by Feng Yue
“Very good.” Ye Qingxuan nodded, but didn’t respond further. Then he asked straightforwardly, “How many members are there in the Fifth Division at present?”
Xavier smiled. “Something happened, so we still have 374 people. But the situation is not good. We—”
Ye Qingxuan waved his hand and interrupted him. “It’s enough for the time being. Our ship was broken during the trip. I need a qualified engineer to repair the ship with my people. You can arrange it later. We hope that the ship can be repaired tomorrow, then we could set off as soon as possible.”
Xavier became silent and his smile froze.
“Mr. Ye, you just arrived, and I’m afraid you don’t know the situation here,” he said. “The enthusiasm of young people is worthy of admiration, so I understand your anxiety. But the Fifth Division has its own way of mobilizing and operating. You have not taken part in any specific actions, so you need some time to understand and adapt. Otherwise, if we make a wrong move, I am afraid that we will suffer a severe loss.
“If there is anything to be dealt with, we can discuss together. Since the supplies are insufficient and our people are in a poor condition now, we shouldn’t act rashly until the headquarters in Anglo give us further instructions.”
Hearing that, Ye Qingxuan could not help laughing.
He didn’t talk, but only tapped the table in front him with his fingers and stared at Xavier’s expression.
(Ye): He must have spent quite a long time preparing such a fluent and seemingly reasonable remark. He is more like a politician than operational staff.
(Xavier): Ye Qingxuan, you are too young and inexperienced. You haven’t even participated in any actions of the Fifth Division. You still need to do a lot of work. Moreover, the lack of supplies, the poor condition of the staff, you know nothing about those… In short—you know nothing!
As the silence stretched, Ye Qingxuan kept tapping on the table with his fingers. The crisp sound was like a small chisel that took away Xavier’s smile.
In the end, Xavier became awkward.
“Anything else?” Ye Qingxuan suddenly asked. “Any other excuses or reasons?”
Xavier’s face twitched slightly, for he was irritated by the tapping sound of the table. A flash of anger appeared in his eyes.
“Still not enough?” he asked coldly.
Ye Qingxuan smiled and shook his head. “I think you’ve been thinking wrong since the beginning…”
He got up, put his hands on the table, and bent down to overlook Xavier.
“I’m not negotiating with or begging you, and I’m not going to listen to your excuses. So, you don’t have to worry about finding a reason.”
As he spoke that, Ye Qingxuan lifted his hand and raised his middle finger to show Xavier his ring. “No qualifications or experience is required. I don’t have to prove to you if I am qualified. When Maxwell is not here, I am the head of the Fifth Division, and your commander. If I command you to repair the ship, then you repair the ship. If I command you to act now, then you act now.
“Before you talk with me, you have to know your position first, Colonel Xavier. That is an order!”
His harsh voice echoed in the air, and turned into a thunderous noise that made the entire room tremble and the wall hum.
A hint of aggression flashed in Xavier’s eyes, and he seemed determined to do something, but someone pressed on his shoulder with a hand.
It was the old musician.
The waves of music theory dispersed the noises in Xavier’s body and forcibly restored him to calmness, leaving him no longer unaffected by the hint in Ye Qingxuan’s words.
Xavier took a deep breath and stopped looking at Ye Qingxuan.
“It’s getting late, and you may be tired, Mr. Ye.” He squeezed his voice out of his teeth. “Have a good rest first! We’ll talk about the rest tomorrow.”
Ye Qingxuan glanced at the old musician behind him with a spurious smile.
After holding his gaze, he turned away without saying anything.
The door closed.
After a long time of silence, Xavier breathed a sigh of relief.
“Mr. Mandel, why did you stop me?”
“You were doing what he wanted you to do,” Mandel said. “Don’t forget who he is now. If you dare to do anything harmful to him, you’ll give him an excuse to kill you.”
He paused and looked in the direction that Ye Qingxuan had left. “He will never hesitate.”
Xavier’s face turned purple with anger. “How dare he!”
Although saying so, Xavier actually knew very well.
Of course he would dare to kill me.
The Fifth Division is not a politician institution. It is a violent institution, a manufacturing plant for executioners and killing tools. It is now in a state of emergency, so the wartime regulations are used. If Ye Qingxuan gets a chance, he will never be soft on me.
Xavier sat in his chair silently and smoked the last few cigarettes. His face couldn’t be seen clearly in the flickering light.
“I’ve arranged that room for him to live.”
He suddenly said, “Master Mandel, it’s up to you next.”
“Well, you made a wise choice.” Mandel nodded. “Just relax and have a good rest. Tomorrow, he won’t be a threat.”
Xavier snuffed out the cigarette.
“I hope so.”
-
-
In Ye Qingxuan’s room in the Cloister of Cavern, a middle-aged man with a face full of whiskers leaned on a chair and wiped his beard bedewed by the liquor after finishing the whole bottle.
“Grand Inquisitor, this is different from what you said to us,” he complained. “Your subordinates don’t seem willing to transfer the authority to you. Moreover, I’m afraid that you are not welcome at all.”
