Silent Crown

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by Feng Yue


  541 The Moon in the Water, the Person on the Heavens

  “Faster!”

  The hull shook, and the boat showed signs of an increase in speed!

  Behind Ye Qingxuan, the Son of Phoenix smiled bitterly. In accordance with the orders of Ye Qingxuan, he let out a signal in the form of a music note. With this part as its focus, the hull reinforcement process began. He pressed his palm on the center of the fine arrays on the wall, using formulas to activate the power within. At the moment, the hull, which had been on the verge of collapse, started repairing itself!

  Complex layers of arrays spread outwards from the core of the hull, similar to complicated tree diagrams, interlaced with each other and enveloped the massive hull. After sacrificing the service life of the boat by a large extent, the alchemist’s arrays had maximized the performance of the materials of the hull, upgrading the toughness, strength, and ductility of the alloy and steel by at least 30%!

  In this day and age where materials science had reached its limit, the results of a one percent improvement would be considered shocking enough, let alone an increase of such a crazy extent?

  The speed of the ship had stabilized at 50 knots at the moment, which was still a far cry from the terrifying speed of 97 knots achieved by last year’s champion of the Burgundy Boat Racing Competition. But that was a speedboat that sacrificed everything for speed. It was completely covered in arrays, making it almost equivalent to alchemy equipment. Moreover, this was a cargo ship! Its weight alone was way heavier than that of the speedboat!

  “It can travel at such a fast speed?” Igor looked at the musicians around him, confusion on his face, but the Son of Phoenix also looked baffled and clarified, “No… Not me.”

  As soon as he touched the arrays, he felt a vast tenacity flowing through the opening he established and entering the arrays for hull reinforcement. It penetrated the four layers of movement, creation, formation, and outflow. Then, it unexpectedly traveled against the current. Following the link created between him and the arrays, the stream of aether bypassed all of his precautionary measures, connecting itself to his sound of heart movement before he could react. He did not even have time to react from the beginning to the end!

  Then, the resonance, that could be considered frightening due to its large scale, began. Under the connection of the phantom string, every musician’s sound of heart movement was forcibly penetrated. A magnificent and vast axis connected them together immediately after, guiding their music theories to evolve madly towards the daunting unknown.

  At that moment, the arrays, the hull, the musicians, all three were united into one forcibly. It had neither flaws nor contradictions. It was as if they had been born that way!

  For the first time in their lives, they felt such a huge amount of aether aggregating under their summoning, obeying their dispatch. It was as if an invisible hand was cleverly gathering scattered water waves, forming an ocean tide, that could destroy the heavens and the earth with them.

  “How can this be…” A musician in the bilge exclaimed, “Where can such a large amount of aether be gathered from! It’s like…”

  It’s like the entire sea of aether has been hidden in a bag!

  The continuous flood of aether was following Ye Qingxuan’s guidance and fell into the Physical World from the sea of aether. Integrating itself into the arrays, it was transformed into terrifying power.

  The Son of Phoenix thought, in the area we are at, within of the sea of darkness, the nine layers of the sea of aether are full of strange impurities. It’s as if they have been covered in fog together with the Physical World.

  Perhaps the Masters who have already been able to communicate with the realm of aether can enter the sea of aether forcibly due to their amazing attainments, but unexpectedly, Ye Qingxuan can help other musicians to sense the existence of the sea of aether as well.

  It’s as if Ye Qingxuan has gifted his credit account at the Church Bank to three papers, for them to squander profligately!

  After the Son of Phoenix figured out what was going on, he couldn’t help but take a cold, deep breath.

  In the situation that we have not consciously cooperated, he can connect us to the arrays flawlessly. It can be said that his attainments in music theory and fine manipulations of aether are simply jaw-dropping. But how in the world did he let us communicate with the sea of aether directly?

  Ye Qingxuan understood his confusion, but only smiled slightly, offering no explanation.

  No one realized that on the side of the ship, the heavy anchor originally there had disappeared without a trace. By using Jiu Xiao Huan Pei to erode it and attaching music theory to it, Ye Qingxuan had temporarily transformed it into an alchemy weapon, a layer of buffer wrapped around Jiu Xiao Huan Pei.

