by Feng Yue
Behind Ye Qingxuan, the unreal moon suddenly turned real.
Immediately afterwards, the moon absorbed the power from the aether sea crazily. After only an instant, there was almost no power there.
The change in density caused giant waves and turbulence.
The pure white moon’s configuration changed constantly.
In the countless circulations from waning moon to full moon, which was like the passage of years in an instant, appeared a touch of cold blue. After each circulation, the cold blue became more obvious on the pure white moon.
Ultimately, the terrible changes of music theories had been pushed to the limit.
Ye Qingxuan’s movement of heart sound suddenly shattered and reorganized immediately. Then, an unprecedentedly large music movement appeared!
The aether waves of the Heaven Ladder, the Sub-originator, and the heaven catastrophe integrated together inseparably!
At this point, the trinity was formed!
Suddenly, unprecedented turmoil broke out in the Chaos.
In the strong light of terror, Ye Qingxuan’s body slowly emerged.
As he breathed, a grand melody burst out from the music theory in his body, covered everything and everywhere it passed, and included them under the rule of the whole new music theory.
It was not the weak heart sound of the past, but a miracle that had evolved from the spirits of ordinary humans.
The real… Symphony of Predestination!
At this moment, Ye Qingxuan finally stepped out of the door and walked into the field of the master musicians!
Just like when he was once playing the Ninth symphony, Ye Qingxuan only felt that he seemed to be resonating with a distant existence.
A tremendous amount of power emerged from the void and poured into his body.
Numerous emotions, sentiments, thoughts, and other feelings emerged from the Ye Qingxuan’s heart, making him once again indulge in that kind of trance.
His consciousness was detached from his body, swimming in the water, producing light and darkness, and floating above heaven.
In that instant, he stared at the turbulent chaos and the narrow cage-like world, whispering, “There should be lights.”
The muffled whisper turned into some kind of low and grand melody that burst into heaven with the ring of Jiu Xiao Huan Pei, and sounded between heaven and earth .
Then, light emerged.
Between the Sacred City on the earth and the Abyss in the sky, a huge blue moon appeared, covering the entire world.
The Silent Moon appeared!
Taking the battle between the Holy Cauldron and the Hyakume as an opportunity, the real Silent Moon came to earth at Ye Qingxuan’s call.
Immediately afterwards, the dead silence of terror spread from there.
Everything was deprived of color, and became deadly gray, looking monotonous and indifferent. The gray spread. Everywhere and everything it passed entered a static state.
All the aethers were completely solidified.
All the music theories were forcibly frozen.
Then, the ruthless liquidation began.
All things that had crossed the border were brutally erased.
At this moment, the demons that landed around the Sacred City were turned into ashes, as long as they had the abyss mark. Several terrible shadows lurking in the darkness of the surrounding areas burst out fierce groans and evaporated instantly.
All traces of divine powers disappeared on the earth.
The faint shadow of the Holy Caldron fell apart.
The abyss that fell from the sky… was also completely broken!
The vast abyss collapsed under the moonlight. There should have been a deafening sound, but people heard nothing. The wonderful scenery of a broken sky was like a replay of the scene recorded in the aether ball.
It was unreal.
Under the moonlight, countless cracks emerged in the giant and dark sky. Immediately afterwards, the sky collapsed from the center to the edge.
In a flash, it was no longer complete.
Like a dark snowfall, the black dust melted into the sky without any traces.
Under the cold moonlight, everything that didn’t belong to the Physical World was quickly wiped out, leaving only the broken and quiet city, like ruins.
It was neither the destruction nor the rebirth, but the purification that ruthlessly cleaned up the mess.
Everything had come to an end, as if the curtain had fallen on the stage.
“Not yet finished, Ye Qingxuan.”
Ye Qingxuan heard an indifferent voice, so he turned back in shock and saw that black smoke floated from the ashes of Ludovic.
“The only thing that ended was the golden age of mankind,” he said. “You have rejected the final redemption and my governance, but surrendered your destiny into the hands of the Son of Original Sin.”
