Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  Albert had spent his whole life observing this world via the way of deciphering and grasping how this world functioned. He hoped to make a breakthrough by deciphering the music theory, but he failed to read people’s minds.

  Still, he created a very good tool for Ye Qingxuan, so Ye Qingxuan could find what he needed from this chaotic and complicated world.

  Sadly, Ye Qingxuan failed to find the Silver Cellar where his teacher was imprisoned after searching the whole Sacred City.

  Even people at the top of the church group did not know where the Silver Cellar was. If it was not in the Sacred City, then there was little chance Ye Qingxuan could find it, since outside the city, there were too many places where this Silver Cellar could be.

  Ye Qingxuan was silent for a while, then he stopped thinking and began to play the keys.

  The transparent mirror delicately changed its angle.

  The structure of the formula started to change.

  There were too many secrets in this city. If one wanted to look into every one of them, his whole lifetime would be spent on finding out the secrets hidden deeply in this city.

  So, Ye Qingxuan decided not to focus too much on the details, but to explore this city in a more macroscopic way.

  In just a few seconds, Ye Qingxuan’s spiritual sensing covered the whole city. In his mind, countless formulas and variates changed and combined with each other and formed a vague model.

  This model started to zoom in, following the order given by Ye Qingxuan’s mind, and most of the model blurred—the equation was balanced. Which meant that in this part, there was no variate.

  Soon, Ye Qingxuan was stunned. In the blurred part, there was a place that was not supposed to be.

  The place was the habitation of the Holy Spirit, a place where the King of all generations and the Holy Spirit were sleeping!

  Every Holy Spirit that was going to disperse from this world would come to this place to get its own stone coffin, and bury itself in advance. In this way, it could stay longer in this world.

  Until now, more than ten Holy Spirits had dispersed in their coffins. Among them was the oldest Holy Spirit, the King of Romulus, who was respectfully addressed as “Aeneid,” the Spirit of Thunder.

  Normally, there should be hundreds of scepters kept in this place. If the enchantment was the shield of the Sacred City, then these holy spirits were the spear of the Sacred City.

  After observing this place through the transparent mirror, Ye Qingxuan found the situation in the habitation to be much worse than he thought.

  When the enchantment of the Sacred City was occupied by the demogorgons from the abyss, they knew once this habitation was destroyed, the whole Sacred City would fall into pieces.

  At that time, layers of layers of seals and single enchantments were all activated. The soldiers stood outside to guard the palace. A large group of musicians were killed by the demogorgons.

  The whole plaza was soaked with blood and covered with dead bodies, looking like hell.

  However, these soldiers and musicians never knew that inside the palace, there was nothing.

  Ye Qingxuan adjusted the transparent mirror. His spiritual sensing extended into the coffin, then he fell into silence.

  It was empty!

  Every coffin was empty.

  The sleeping holy spirits had all disappeared.

  Ye Qingxuan was shocked, then he looked in the direction of the Pope palace and smiled, as if he had understood something.

  I do not know who did this. Although he managed to transfer all the holy spirits, he has not been of any help in defending this city. Countless civilians were killed…

  At last, the exploring model was completed, and the Instrument of harmonious melody that was set outside the city received many signals.

  Ye Qingxuan had already known what was going on in this world.

  Apart from the Sacred City, more than sixteen cities in this world sent an SOS to Ye Qingxuan. More than seven catastrophes came to the human world from the Dark World, killing people and destroying cities.

  All the countries had been fighting with them by using their unique tricks, but were still at a disadvantage. However, if they would be willing to use the artifacts they had been kept for so long, they could definitely defeat the catastrophes.

  Surprisingly, Ye Qingxuan had not received an SOS from Anglo.

  The Anglo was in dead silence and shrouded in a mist.

  That made Ye Qingxuan feel very worried.

  Could it be possible that Anglo was already destroyed by the catastrophe?

  Surely that is not possible…

  The ringing sound made by Hyakume had woken Leviathan up, and Leviathan could be attacking Anglo now. Still, Anglo had gone into war status in advance of the other countries. Even if Ye Qingxuan was not there, they had both the Stone Sword and the Lance of the Dragon Slayer. Besides, Maxwell could well defend his city without Ye Qingxuan.

  In Ye Qingxuan’s view, it was impossible that Anglo had been destroyed by the demogorgons.

  However, no matter how hard he tried, he still did not receive any signal. Anglo was still shrouded in a mist, as if it had been isolated from the world. Moreover, Bayer, the director of the Association of Musicians, did not make any connection.

  The whole country, including the sea around it, was all shrouded in a layer of thick fog. The fog was like a sleeping monster that had just devoured the whole country.

  No one had come out of the fog.

  The aether channel of the fifth department was in chaos, and apart from many disturbing random electronic waves, Ye Qingxuan could only hear the sound of people who were doing field service.

  He kept silent for a while, then he gave an order with his limit of authorization: everyone should stay where they were right now, and once he got the signal, they should all go to Anglo.

  In fact, abnormal phenomena were happening in every corner of the world, not just in Anglo. This was due to the disruptions of the basic music theory.