  He could indeed sense the sea of aether and the realm of aether clearly, but it had nothing to do with his attainments. Instead, it was because he had ascended into the sub-originator in the realm of aether.

  The illusory Indigo Moon was shining on him all the time, leaving a trail of moonlight behind. Like a road sign, it penetrated the foggy sea of aether full of impurities, guiding him to where the power resides.

  Fog and impurities had negligible effects, as the connection would only be broken if he was locked in the Ultimate… But after Ye Qingxuan incorporated the Quiet Moon into himself, surely no enemy would do such a stupid thing?

  So, in an easy and effortless manner, he threw the anchor into the realm of aether, and simply hooked it somewhere. A huge amount of power was then drawn from the sea of aether, filling the arrays and forming a miniature pool of aether. Besides supplying the musicians, it was even sufficient to power the keel with.

  The situation on board has stabilized, next… Ye Qingxuan looked at the Mountain of Nomadism following closely and gradually closing the distance in between. He smiled.

  Next, it’s my turn.

  This was his first fight with someone—no, some monster beyond the imagination of the ordinary person—after leaving the Sacred City. In his heart, he felt an indescribable excitement and anticipation. His lungs were trembling slightly, his breathing gradually became scorching, but the complicated considerations occupying his brain slowly disappeared. In the end, only a calming silence was left.

  He took a step forward.

  As the music theory evolved, his Symphony of Predestination was awakened.

  An unseen force lifted his body up, and he took another step forward.

  Treading on the invisible ladder, he ascended step by step. In the end, he was standing in the sky. All he could see was the boundless dark sea. Roars of fury and the blaring of horns could be heard coming from the surface of the boiling seawater. Although the darkness felt cramped, the sky and ocean were vast after all.

  The scenery here is breathtaking, he thought.

  He sat cross-legged in the void, and Jiu Xiao Huan Pei emerged from his knees. It was no longer just a collection of disorderly strings, but a quaint and aged qin. As his fingertips plucked the strings, clear notes flowed from the qin.

  Young swallows chattered by the draped curtains, ancient dragons hummed in the turbulent waters.

  Moonlight shone silently, not from the sky, but from the sea.

  The boiling waters of the sea of darkness subsided in a sudden and returned to a calm silence. The dark sky was empty, but on the calm sea, an Indigo Moon radiated light.

  Innumerable strings consisting of music theory drooped from Ye Qingxuan, connecting him to the phantom shadow of the moon. In the empty sea, countless music theories reverberated and intertwined, evolving into a vacuum. They displayed spirituality and performed the Symphony of Predestination.

  It was moonlight.

  The moon in the water and the person on the heavens.

  At the moment when the projection of the quiet moon emerged in the water, Ye Qingxuan felt like the tenacity in the moon had entered the body of a monstrous beast. From the layers of blurry fog and illusions, it picked up a tr
ace of something real and chasmic.

  The ocean is alive, he realized.

  For a brief moment, Ye Qingxuan’s heart sank.

  542 The Singing

  The sea was in no way a living creature, but at that moment, Ye Qingxuan felt that it was indeed alive.

  It was not a metaphor, it was his true feeling.

  It was the warmth felt with his fingertips when they almost touched the skin of something; it was the tremble when seeing an incredibly huge creature.

  The sea was not alive, except for that something made it alive. There was only one possible explanation…

  Leviathan!

  Leviathan was awake earlier than expected and came back to this country which was so entangled with him. Thinking of facing a fully awake catastrophe, Ye Qingxuan couldn’t help be fearful.

  It was not Hyakume, who had come to this physical world from the Aether world, consuming much of its energy on the way. It was a terrible monster living in the physical world, but the strongest in the sea among the four living creatures.

  Facing even Hyakume, who represented rules and the Originator and was of higher hierarchy, Ye Qingxuan, with the power of the Sacred City, may try his luck against it to enrich his experience. But he would not dare to fight this Hecatoncheir for even one round.