Saying that, he shrugged his shoulders and looked at the doorway. “My crew has been guarded, and my ship has been thrown out, exposed to wind and rain.”
“Rest assured, Captain Igor, my promise remains valid.” Ye Qingxuan, whose was resting on the bed, opened his eyes and said, “Go back and rest. When things are over, if you are not satisfied with your reward, I can give you more.”
Igor sighed reluctantly. “To tell the truth, I’m very satisfied with the reward that you’ve promised, but I just have some doubts on… the value of your name in those people’s hearts. If you are not sure, we can run. Anyway, the ship is still there, right?
“All my sailors know how to fight. It’s okay for them to break through here… You don’t have to puff yourself up at your own cost. If you are killed tonight, who should I ask for the final payment?”
Ye Qingxuan smiled. “Mr. Igor, are you Asgardian?”
“I prefer to say that I am the son of the sea, although the sea is sometimes a bitch.” Igor shrugged. “But I am indeed Asgardian. Yes, you will know that from my name.”
“Then you should have heard a proverb.” Ye Qingxuan closed his eyes and whispered fluently in Asgardian.
“The real authority will not be in the hands of the thieves for a long time, it will choose the owner who could match with itself. Those who could survive after drinking the dragon blood are the strong ones. Am I right?”
Igor stared at him with a frown for a long time, then he shook his head and sighed.
“I hope so.”
532 Nightmare
It was late at night, in the basement of the Cloister of Cavern. There was a stove, from which smoke of sulphur slowly and consistently crawled out and soon spread into the whole basement. At the same time, many different illusions of hell appeared in the dancing fire.
The hydrargyrum was flowing in the groove on the ground and formed a complex Alchemy Array. The array extended in all directions and even spread to the ceiling. At last, it gathered around the bizarre “stove.”
With the smoke and the array, the whole space of the basement was twisted and became non-physical magic world. The music theory of the School of Abstinence filled this
room and began absorbing the energy from the aether stove. All the rules of the Physical World changed completely, and this place became a projection of the Aether World.
In the basement, the old musician Mandel was playing his Mandolin. The string trembled, making a peculiar sound.
Throughout the centuries, the School of Dinar had been studying the peculiar creatures in the Aether World. The members of the School of Dinar were good at the Path of Domain of the School of Dinar. They even created a new tactic, which was “construction of the magic land.”
The musicians of the School of Dinar knew quite a lot about the Aether World and the peculiar creatures living there, and they knew how to exchange valuable things from the Physical World with things from those creatures.
Mandel, the strongest master of the School of Dinar, was an expert on these creatures, and possessed various precious materials and treasures.
In only a few days, starting from this basement, he successfully turned the whole Cloister of Cavern into his own “magic world,” where he was the dominator.
He had promised Xavier that he could definitely kill Ye Qingxuan. But his peer did not think so.
“Mr. Mandel, I think we should change our plan,” the young stenographer suggested, from where he stood in the corner. “The original plan may not work now.”
“Why, in particular?” Mandel asked.
“We never thought Ye Qingxuan could come here so fast.” The stenographer sighed. “Up until now, we have made many arrangements with the precondition that Ye Qingxuan would not come so quickly. Now he is already here, all our efforts become futile. The Fifth Division was built by Maxwell, so he is the boss here. I do not think Xavier will dare to contradict Maxwell.”
“Ye Qingxuan is just a dead man trapped in the fog.” Mandel sneered. “Once I kill him, we can go on as planned.”
“Master, I think you should be more careful,” the young stenographer said. “If we mess this up, the members of the Fifth Division of Anglo will do everything they can to fight against us. “Fleur-de-lis,” the evaluation system, said that Ye Qingxuan is of the master degree. Besides, he has the bloodline of Lancelot and the royal family as well. He also has a close connection with the Nine Families of the Dragon Bloodline of the East.”
“Wouldn’t that be better?” Mandel asked coldly. “If we succeeded, Earl would take back his throne again. If we caught Ye Qingxuan, it would be easier for us to attack Anglo.”
“Things are not as easy as you think.” The stenographer shook his head. “You have been living here for too long, so you have no idea how many changes have taken place outside. Ye Qingxuan is… not an ordinary man.”
The sound of the mandolin suddenly stopped. Mandel slowly turned around and stared at the young stenographer.
“Auden, to be honest, I hate Anglo and this place as well. I am already too old, and I have promised the Earl to help him get this business done. I do not want to waste my time here listening to your bullsh*t. Remember, you are just a stenographer, and your job is just to serve Maxwell well…” Mandel said coldly. “It is not in your place to judge me.”
The young stenographer did not reply.
Mandel turned his back to him and began to sprinkle the spices in his hand into the stove. With the sound of mandolin echoing in the basement, the dancing fire changed its color and made some strange sounds, as if there was a mouse singing in the fire. But when he looked carefully, there was nothing there.
In fact, it was the peculiar creatures from the Aether World. Mandel had been feeding them for a long time. Usually, these creatures could cause lots of trouble, but for people who knew how to control them, they could be much of help.