The black smoke that was quickly dissipating converged into a fuzzy face.
A single gloomy eye stared at the world with no anger or madness. It mocked with disgust, “You have to reap the consequences eventually.”
524 Forever
“Hyakume?” Ye Qingxuan hadn’t thought there was even a shred of Hyakume’s body left. The face sneered, and the eye on the face shot a glance at him.
“How brilliant you all are. I hope when the judgment day comes, you can still be as confident as you are now.”
“Judgement day?” Ye Qingxuan frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
“Why do I have to tell you?” Hyakume sneered. “You thought you would receive a happy ending once you killed me? Don’t be naive. Something more terrifying will come after I die. And that something will soon wake up…” Hyakume murmured. “When I die, the world will be totally different from what it is today, and more creatures like me will come popping out.”
Hyakume laughed and opened its arms to embrace the moonlight and let itself be destroyed by it.
“As you have put it in the Holy Bible, one day, a real dominator will come to control this world, but what awaits you will never be salvation…”
Soon, the last shred of Hyakume was destroyed by the moonlight. Hyakume fell asleep, sleep from which it would never wake up.
However, Ye Qingxuan was not happy at all; he felt a bit terrified by what Hyakume had said to him.
The moon was shedding its light upon this world, and the whole world was sleeping. Since the music theory in Ye Qingxuan’s body was the same as that of the moon, he was not destroyed by the moonlight.
In a few minutes, the Blue Moon dispersed and vanished. Ye Qingxuan was sweating like a beast, since he was close to being devoured by the moonlight and becoming part of the Quiet Moon. If that really happened, he would become an incarnation of his own personality.
Realizing he was still intact, Ye Qingxuan was relieved.
He felt extremely tired and passed out.
In the silent world, Hecatoncheir reached out its hands and held Ye Qingxuan. Ye Lanzhou carefully watched his son, who he had not laid eyes on for the past ten years. He wanted to say something, but stopped. After a long while, he sighed. “Let it be.”
Ye Lanzhou turned around and looked at the Palace of Pope. Then he said, “Stick to your promise.”
The King of Red nodded and said, “Then I shall bid you well and goodbye.”
Ye Lanzhou then closed his eyes.
Ye Qingxuan woke up and felt like he’d had a dream that lasted forever. Much had happened in that dream, and now that he had finally woken up, he felt a bit confused and shocked.
It was afternoon, and he was sitting in a chair and gazing at the tranquil sea in front of him. The breeze blew, bringing the salty flavor of the seawater. Next to him was a bottle of juice with droplets of condensation flowing down along the surface of the bottle.
Everything was so familiar and beautiful. Ye Qingxuan then saw a man sitting next to him. That man had the same white hair and eyes that he did. The man was smiling at him. He was Ye Lanzhou.
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“…” Ye Qingxuan was shocked and did not know what he should say.
“Why are you in a daze?” Ye Lanzhou knocked him on his head. “Call me dad.”
Ye Qingxuan lowered his head. Somehow, he felt like crying. He wiped his tears with his hands and took a deep breath. After a long while, he raised his head and looked at Ye Lanzhou.
“You have been trapped in the ruins all these years?”
“Yes. After all, I am ‘dead.’” Lanzhou laughed. “By the way, I have not taught you the Dream of Eternity, which is the tactic I have been using. Before I died, I locked all of my senses and memories in my brain; luckily, I had Hecatoncheir to help me.”
Ye Lanzhou sighed. “My real body then decayed. Five years later, my personality basically formed. But I am always confused and have no idea who I am most of the time. Thanks to you, you have rebuilt the Heaven Ladder, and the Jiu Xiao Huan Pei has been reclaimed by you. Finally, I managed to collect my consciousness. If it were not for reclaiming my own brain, I would still be sleeping.”
“I see.” Ye Qingxuan nodded. “Have you paid a visit to Mom?”
