed himself.

  Among the Nine Families, the Zhangsun Family was the only one that lived in the border area. Since their eyes were blue, someone called them “blue eyes.” Sometimes, they were also called “Hu,” which was a bit insulting.

  Normally, if someone directly called Jingming Zhangsun “Hu,” Jingming would have fought him hard. This slim figure, Changqing Yuan, was the powerful head of the Yuan Family, and even dared to call his father “Hu.” So Jingming Zhangsun didn’t show any disapproval, and carefully took out a letter.

  “My father asked me to give you this letter.”

  Changqing Yuan made a gesture, then the letter floated and fell into his hand.

  He read the letter and kept silent for a long while. Then he sighed and threw the letter into the lava.

  The letter was burnt to ashes. Blue smoke rose from the lava, and a vague figure formed in the blue smoke and bowed to Changqing Yuan.

  “You are too impatient,” Changqing Yuan said in a very low voice. “The whole world is going to be very chaotic, and a huge change that has never been seen before will take place soon. This strangeness can already be seen in the west. Zhendan may not be the place to hide from this disaster. In this critical moment, we need to calm down. Go and tell your father to wait patiently.”

  “Wait patiently?” Jingming Zhangsun was stunned by this answer. Since he had come this far from the border area to the Yujing Shan Mountain, he had never thought he would receive a simple sentence in reply.

  “Have a look.”

  Changqing Yuan gently touched his long sword and said, “Everywhere is the same, no matter if it is in the East or the West.”

  “Just have a look first.”

  The sword was shining, and Jingming Zhangsun felt his soul was going to be pulled out by this light. He shivered and swallowed back the words he meant to say. After he bowed to Changqing Yuan, he left.

  Soon, He Yuan appeared in the cave and respectfully reported, “Uncle, I have been told that Baiheng has indeed left the capital. Indeed, the Zhangsun Family is not to be blamed, even the acting King is too anxious to wait patiently any longer.”

  Changqing Yuan laughed. “Fine. I have been sitting in this cave for almost thirty years. I just said that young man’s father is being too anxious, but now I am also becoming anxious. After all, the Pontifex Maximus is going to ascend to throne; I should also go and have a look.”

  “I will come back as soon as this business is over.”

  “Take care.” He Yuan lowered his head and heard the ringing of Changqing Yuan’s sword.

  The ancient Chun Jun Sword was vibrating and ringing.

  The sound was just like a bird’s chirping, low and deep. He Yuan felt as if there was a cold spring pouring into his head and his soul was going to flee away from his body—the soul fleeing swordsmanship!

  A vague figure suddenly arose from Changqing Yuan’s old and slim body. The figure took the sword, turned into a light, and flew away.

  Jingming Zhangsun had just arrived at the foot of the mountain. He suddenly had a strange feeling, and he raised his head to see a cold light flying to the west.

  The light was flying quickly and didn’t leave any trace behind it, not even an air wave or tornado.

  Jingming Zhangsun was awed by this scene.

  Thirty years ago, Changqing Yuan had already arrived at the Imperial Nine World and was at the same level as the Saints in the west.

  The music theory inside his body was constantly in conflict with the physical world around him, and he had also inherited the blood of Deva. This had made him unable to escape from the punishment of the God. Since then, he had been practicing Taoism in the rear of the Yujing Shan Mountain.

  Judging from the speed of this light, Changqing Yuan had greatly enhanced his power, and even surpassed his ancestors to reach to a new level.

  Watching the light flying into the distance, Jingming Zhangsun recalled that he had been very confident about his skills of persuasion when he left his home, and felt a bit ridiculous about himself.

  Thinking of this, he forced out a smile.

  “The world is just like a game of chess, and one can only have the chance to be a player if he has reached the same level as Changqing Yuan…”

  In just ten minutes, the light had traveled thousands of miles. During the journey, it crossed the Northern Plain, the Misty Hill, one hundred thousand mountains, and the magnificent desert. Then it passed the Commonwealth of Caucasus, and the Kingdom of Asgard.

  Far away, there was the City of Iron and Steel.

  Judging from the energy arising from this Holy City, Changqing Yuan felt that about ten people were there already. He then exclaimed, “I never thought that so many people would come here.”

  491 A New Era

  “Another one?”

  The ten people soon saw the light of the Chun Jun sword, and one recognized the fluctuation of the light and knew it was Changqing Yuan.

  “In just a decade, you have already managed to disembody and appear as a soul?”

  There was a laughing sound. “I never thought you could make such a good use of the soul fleeing swordsmanship and reach this level. I think you could even cut off a person’s head with a sword while you were a thousand miles away.”