  Currently, there was too little distance between the Aether World and the Physical World. In the wild, where there was no church, the rule of the Physical World had been covered by the disruptive music theory.

  Luckily, in every city or place where people congregated, there were either churches or bell towers built by the church groups. So these places were still fine.

  But in the pioneering manors, the wilds and the abandoned fields, everything was in chaos.

  In some areas, the gravitation went unbalanced; in other areas, the gravity grew more than ten times. The components of the air started to change, and in some places, there was nothing but oxygen in the air; if there was a spark, the whole region would turn into a sea of fire. In some places, there were dead bodies of animals everywhere, and in other regions, there were even cracks in the sky, and through the sky, one could see the dark universe.

  These abnormal phenomena were moving across the land like storms. The human inhabitants were being stricken by the storms and attacked by the catastrophes at the same time.

  The Eagle Wing Mother had destroyed one-third of the cities of the Federation of Caucasus. In the Snowy Highland, the cousin of Asgard became as fierce and courageous as Asgard. They formed a line of bodies to prevent the crows led by Eagle Wing Mother from getting into the country.

  Ye Qingxuan continued to observe, and at last, his eyes focused on the area beneath the Pope Palace.

  Although this place was shielded by the broken pieces of the Aether World, he could still feel the scary aether wave behind them.

  Ye Qingxuan had no idea what was going on there. Still, he was sure that Ludovic had been suffering, and this made him feel a bit relieved, but more worried as well.

  Following the disturbance of the music theory, Ye Qingxuan found that something was happening in the Aether World.

  In the Aether World, terrifying explosions were constantly happening. With every explosion, the rules in the Physical World and the music theory of the A
ether World would change drastically, causing serious consequences.

  With the help of the transparent mirror, Ye Qingxuan finally managed to see what was going on: two enormous figures were fighting with each other…

  The two figures were in a form that was out of humanity’s comprehension and beyond the category of any living creature.

  The Aether World had been torn into two parts, and they were fighting with each other.

  A gigantic wriggling shadow crawled out of the abyss and fought with ubiquitous light. The shadow looked like an enormous snake that was trying to swallow something big into its stomach. At the same time, its opponent was fighting back.

  Compared with this shadow, even Jörmungandr that was kept by the School of Dragon Stone that belonged to the School of Summoning in the Aether Wonderland was just like a tiny mote of dust.

  The shadow was Hyakume…

  It had become a being that was far superior to the body, the consciousness and the existence. It became something ubiquitous, a poisonous tumor parasitized in the core of the world.

  The tumor now wanted to usurp its host!

  Led by the Pope, the God that the Holy Ax stood for was fighting back with full strength. This God was made up of countless music theories engraved on the originator.

  Compared with their fight in the past, this battle between the two was a milder one. In the past, when the two were fighting against each other in the originator, one-third of the world was destroyed.

  If it were not for the Quiet Moon, the human world would have already become a desert.

  But now, the two were fighting against each other in the Aether World.

  The energy wave caused during the war spread out, changing the sky and the earth. The doomsday was coming.

  Watching this, Ye Qingxuan was silent. He was shocked by the scary collision between the shadow and God, something that was out of his comprehension.

  Compared with the two of them, everything else on the world was all meaningless, mere ornaments to them.

  Ye Qingxuan understood a question that he had never thought to ask before—what on earth was the thing that was addressed as God by humans?

  513 Beautiful Moonligh

  In the silence, a fire burned in the Sacred City.

  Although the demons were no longer there, the chaos continued.

  However, through the door of the shop, the turbulence and changes seemed to have already disappeared.

  It was like staring at the world through an oil painting. There seemed to be big waves that could reach the sky, but those were still far away.

  The noises and screaming in the distance highlighted the tranquility and serenity in the shop. All disasters and misfortunes were far away from here. Only the warm fire was burning and making people feel sleepy.

  However, a lonely shadow was still standing in front of the shop window.

  The white-haired young girl looked up at the sky silently and intently. She was staring at the white moon that slowly disappeared, and a figure that was as majestic as a god against the Holy Emblem.

  In heaven, the projection of Menti burned off. The scorching artificial sun lost its radiance and became the moon again, recovering its softness and quietness. The moonlight flowed like water.

  She seemed to be relieved, and a slight grin lingered on her tight lips. She couldn’t help reaching out and touching the window, as if she could touch the the figure that was so far away from her.

  In the reflection of the moonlight, she felt satisfied and relieved.

  “How beautiful the moonlight is!” she whispered.

  “Bai Xi, your attention is misplaced.”

  On the sofa, Hermes lazily waved his hand. “Here is the center of the battlefield. Don’t get it wrong! If you can’t move your eyes from him at such a young age, you will definitely be locked up by him after several years. Don’t tell me that you will never get married if he is not the groom. As an apprentice, you are losing face for your master!”

  The response was an antique flying towards him.

  Hermes smirked, tipped his head, and let the golden candlestick pass by his ears. Then it was nailed the counter, and rang.