Ye Lanzhou was silent for a while and nodded. “Yes, I have.”
“She had been waiting for you until the last breath left her body. You owe her a lot.”
“I am sorry,” Ye Lanzhou said.
“She did not resent you, though.” Ye Qingxuan shook his head. “She never did.”
Hearing this, Ye Lanzhou did not say anything. After a long while, he looked at Ye Qingxuan and asked, “Have you met Lola?”
“Yes.”
“She is a poor thing. I taught her, but I never got the chance to take good care of her.”
“She is fine, you do not need to worry about her.”
“How about you?” Ye Lanzhou asked. “How have you been all these years?”
“Just so so.” Ye Qingxuan sipped the juice and frowned when he noticed the juice was too sour. Then he said, “I can’t believe you still remember this place.”
“Of course I do.” Ye Lanzhou nodded and pointed. “I remember it was your fifth birthday, we spent the day on this beach. If it were not for your cousin, you would have jumped into the sea.”
“Let’s talk about something else.” Ye Qingxuan shook his head.
Ye Lanzhou sighed. “You still resent me?”
“Not really.” Ye Qingxuan shook his head. “I am just feeling a bit sad. Many things happened, and I can’t change any of them, so I am feeling sad. I do not think one needs to hate someone.”
Lanzhou reached out his hand and touched Ye Qingxuan’s hair. “Thanks.”
Ye Qingxuan did not say anything.
Ye Lanzhou stood up and began to walk on the beach. “You must have already know what happened to the Ye family.”
“Yes.” Ye Qingxuan nodded.
“If you do not want to get involved in this business, just let it go…” Ye Lanzhou shook his head. He then smiled when he saw his son had grown up so tall. “You know what, I met your mother when I was the same age as you are now.”
Ye Lanzhou waved his hands and asked Ye Qingxuan to come over. “At that time, I was kicked out of the east side, and since then I have been wandering in the west like a homeless dog. I was afraid people were walking behind me or staring at me. I was afraid of people’s shadows. I was afraid of people, including myself… I did not care how I looked or how this world looked. But when I met your mother, for the first time, I felt this world was good. The world that held your mother was good.”
“In her eyes, I was a hero.”
“But I know I am not a hero. Still, I want to become a hero for her and make the world where she was a better place.”
Suddenly, Ye Lanzhou became quiet and turned his back to Ye Qingxuan.
“At last, I became a hero, but I failed to protect her,” Ye Lanzhou murmured. “This was the biggest mistake I ever made. Later, I refused Ludovic’s request, destroyed the mechanism of purgatory, and displeased Hyakume, but I do not regret all this. I am so sorry that I failed to accompany your mother for her whole life.”
Ye Qingxuan was silent. Suddenly, he heard a cracking sound. His father’s face had cracked, like a mirror.
“What is going on?” Ye Qingxuan was shocked.
Ye Lanzhou forced out a smile. “The consciousness of a human is not compatible with a catastrophe. I finally managed to wake up, but to make it compatible with my consciousness, I would have to sleep for at least a few decades or centuries.”
“You…” Ye Qingxuan looked at his father in a daze. Ye Lanzhou reached out his hands and hugged his son. Ye Qingxuan could feel his father’s heart beating and his hot tears.
“My dear son, listen. This world is beautiful, do not resent it. One day, you will also meet a girl, a good girl. When you meet her, you will find that you would do anything for her, you would change this world into a better place for her. I am so sorry that I can not stay by your side. I have a lot of things to tell you… but I do not have the time.”
Ye Lanzhou backed away, looked at his son, and laughed.
“I am so happy to see you becoming a decent man.”
Ye Qingxuan turned around so he would not see the cracks on his father’s face.
“Do not behave like a child, turn around and say goodbye to me.”
After a long while, Ye Qingxuan said, “Goodbye.”
Ye Lanzhou laughed. He reached out his hands and touched his son’s hair. “Meeting your mother and having you as my son are the two best things in my life.”