  This time, there was no Pope or Ye Lanzhou assisting him, and it was not a god which was incarnated by the void music theory that he was against. It was a monster that really existed and had rampaged in this world for millennia.

  In its prime, it ruled anywhere the water of the seven seas touched. The ocean was his realm and a part of him.

  It was the ocean itself.

  Luckily, it was not awake yet. Otherwise, huge waves would have flooded the whole world and engulfed all continents. For now, it was only Anglo that was suffering. And this lightless sea might be inside its body.

  Ye Qingxuan smiled bitterly. Then, he heard someone singing. It was so familiar. The singing, like that of a child’s, echoed in the sea. It was like the singing of whales, resounding in the dark, deep sea where no man could go.

  “The king and his accomplice kidnapped the queen and jailed her in the dream…

  “We have the power, yet where should we go. Oh, men, hoist the sail! Pull, thieves and beggars, we’ll live forever…”

  The song sounded so sad. It faded away in an instant and couldn’t be heard. But somehow, it seemed to be close to whoever heard it. You couldn’t tell if it was real or not. The song was like a ghost, wandering in one’s heart.

  Ye Qingxuan lowered his eyes. It seemed he had to plan for the worst.

  But before that… The Mountain of Nomadism suddenly jumped out of the sea, shrieking with its mouth wide open, hoping to devour Ye Qingxuan in one bite. Its countless scales cut through the wind, playing a thrilling melody. The brutish nature, which was so pure, almost had its physical shape pierced out from its body, destroying the music theory layer by layer, turning it into ashes. It was so powerful.

  In one blink, the stinking wind came near. Ye Qingxuan lowered his head and fingered the string to fight against the huge mouth that was to devour him. The sound of the Jiu Xiao Huan Pei spread out and aether moved. Ye Qingxuan did not make any movements but borrowed strength from the sea and pushed the Mountain of Nomadism “gently” to help it jump higher.

  It was like pouring oil onto a fire.

  Seeing Ye Qingxuan fighting, the Son of the Pheonix almost screamed in terror. But the next second, he saw that the Mountain of Nomadism was pushed several meters higher. It looked fiercer, but it missed Ye Qingxuan by an inch. It fell into the sea again, splashing up huge waves. Except for the stinking wind and mist, no impact was made at all.

  Amazing! Son of Phenix clenched his fist and relieved slightly: though terrible, the Mountain of Nomadism was only a demon who knew nothing about language and music theory and fought only with its instincts.

  Ye Qingxuan didn’t want to win the fight. He was only stalling so he could avoid fighting hard against it by constantly escaping its attacks.

  Ye Qingxuan sighed to himself. It was not that easy. It was easy to fool the beast, but if the beast was irritated, it would only be more troublesome.

  In the next instant, incredibly dense mist rose above the sea. A hurricane suddenly appeared, bringing with it the smell of disaster. The whole world was filled with the terrible mist. There seemed to be a large amount of sand in the mist, which made him feel like he was being choked.

  Then, a pair of eyes burning with beast fury lit up in the mist.

  It was so close!

  Ye Qingxuan subconsciously raised his hand and played the zither. Along with the sound of the instrument, the moon suddenly rose over the sea and enveloped him.

  Boom! Everything was shaking.

  The moon shadow shattered under the horrible impact. Ye Qingxuan flew backward and struggled to maintain balance. Then he dove down very quickly and flew to his right side like he was escaping from some deadly plague. In the moonlight, he seemed to produce many shadows of his own. With his guidance, those shadows flew in the air. One could hardly distinguish which one was him.

  What was more terrible, a huge mouth suddenly came out of nowhere. The mouth tore apart the shadows one by one.

  Yes, it was the Mountain of Nomadism.

  The Indigo Moon was finally complete again; its light shining through the mist to reveal the truth. Yet the truth was breathtaking.

  In the dense mist, the Mountain of Nomadism raised from the sea…and flew in the sky!

  “Doesn’t a sea monster belong in the sea?” Ye Qingxuan was shocked. “It can fly? Isn’t it against the rules?”

  Against the rules or not, the Mountain of Nomadism was more and more troublesome. Not only did it fly, but it also became more and more cunning.