  He waved, and the scene in front of the window suddenly changed.

  The shop window shone through layers of barriers in the sky, and got into the center of the Aether World where she saw two giants fighting against each other and countless turbulent changes of music theories.

  Like sitting in a special box in the theater, she could see all the changes up there.

  “After so many years, they finally fight again. It’s really worthy celebrating,” Hermes shouted wearily. “Bai Xi, go take a bottle of wine from my rack. Let us celebrate for them.”

  Bai Xi didn’t move, but stood in front of the window. She looked up at the two huge and horrible silhouettes in the aether sea with surprise.

  After a long time, she frowned.

  “Is that… what God is?”

  “Why not?” Hermes asked, and laughed strangely. “When you mention God, will you take it for granted that a god is someone who can fly and cast lightning over the sky? And even has a halo over his head? Or a pair of big wings on his back?

  “This kind of setting was quite popular during the Renaissance period which was a hundred years ago. Hmm, it was a trend that I started after all. All the people who painted murals copied my settings at that time. I really miss that.”

  After he pondered for a long while, he shrugged and said regretfully, “What a pity, Bai Xi. I doodled it for money… How could God be like a human being? They are different from humans.

  “They are completely different in shape, nature, and level. The relationship between them is opposite to what humans thought it would be. From another perspective, it may be considered as that between… ‘cause’ and ‘result.’”

  “Oh.”

  Bai Xi responded to him with no interest, which made Hermes swallow the words he was going to say. He was awkward, and sighed after drinking half a glass of wine.

  “…Bai Xi, as a student and an apprentice, you should show more curiosity to that.”

  “Oh.” Bai Xi glanced at him: “If you have anything to say, just speak up! Otherwise, leave me alone.”

  “Ok.” Hermes scratched his head. Despite being the student, Bai Xi still treated him like that for some reason. His desire of expression and explanation overcame his urge for the dignity of a master. He suddenly become exultant, as he began to explain. “We’ll just skip the details, and then we’ll have to talk about another thing that happened before—”

  Bai Xi interrupted him. “Make it brief!”

  “How badly do you want to see him…?”

  Hermes saw the thing that Bai Xi took in her hand before he finished the sentence. Thus he put up his hand and surrendered. “Wait, I’ll make it brief. Don’t throw it! It is the skull of the first King of the Black! The only one in the world! I’m hoping to sell it for my annuity!”

  “Just go ahead…”

  “Alright, alright.”

  Hermes shook his head and sighed.

  “Mankind has indeed found the Holy Caldron that lead them to the Originator, and created a god. But the specific process is not like what is said in the Holy Bible. Man and god didn’t make a covenant by rainbow on the cliff…

  “It’s more like alchemy… Anyway, that’s also what I made up. In short, humans created a vector in the Originator through the Holy Caldron. As a result, the Qing ascended and the Zhuo descended.

  “The ascender was shaped as the God, but the God is incomplete, because he does not even have his own consciousness. In other words, people stripped the consciousness of the God on purpose.”

  “On purpose?”

  “Yes, on purpose.”

  A quizzical smile appeared on the corner of Hermes’ mouth. “After all, who would like to have something above their heads that made arrogant remarks or criticized them?

  “It can be said that the position of God is on
ly a useless throne. Although it does exist, it has no meaning. Therefore, it is appropriate to call it a Holy Caldron, because it is empty inside.

  “Those who descended gathered together and became the Hyakume. Compared to the Holy Cauldron, the dark world is the place where the demons of the world are gathered. The Hyakume produced a goal because of its self-existence. Hyakume is the brutal god who controls the dark world.”

  He paused and involuntarily threw his sight into the deeper part of the Aether World .

  “The dividing line between Qing and Zhuo is the Silent Moon.”

  “Among the three gods, it is totally different from the other two. Although it is called a natural disaster, it doesn’t have its real body, let alone independence. It is only a benchmark that relies on the other two.

  “It is an insurmountable ‘border.’”

  “You can think of it as a rule of music theory that is beyond human understanding. It is a measurement level that was born because of the existence of the Holy Caldron and the Hyakume. It maintains an absolute balance.

  “The Hyakume wants to integrate with God and turn the Originator into chaos again. Unfortunately, it is completely opposite to God. They are incompatible with each other. If they wanted to merge with each other, everything in the world, including the balance among the Aether World, the aether sea, and the Physical World, would be destroyed.

  “Even the Originator couldn’t bear such a huge impact.”

  “That’s why the Silent Moon was born. It can be said that it is the closest to the nature of the Originator among the three gods, because it was the ‘boundary’ created by the Originator itself.

  “It is a balance valve that restricts the battle between the Holy Caldron and the Hyakume. It has only appeared once in the past when the battle between the Hyakume and the Holy Caldron got extremely brutal, and even the Originator was affected.

  “At that time, everyone saw that the Pale Moon and the Indigo Moon overlapped in the sky and the Silent Moon came out.

  “As a result, the cold eradication and reconstruction began, and everything involved in it, whether it was people or demons or even natural disasters, was completely erased.