  “Mr. Liu Si?”

  The vague figure of Changqing Yuan did the fist and palm salute and said, “We haven’t seen each other for a long time!”

  Liu Si smiled and didn’t reply.

  The ten people all belonged to the Nine Families of the Dragon Bloodline. Qingshu Yunlou who was sitting in the VIP seat, and Changqing Yuan and Liu Si came with the form of a Phantom Beast.

  The Liu family was famous for their summoning sect.

  However, they were truly talented at building legendary ghosts.

  The shapeless
legendary ghost was more difficult to control than the evil spirit or demon that had physical form, since a demon was alive, while a ghost was dead already.

  Among the Nine Families of the Dragon Bloodline, only the Liu Family was able to gather the negative energy and keep the ghost. At the same time, the Liu Family was also the most unpopular family, since they spent all day around coffins or in tombs to sense the death. Besides, they usually slept with the skeleton in the tomb. In a word, they lived with the dead all year around.

  It was said that the Liu’s definitely prefered to talk with the dead.

  Wherever a Liu went, he was accompanied by a terrifying headless ghost, or other similar ghosts. Moreover, wherever an elite of the Liu Family traveled, he would be accompanied by hundreds of ghosts and ghost soldiers.

  If a man who had been infected with Bestiality came across these ghosts, he would suffer a serious illness. A weak man would probably become ill and lie in bed ever after.

  Besides, all the Liu’s were rather grumpy and hard to be friends with. Even if they also had the blood of Deva, everyone still kept them at arm’s length.

  Liu Si was the representative of the Liu Family. He had transferred his mind into a ghost that had become a Phantom Beast. The beast was giving out negative energy and poisonous gas, and if not for its restraint, the people around would probably have been choked with terror and turned into a mess.

  Changqing Yuan didn’t care why Liu Si had come, since he just came here to have a look.

  Maybe everyone who came here also just wanted to have a look.

  People in the city sensed the presence of those Holy Spirits in the air, and gave their greetings by giving out some energy.

  There were many people in the Sacred City, and the whole city was chaotic and bustling. Meanwhile, in the air, it was also bustling, but when an ordinary stared at the sky, he could see nothing.

  In the Central Holy Temple, someone observing the sky found that there were at least ten sun-ish objects wandering around.

  When a person reached the level of Scepter, he became immortal. If he wanted to continue to live in the human world, he had to gradually turn his body into Aether organs; moreover, he even needed to go through various transformations and put his mind into an object.

  Each school had their own way of doing this. One school might have done better in this regard, but the result was the same: putting the mind into an object.

  All the powerful men in the air had Aetherized themselves and come in the form of invisible Holy Spirits. To show that they came with no intention of fighting, they didn’t transfer too much energy into their Holy Spirits. Most of them just put their mind into various Alchemy equipment to watch this holy city.

  Apart from humans, all the other peculiar creatures in the Aether world were also looking forward to this grand meeting.

  For example, the huge whale that usually swam in the clouds, the stone bird that could speak the human language, the eye in the form of fire, and so on.

  Some peculiar creatures were even sitting in the VIP seating.

  In the first rank of the VIP seating was a figure with a human’s body and the head of a rabbit. It was surrounded by fog and it was speaking the lingua franca with the people around it, obviously enjoying its time.

  It came from a peculiar race of the Aether world. The members of this race often appeared in the form of businessmen in the physical world, where they liked to sell the strange products of the Aether world to humans.

  It was said that many people had come across shops in the wilderness that sold rare and strange objects. When a person bought a box and returned home to open it, he would immediately grow a few decades older. Another person who bought a broken bowl returned home and poured some water into the bowl, and discovered that the water suddenly turned into gold sand. The bizarre stories surrounded the peculiar race.

  Technically, a member of this peculiar race couldn’t be called a “creature,” instead, they were more like a mountain or water spirit. Their logic and thought processes were very different from a human’s, so it was very difficult for them to have a smooth conversation with a human.

  However, the objects they dug out of the soil in the Aether world were very important to musicians. Whenever a musician wanted to explore the Aether world, he would have to hire a member of the peculiar race to be his guide.

  The figure with a human body and a rabbit head was one of the leaders of their businessmen.

  The peculiar race had very good trade relations with this holy city, and since a new pope was going to ascend to throne, their representative was invited to this grand meeting.

  This time, the enthronization ceremony was very different. It was very hurried, and the organizer had simply sent messages to other countries, then opened the ceremony before those countries’ envoys arrived.