Hearing this, Ye Qingxuan clenched his teeth and did not say anything.
“Then, I shall say goodbye.” Ye Lanzhou backed away a few steps. Then he turned around and opened his hands. His past rose up like the fog, then it fell into his dreams.
A sleeping city appeared in the fog. The gone Avalon became bustling again. In the city, all the dead people were reborn and walked the streets. Young boys were wearing their sunday best, and young girls were wearing makeup. They walked side by side and hand in hand. Everyone was full of hope, and the homeless found their own shelters.
Ye Lanzhou was stumbling in the street. He crossed the crowded street, a quiet alley, and finally found the path home.
He saw that slim figure again.
Hearing his footstep, the young girl turned around.
“Why are you so late?” She watched him. “I have been waiting for you for a long time. The ball is about to begin.”
Her eyes were so gentle and beautiful, he cried when he saw them.
“I am sorry I am late.” Ye Lanzhou knelt down on one knee and held her hands. “Would you do me the honor of having a dance with me?”
“Sure.” The young girl nodded and held his hands. “We can dance as long as we want.”
“How about we dance for our whole lives?”
“That is too short.”
“A thousand years then?”
“Well, it is still a bit short.”
“Forever then?”
“Yes, forever.”
The everlasting ball began at last. Ye Lanzhou smiled and held her hands.
The two walked together into a dream, the dream of eternity.
“Deal then.” He hugged her and said gently, “Forever.”
525 Loneliness
The noise came from a distance.
When the noise arrived, after spreading across several streets and corners, it became a tiny ripple. Everything was quiet.
Having experienced the chaos and turbulence of the attack by Hyakume, the city had just restored its stability and re-established order with a lot of effort. Everyone was busy rebuilding the city and restoring production and work.
Hardly anyone could be seen on such a desolate and silent alleyway, let alone in the antique store there.
In the afternoon, a light snow fell again. A thin layer of snow covered the blood, the dead, and those empty pupils like a shroud. People had just forgotten the catastrophe had ever happened and continued their
own lives.
In the early evening, a rare guest came to the alleyway and the old antique store.
Someone pushed in, knocked on the counter, and waited patiently.
Behind the counter, Hermes was writing on the desk. He waved to the guest without looking. “Our shop is going to shut down for a while. If you want to buy something, please wait and come after this period.”
The comer stood by the fireplace and smiled. Then, he took off his thermal hat and revealed his silver hair.
“I don’t want to buy anything,” he said. “I’m looking for someone.”
He was an old man who took good care of himself, his silver hair combed behind his head tidily. His voice was slow and sturdy without anxiety.
Although he had walked all the way here, there was no snow on him nor water marking his black cloak.
“Oh, it’s you.”
Hermes was shocked at hearing the voice. He looked up, raised his eyebrows, and said with his usual mockery of a smile, “Mr. Bai Heng, your highness, long time no see.”
“Long time no see, Hermes.” Bai Heng nodded, and pointed to his wine rack. “Can you offer me a drink? I see a lot of good wine there.”
“Enjoy yourself.” Hermes shook his head: “You are worthy of them.”
Hearing that, Bai Heng picked a bottle from the rack, wipe the dust off with his hands, and opened it skillfully. He poured a glass for himself, and placed another one in front of Hermes.
Hermes picked up the glass and glanced at him. “You came to the Sacred City quietly at this juncture. Aren’t you afraid that the pope will guess your motivation, or the relationship between you and me?”
“For me, there is only one pope, and he’s not in the Sacred City.” Bai Heng took a sip and put the glass down. “Although it’s not the right time now, I still have to deal with the things that have dragged on for too long. The dispute between you and Tung Wang Kung should be settled.”
“Got it.” Hermes nodded and suddenly asked, “Can I resist?”
“As you like.” Bai Heng threw up his hands. “As you can see, although I belonged to the Bai Family, I have never been cultivated as a musician since I was born. So I am just a rhythm controller. Killing me would be easy.”