by Feng Yue
“That’s enough, Shi Dong. Get these boring things away.” Ye Qingxuan shook his head and got up from his chair for the first time in three weeks. “It has cost me three weeks of my time now. I’ve learned enough to handle things. I don’t want to see these things anymore.”
“What if you come across some problem in the future?” Shi Dong asked.
Turning his head to Shi Dong, Ye Qingxuan said, “That is supposed to be your business, not mine. I cannot take care of everything.”
Shi Dong sighed. “As you can see, sir, we are all old.”
Stepping toward the gate, Ye Qingxuan didn’t turn his head at all. He waved his hand casually and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll squeeze out all the juice of yours before you die.”
Shi Dong was a little struck by surprise. He showed an expression full of self-mockery and said, “Our great honor, sir.”
Bang! The gate was closed.
559 The Day of Setting Sail
Six days later, on top of the cliff outside the workshop.
The workshop had once again expanded to twice its size. The three-meter-long copper nails were riveted deeply into the rocks, holding up criss-cross cables which was woven into a net, restraining the swelling black felt inside.
If one was to look downwards from the top of the cliff, the workshop would resemble a monster caught in a net. The net of the thick and heavy felt cloths was like a giant’s chest. It swelled and contracted along with the ocean tide in the distance. As it breathed, deep echoes burst forth the depths of the darkness and traveled in all directions. Roars and booms were constantly coming from it.
“Cut off fastener number one!”
Boom!
“Cut off fastener number two!”
Boom!
…
After blowing up the fasteners one by one, the booming noises were followed by the spine-chilling sound of steel scraping against each other, countless steel parts collided with each other as if they were in the hands of a giant, producing maddeningly loud noises.
The gray-black felt cloth under the steel cables seemed to have turned into a monster’s womb, and it was having difficulties in giving birth to the horrific fetus. As the alchemists attempted to ‘deliver’ it, the thing that was about to be born screamed with all its might, summoning tsunami-like waves with its screams.
On the cliff, Igor sat in his unchanged position, paying no heed to the rain falling on his face, his eyes red and bloodshot. It was unclear when did he last showered. He gave off a weird stench, and his hair was unkempt and clumpy. The grease that had accumulated on his hair insulated it from the rain, thus, his hair was not smoothed by the rain, and even started to curl upwards.
He no longer resembled the decent person he once was but seemed to have removed all pretenses and had become a pirate once more. He was drinking liquor from the collection of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and when he looked downwards at the workshop below, his eyes, which were bloodshot from the lack of sleep, had a wolf-like fierceness in them.
Behind him, Ye Qingxuan’s figure emerged silently.
“The finishing touches are complete.” He looked at Igor’s unkempt appearance and said, “It’s the final inspection phase now. In a short while, the ship will be launched. You’re really not coming down to take a look?”
“I…” Igor’s lips moved as he muttered a few syllables, his tongue sticking out from the blistered corner his mouth and licked the cold, salty rain. The anxious breath from his chest spurted out of his nose and mouth and turned into a dissipating mist.
“I’ve been looking forward to it for some time, and I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep…” He scratched his knotted hair with his hand, his voice hoarse as he said, “But now that I’m about to see it, I suddenly felt a bit scared. It’s like my child is about to be born. You handed me this child, but I don’t know… I don’t know if I am qualified to sail it.”
Ye Qingxuan patted his shoulder. “Then you should take a shower and get some sleep. I don’t want my ship to strike a reef and sink just after its launch because of her captain’s lack of sleep.”
Igor shook his head and replied, “Only staying here can calm me down.” He lifted his eyes and stared at the pitch black sea in the distance, which was dead silent.
“Now I’m much better, sir.” He laughed in self-mockery. “You need not worry about me, I won’t let you down.”
Ye Qingxuan nodded but did not leave. Instead, he took out a wooden case from his pocket.
“Want a smoke?” He had bought the cigarettes in the Sacred City.