  The leaders of these countries felt that something bad was going to happen.

  Ludovic represented the radicals in this holy city. He suggested that the holy city, not the ridiculous parliament, should rule the other countries. Ludovic was going to become the pope of the holy city, which meant that a new game was on.

  The former pope had worked very hard to mediate the conflicts between the holy city and the other countries. Now that Ludovic had become the new pope, the conflicts were sure to intensify.

  However, Ludovic didn’t care which direction the human world would be heading or what system the human society would adopt. In fact, the mortal world meant nothing to a God or to Ludovic, who was just an incarnation of his own personality.

  In the sacred hall, Ludovic was sitting in front of a mirror and watching his reflection.

  He was dressed in a white ferraiolone and wore a thorn garland on his head. Verses of the Holy Bible were written with blue and golden string in the corner of his ferraiolone. He looked very noble, elegant, and magnificent.

  “Do I look very holy?” Ludovic suddenly asked.

  “Yes, Sancta Sedes.”

  The attendant who was making him look more presentable said, “The divinity is the crown of Sancta Sedes.”

  Hearing this, Ludovic shook his head and said, “You are mistaken. Although the divinity is created by humanity, it never really belongs to humanity.”

  He got up from his seat and left the hall.

  Numerous faithful followers were standing outside and cheering like crazy. They looked up at Ludovic who was standing on the stairs, tears rolling from their eyes. They all knelt on the ground and saluted Ludovic.

  The bell in the clock tower of the Palace of Pope was ringing, and the Holy Choirs were singing the anthem, so loudly that everyone in the city could hear.

  The spice in the hollowed-out gold ball was burning, the fragrant smell rising with the wafting smoke.

  Two priests held the gold ball which hung from a silver chain. They were leading Ludovic to the utmost sacred hall.

  Soldiers stood on both sides of the street. Behind them stood countless followers. They knelt on the ground, worshipping Ludovic.

  An ordinary priest walked out from the crowd. After he showed his identity, he walked directly towards Ludovic.

  He reported to Ludovic in a very low voice, “Something went wrong.”

  “What?” Ludovic asked while happily waving to his followers.

  “Samuel was injured in the underground palace last night,” the priest replied. “Somehow, Ye Qingxuan freed himself from the shackles and held Samuel under duress. He almost arrived at the third floor.”

  “Then?”

  “We finally managed to catch him, but we have lost four masters.”

  The priest looked a bit worried and continued, “We have locked him in the bottom of the underground palace. Three masters of the School of Abstinence made an enchantment from which he can never escape.”

  “Don’t worry, it’s not your fault.” Ludovic sighed with emotion. “After all, he is the son of Ye Lanzhou. It seems that he was not as tough as I thought; in fact, I am a bit disappoi
nted by this. Maybe I am expecting too much from him? Anyway, he won’t cause any more trouble.”

  The priest anxiously said, “He is trying to break the enchantment. We don’t dare to kill him, and we have no idea what we should do with him.”

  “He is just behaving like a child.” Ludovic smiled and said, “Bring that young girl to him. He will behave himself when he has company.”

  Hearing this, the priest hesitated briefly. Then he said, “But… Hermes once said that no one should ever touch that girl.”

  “So what?” Ludovic looked coldly at the priest. “I am the new pope of this Sacred City, while he is just a little sh*t. Tell him that if he wants to stay in this city, he must follow the rules I make.”

  “Yes.”

  The priest retreated a few steps, then turned around and left.

  The crowd was in high spirits. They all praised and worshipped Ludovic. From time to time, Ludovic would wave his hand to the followers and smile to them.

  “May God bless, my dear child.” Ludovic reached out his hand and gently touched a child with no arms. He said to the child’s mother, “He was unfortunate, but now he has received the blessing of God, and he will become a defender of God in the future.”

  “Thank you!” The parents of the child burst into tears and knelt on the ground, beginning to worship Ludovic.

  Ludovic smiled, turned around, and walked to the center square, then he stepped onto the platform.

  The Holy Choirs were still singing, and the bishops all lowered their heads and showed their loyalty to the new pope.

  “He is the new pope then?” asked the figure that had a human body and a rabbit head, turning to Qingshu Yunlou.

  “Yes he is.” Qingshu nodded. “What do you think of him?”

  “I don’t know much about humanity or the rules in the human world,” it replied, “but I can feel he is different from the former pope, which makes me very worried.”

  “Every pope has got his own characteristics,” Qingshu said. “I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.”

  “Hope you are right,” the figure from the Aether world said, then stopped talking.