  Several times, Ye Qingxuan got so close to death that he was almost strangled or devoured by it. He didn’t want to have a taste of its gastric acid. It never occurred to him that a monster so large could be so agile. It was like it was weightless! Yet the wind created by its heavy body was so strong. It made him unable to breathe. Fighting against such a brutal enemy, he would be cut into pieces by its scales even if he was only lightly touched by it, not to mention the greyish-green poison that was constantly oozing out.

  The Mountain of Nomadism didn’t need any weapon or music movement. It was the gravest threat itself.

  Ye Qingxuan suddenly felt regret. How he wished to be a master of the School of Modifications! They could summon fire, wind, thunder, and lightning as they wished. If upgraded to a war musician or some other particular occupation, he wouldn’t need to yield to anyone.

  Among the musician of the seven systems, the School of Modifications was the best at destruction and construction, and the School of Summoning was best at attacking and cooperation… Yet what Ye Qingxuan learned was from the School of Abstinence, which was best at defense and music theory composition. In positional fighting, it was okay to fight such a monster. But now he was in the home of the monster. He felt so weak. Fortunately, he had other means to fight.

  In the dense mist, Ye Qingxuan dodged the attack of the Mountain of Nomadism. While he was passing by the huge body of the snake, the clothes of original sin suddenly changed form. The Exoskeleton of the gospel armor generated great force. Like a pair of iron pliers, they pulled a large scale the size of a house from the snake’s head. The wound that had just been healed was torn open again. The bone-deep agony irritated the monster, driving it completely mad.

  Ye Qingxuan was in no way better than the monster. Though protected by the clothes of original sin, he could hardly feel his arm anymore. It was numb.

  With the sharp shrieking of the monster, Ye Qingxuan tossed aside the scale which was almost his size, and said to the furious Mountain of Nomadism, “It was so inconvenient to fight in the sky.” Pausing, he smiled meaningfully. “How about we go into the sea?”

  Instantly, a huge amount of illusory seawater fell from t
he sky, as if the god had released the flood to destroy the whole world. The seawater was so cold, it was as if it was suddenly winter.

  A grave melody sounded in the downpour; beautiful and sad. With agony as its implications, the Die Nebensonnen revealed its phantasm. The Winterreise was then played.

  543 The Ocean Abyss of Suffocation

  In midair, the flying giant snake was suddenly seized with pain. Strands of pain sprouted from its head, making their way into its wounds as if they were alive. They flowed along its bone marrow, causing its body to spasm, as its consciousness descended into a mania.

  As a result, the torrential rains became heavier and heavier, as if clusters of stars were falling down. Countless raindrops gathered into a torrent of water, falling from the sky into the sea. In the blink of an eye, the fog had disappeared without a trace. As the snake’s body was forced back into the sea by the torrent bit by bit, it struggled furiously and hissed towards the Indigo Moon hanging between the heavens and the earth.

  Moonlight flowed.

  Declaring that the long night had fallen, the first song of Winterreise, Gute Nacht, played. Endless hoarfrost, fine in texture, formed on the sea level. The tiny ice crystals collided with each other, making crisp, clear sounds, like a melody of winter.

  Falling from the sky was a river that resembled tears. Ghostly flames emerged quietly, floating above it, and in the storm, shadows of crows circled the sky. Various imageries emerged one by one between the ocean and the sky.

  The world had turned into a performance stage for illusions. They intertwined, dragging the Mountain of Nomadism into endless layers of illusions.

  Gute Nacht, Die Wetterfahne, Gefror’ne Thränen, Der Lindenbaum, Wasserflut, Irrlicht, Einsamkeit…

  The 24 songs of Winterreise were performed by Ye Qingxuan in a fluid manner, and his playing was surprisingly smooth. For the first time in his life, Ye Qingxuan played the songs so well that they sounded free of all inhibitions.

  When the last song of Der Leiermann was completed, in the body of the Mountain of Nomadism, the aether waves fluctuating faintly were completely subdued. It crashed from the air into the sea, struggling with all its might, but it was unable to free itself from the illusions flooding its perceptions.

 

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