Normally, Ye Qingxuan rarely smoked, so the case of first-class cigarettes crafted exquisitely was still half full. But a long time had passed since his purchase, and it had probably gotten damp, hence it might not taste very good.
“Thank you.” Igor took it, and he pulled out a thin metallic rod from his boots in an adept manner. He scratched his keychain with it forcefully. Sparks flew from the edges of the keychain, igniting the combustible rod made of unique material. He cupped his hand to protect the faint flame as he put it close to his lips, igniting the cigarette.
Observing his fluid movements, Ye Qingxuan raised an eyebrow and asked, “What’s that?”
“This?” Igor swung the short stick to put out the flame and waved it in front of Ye Qingxuan, showing him the overlapping marks that resulted from scratches accumulated over the years. “A combustion stick created by an alchemist, from my former captain.
“It was popular among pirates before the invention of the Clean Fire Source but has long since been eliminated. You probably haven’t seen it before. “
“Indeed so,” Ye Qingxuan acknowledged.
Igor continued, “It’s actually quite inconvenient to use, as it may easily cause a fire sometimes, especially on pirate ships of a poor condition. There’s aged equipment in disrepair everywhere, so fire may endanger the whole ship.”
He let out a jolly laugh and said, “Back then, the only person qualified to carry a kindling spark on board was the captain. The sailors could only eat their food cold, except for dinner. Whoever dared to light a fire would be condemned to death by hanging.
“At that time, everyone would gather on the front deck before dinner every day. The chef would be waiting with the firewood for the captain to arrive in his shiny boots that had just been rubbed, smoking his crumpled cigarette. The captain would then pull the rod out of his boot and scratch the knife with it… The fire would be ignited, just like a miracle! He would be the cockiest during that time of the day.
“I would stand in the most inconspicuous corner and watch the captain, going crazy with envy. In private, I had quietly imitated his actions countless times, dreaming that I could be the captain of a big ship one day, standing on the deck with my sailors. Wearing brand new clothes and boots, I could enjoy their respectful gazes…”
Ye Qingxuan looked at the metal rod Igor held with his fingers, which was covered in scratches, and asked, “Your captain gave it to you in the end?”
“Nope,” Igor replied. He grinned and said, “I stole it.”
“…” Ye Qingxuan wasn’t sure what to say.
“The captain was angry when he realized that it was missing. He couldn’t find the thief, so he tied everyone up, including me, and gave us 30 lashes each,” Igor continued his story.
He pulled his collar open and showed Ye Qingxuan the scars left on his shoulders. “Later, the captain suspected the first officer, so he cut the first officer’s hand off. That night, the first officer charged into the captain’s cabin with several sailors. And when he came out, we had a new captain. But before his iron hook was even made, another mob killed him…
“Pirates are always like this. No one will bother telling jokes about friendship or brotherhood. When a pirate sees something he likes, he will snatch it. If he can’t snatch it, he will steal it. If he fails, he will be hanged on the mast.
“I have been used to it since I was a child. Even as
a teenager, I didn’t understand what’s the use of money. You see, I could get myself everything I wanted without money. “
Ye Qingxuan shrugged. “The education of pirates is very different indeed.”
“I had no choice.” Igor shrugged as well and said, “To be honest, I also want to live like a young aristocrat, doing nothing every day but dress up and learn music. But unfortunately for me, I was put into a wooden barrel and thrown into the sea when I was just a baby and got fished out by the pirates.
“Growing up at sea, raised by a bunch of criminals and gays, even the milk that I drank was from the captain’s sheep. The first line I spoke was to curse people…
“I was very thin back then, short, with a hunched back, and eyes of different sizes… Before I was 12, I didn’t even have a name. Everyone else called me the deformed child. But it’s perfectly normal, after all, you can’t expect to get any love from a nest of pirates, right? “
“Right,” affirmed Ye Qingxuan.