After hearing what Auden had said, Mandel was becoming more and more alert about Ye Qingxuan.
Usually, the older one got, the more he was afraid of death as well as mysterious young men. It had been such a long time since he had gotten involved in this sort of business. This time, he wanted the mysterious books and some precious spices which the Earl had promised to give him. He did not want to lose his life.
Then he took out a cloth bag, picked out some spices, and carefully threw them into the stove. Suddenly, the fire went up and became more bizarre. Strong smoke spurted out.
There were many peculiar creatures in the fire, opening their mouths and moving restlessly like mice.
“They keep walking and walking and are hated by people. No one wants to take them in,” the creatures sang. “No one knows them. Many people ask them where do they come from and who they really are. They have no place to stay…”
As this bizarre song echoed, the whole basement was gradually shrouded by thick white smoke.
All of a sudden, Auden heard a string break and saw old Mandel taking off his clothes. His body had turned half-transparent and looked rather scary. Mandel had broken his own consciousness into pieces, and beastliness controlled his mind, as his body was became more like a monster at the same time.
Throughout history, all the schools had studied catastrophes. For the members of the School of Dinar, they did not need to sign a contract with catastrophes, and could easily get superpowers or gifts from these creatures.
At last, Mandel completed his transformation and temporarily became a peculiar creature of the Aether World, a “nightmare.”
He happily raised up his head and breathed in the horror permeating the air. Then he sneaked into the darkness and disappeared.
533 For Victory
Late at night, in the silent and lifeless cloister.
The nightmare, like a ghost, traversed the wall, and moved forward silently.
In the swaying firelight, the translucent nightmare inhaled and exhaled with grey breath. When it took a step, it moved a long distance, as if it was flying through the shadows.
The School of Dinar, which had inherited the Classical School directly, could be ranked into the top three schools of the present day, just because of its history and inheritance. Not to mention, the cabala and the music movements exchanged from the oddities of the Aether World during the long years also made them even more mysterious.
In addition to skills like the “construction of the magic land” that combined with their research and could exert effects of the scepter field level ahead of schedule, the “incarnation of the oddities” used by Mandel now was also a secret of the school.
Those who used the “incarnation of the oddities” could detach themselves from their human body and reveal the essence of themselves with the appearance of an oddity. What they could obtain was not only the various abilities of oddities, but also the improvement of their essence.
For example, they could perceive the “vision of soul” of living things directly through the matter. All creatures with self-will would show their own essence in their eyes.
At the moment, in the eyes of Mandel, the entire translucent cloister shone the faint light of fire. That was the fire of thoughts and consciousness in the color of violent red, silent blue, or fearful yellow… On the contrary, nearly no thoughtful purple or peaceful green was left there.
As he inhaled heavily, the streaks of firelight converged in front of him and got fainter after being swollen by him.
He fed on the consciousness and emotions of others, and turned them into his own power.
Just after a moment, the nightmare had condensed several times, as if it had really come to the Physical World.
However, while he moved silently, he suddenly stopped.
Above the narrow promenade was darkness.
He stood in the corner, staring silently into the depths of the hallway, and at the shadow of nothingness.
Through the holes on the wall of the hallway, a moist sea breeze came from the outside.
The vague moonlight fell through the holes and to the ground, which turned into a straight light that illuminated the moss and cracks in the corner.
Under his gaze, something moved a step in the shadow of nothingness, and broke into the moonlight
.
Then, in the place where the moonlight shone, a vague body appeared.
It seemed that the body was wearing the moonlight.
However, there was still nothing coming from the body itself.
Through the illumination of the moonlight, the features of the blurred face could be easily recognized. So, Mandel’s eyes were getting more serious.
“Ye Qingxuan?” he asked.
“Yes.” The comer nodded, and in the corner of his mouth was a cunning, irritating smile. “Why do you come here this late? May I help you?”
Why do I come here ?
Mandel no longer hid his own purpose. He just reached out his hands, showing the enormous aether waves and power.
On his back, the snakeskin-patterned emblem of the School of Dinar appeared slowly, revealing his identity.
Declaring war!
That was the etiquette among ancient musicians before the dueling, through which they could demonstrate their school and strength to their opponent, and have a fight in a formal way.
In other words, he already regarded Ye Qingxuan as an opponent who was strong enough to compete with him.
This was the first time that Ye Qingxuan had met a musician who adhered to ancient rituals. He hesitated for a moment, showing a hint of helplessness.
“The school?” he murmured.
In the name of which school should I fight?
Although he came from the Royal Academy of Music in Anglo, he was not a member of the Royal School of Anglo, which was good at summoning or changing skills.
He inherited the music theories of the School of Stone Heart, but the school had long been dissolved, and he had changed the things left behind beyond recognition.
Although he was the descendant of the dragon, and he might belong to the School of Mount Yu for some reason, he still didn’t know what the School of Mount Yu represented or even its emblem.
In the end, he sighed and drew a random emblem to show his identity.
The next moment, Mandel, without any hesitation… started fighting!
As if numerous invisible crows flapped their wings, countless black feathers fell through the air and to the ground.