So Igor laughed, squishing the cigarette that had been drenched by the rain. He narrowed his eyes and looked at the dead silent sea in the distance.
“It’s the only one that loves me,” he said.
Ye Qingxuan remained silent.
“The sea was the one that allowed me to survive, sir,” Igor continued. He put out the cigarette. “I am nothing if I leave it. It has given me a place to stay, enabling me to create some value out of this life, albeit negligible.
“To be honest, it’s a very annoying feeling, like a child brought up by a whore who prostituted herself to provide for him, with no courage to run away from home even. But as time goes by, you’ll get used to it. No matter if it’s dirty or otherwise, ugly or otherwise, you still have to love it. “
Ye Qingxuan was quiet for a good while, before sighing in a low voice. “I have to say that I’m becoming a little bit more adapted to your quirky metaphors, Captain.”
“Nothing I can do about that. After all, I’m not a man of culture.” Igor threw the empty bottle down and stared at the dead silent sea. He turned back and asked, “Is it really alive, sir? Everyone told me that it is.”
Ye Qingxuan replied, “It depends on your concept of ‘living’. For the ordinary person, as long as the heart is still beating, and the brain is still working, it can be considered alive.
“If a human is still alive, then his body is considered to be alive. His limbs, his bones, his hair, and his nails all contain vitality, even though the nature of the human body is no different from other material substances. “
“Other than the ordinary person?” prompted Igor.
Ye Qingxuan said after a moment’s thought, “In some sense, a musician differs from the ordinary person. You can think of it as if musicians have an extra organ called aether. The vitality of the musician manifests itself in this aspect as well.
“For musicians of the level of Distortion, the area within a hundred feet of them, and where their music theory can reach, are all extensions of their bodies. For catastrophes, the extension and even radiation of their perceptions of ‘self’ are even more insane. At the very least, humans have never figured out the limit of the size of catastrophes.
“For Leviathan, the entire ocean is its territory. All sea water is part of its body. It’s the ruler of the ocean, as dictated by the music theory in the Originator. It has yet to fully resurrect, so the ocean you’re looking at now is just its somniloquence.”
“So, it’s really alive?” Igor murmured. He understood and turned back, staring at the dead silent sea in pitch black, far away.
Shaking his head, he said, “But seeing its state of living makes me very sad. It’s too desolate. Even though it’s alive, it felt like death.”
“We’ve spent a long time speaking childish words.” Ye Qingxuan sighed softly, and stuffed the cigarette case into Igor’s pocket. Finally, he patted Igor on the shoulder. “You have passed the age of yearning for love, Igor. If you have an audience, I’m sure they won’t like it as well.
“So don’t trouble yourself with such thoughts anymore. After you finish these cigarettes, take a good shower, then go take a look at your ship like a man. If you really love it,” Ye Qingxuan paused and looked at Igor’s eyes, telling him, “then kill it, and let it be reborn.”
…
On the coast, in the cold rain, a young man in a black poncho ran up. His lips were frozen white due to the cold of the night, the lenses of his glasses covered in water droplets. The board in his hand had a sheet full of statistics clipped onto it. When he was a few steps away from Ye Qingxuan, he wiped the mucus off his nose with his sleeve, before presenting the report.
“Your Honor, we have finished transporting everything. The inspection is complete as well. There’s a minor problem with the keel, but Bishop Carol guarantees that it will be solved within an hour,” said the young man
“Then get ready for the launch,” Ye Qingxuan replied. He waved and threw the report into the sea. “We’ll no time left to rest after this. Comrades, one hour later, we will be leaving for the battlefield, and regardless of whether we succeed or not, there’s no turning back.”
The young man nodded and ran back.
Ye Qingxuan stood on the beach, waiting silently. The banging sounds of steel clashing rang out from afar, as the tower crane loaded the final items into the ship. From then on, the stronghold would be empty, as everything of value would be brought along by the members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith when they left with Ye Qingxuan.
When the last fire had been extinguished, Ye Qingxuan turned back and looked behind him through a curtain of rain. In the ice-cold drizzle, the clergymen donning red stood in the mud respectfully. The rain dripped from their robes into the mud, the puddles beneath rippling faintly. They made no noise, as if they were phantoms, and held the banner of the burning holy emblem high, like a quiet flame burning in the rain.
Upon noticing the gaze of Ye Qingxuan, they bowed their heads with respect. White soul-like gusts of mist squirted out from their noses and mouths as they breathed, merging into one, and ascended into the sky, like a curling white smoke rising from burning embers.
There were 1,041 men in total.
230 apprentices.
400 knights of the Witch Hammer.
130 purifiers.
190 organists.
And so on…
All the followers of Ye Qingxuan were here, and they were the only ones under his command in this world.
“It’s time, Your Honor.” Shi Dong walked out from the crowd, went down on one knee, and presented his sword reverently with both hands. “Please give the order.”
From the rippling water came deep echoes. All of them followed Shi Dong closely, kneeling on the ground as they waited for Ye Qingxuan’s orders.
Ye Qingxuan lowered his head and looked at the long sword in Shi Dong’s hands, and he couldn’t help but go into a trance-like state. In the midst of it, he saw Hermes staring at him from a distance, the souls of the deceased with him. With his usual mocking smile, the apparition of Hermes whispered in Ye Qingxuan’s ear, “From now on, he will be led astray.”
So, Ye Qingxuan couldn’t help but smile.
The world has been advancing on the wrong path for a longer time than it should.
The time for change has come.
From this day onward.
From this moment onward.
He reached out and clenched the hilt, raising the sword high. The blade sliced through the rain, making a drawn-out sound which reverberated through the surrounding darkness.
The illusions dissipated, as if the souls had left the world.
The light from the flames shone in the rain.
“Remember this day, my dear gentlemen!” In the burning glow of the holy banner, he announced, “Today, we re-establish the Religious Court of Inquiry!
“Today, we rise again from the quagmire of pain, embarrassment and difficulty. On this tortuous and rough path, never once h
ave we let go of our dreams and souls,” he continued. “Now, we are on our way to tell everyone—the sinners, the lost and the arrogant nobility—that we have not met our demise, and we are back!”
He raised the seemingly ablaze holy banner in his hand and declared to his subjects, “I promise you in the name of God, that what we shall do is righteous, what we shall follow is the will of God, and what we shall usher in is noble justice!”
In the burning light, countless people replied in unison, “Your Honor, all the glory in the mortal realm shall be yours!”
So, the ocean and the sky shook.
Magnificent booms rang out from afar.
In the midst of countless bangs loud enough to vibrate the ocean water and create waves, earth-shaking and earsplitting hisses could be heard. Countless copper nails wedged into the stone made piercing sounds as they scratched against metals and rocks. Sparks erupted as the nails were pulled out of the rocks by the tightly wound steel cables, the resulting screeches fragmenting the air one after another.
Among the innumerable things falling apart, the behemoth tore the nest that nurtured it apart, breaking through layers and layers of gray-black felt cloths, snapping all the steel cables and crushing all the fasteners into dust. In the shower of ice-cold rain, it emerged from the workshop, splitting the sea and the sky.
It was a warship so huge it made one’s jaws drop.
As the horns blared, the warship charged into the sea, stirring up hurricane-like winds, breaking the silent waves beneath. The scales covering the ship cut across the reefs and dams like blades, smashing the dam at the harbor of refuge, and the ship sailed into the ocean in the midst of its engine’s loud roars.
Above the bow of the ship, the ghastly white skull of the giant snake burned with a scorching flame coming from the aether furnace, emitting a glaring light. A slight movement forward was enough for it to stir up a gale and strong waves.
It was the Mountain of Nomadism, the nightmare and disaster that had returned!
The monster the world created had finally descended upon the world.