by Feng Yue
“The curse of the dragon blood?” Ye Qingxuan asked.
Christine nodded. “No need to bother about my injuries, I can still walk. Protect the princess first. We must leave this place. Our medicine has run out. Her Royal Highness is a dangerous threat now…”
“I’m afraid it would be quite troublesome to leave.” Ye Qingxuan scratched his head and sighed. “In my hurry just now, I rushed into the encirclement. The time was really too tight, I couldn’t think of any other way.”
Christine was stunned. Encirclement?
In the dark night, the dissipated melody of Requiem VI seemed to flow towards them once more. Innumerable dust particles descended from the sky. A dozen figures in white, wearing a crystal crown each, slowly rose from the dust. The aether waves coming from each one of them were no less powerful as compared to that from Nigel, even…stronger!
Despite having died for so many years, their strength had not been weakened. On the contrary, with the help of the strange music theories in the shadow of Avalon, their strength had continued escalating to new heights. Furthermore, they still carried the precious treasures they had obtained while they were alive on them.
Ye Qingxuan’s gaze swept over them and his pupils couldn’t help but contract.
A solemn and quaint sword, ancient scrolls exuding the aura of the oddities of the realm of aether, a strange crystal eyeball, and the familiar black hat…
The first generation of the Royal Musician Division, the 13 principal conductors, had all arrived…
578 The Blood of Amber
Things were getting bad.
Actually, it was very bad.
On the deadly-silent stage, only the melody of Requiem VI was lingering. 13 principal conductors stood in the darkness and silently guarded all the ways out.
Ye Qingxuan could feel the Symphonies of Predestination in them which were so real, and the even more terrible imposing manners of the musician in a grey coat and one in a red coat. They were the head and the deputy head of the first-generation Royal Music Division, respectively, and the two best musicians of Anglo and the School of Royalty. What’s more, they were both Scepter musicians and were the best of the Scepter musicians. Although it was as though they had been brought back from the hands of death, it was not clear if they still had the power of a Scepter musician. Their names and their battle records were enough to send a chill down everyone’s spine.
The 13 conductors and the 13 big musician divisions were the strongest power of the musicians when Anglo was at its peak.
Fighting against one of them, Ye Qingxuan would win as they were resurrected from death and thus were weaker than when they were alive. Fighting two of them, Ye Qingxuan would find it difficult to cope. Facing five of them, he would not hesitate at all to run away. Yet now, Ye Qingxuan would definitely lose, not to mention, he had to fight the head and deputy head of the first-generation royal musician divisions.
He became curious.
What brought these musicians, who have been dead for centuries, back to life? Do they have the same power as when they were alive? What do they have to do with Leviathan? Is the Seal of the royal palace of the Shadow of Avalon intact?
There seemed to be more and more questions.
Looking in the direction where they were looking, Ye Qingxuan saw the girl in the corner.
Mary? But why Mary? Why did those 13 conductors kill themselves with the Drug of Penglai? Why were they resurrected? Why are they chasing Mary? To show her their loyalty to the King’s family?
That was hilarious. Ye Qingxuan was amused by his own thought.
He stood in front of Mary and looked at the 13 conductors. No, there were only 12 conductors as he had just snapped Nigel the Galaxy musician’s head off. He was once a Scepter musician, yet he hadn’t had the chance to use his Symphony of Predestination before he died for the second time.
It was so ridiculous that he was so weak! Ye Qingxuan could hardly believe he killed one of them by just one surprise attack.
When he was thinking about how to stall and find a way to get Mary and Christine out of the Shadow of Avalon, the musician in red raised his hand. He was the head of the first-generation musician divisions, the strongest of the 13 conductors, the scepter musician who had helped King Arthur build the School of Royalty. The Star Summoner, the Eye of Oddities, the Killer Whale, etc. He was called so many names; enough to write a whole history book.
It was said that he had had some problems when he was communicating with the oddities in the aether world and became homogenized by them. His real name and his intelligence had been dissolved in the aether, and he had even lost his original appearance. There was only blankness on his face, as if he were covered by fog.
The raised hand reached out toward Ye Qingxuan with a little glass bottle, the size of a fingernail, in it. In the glass bottle was some sticky liquid, the mere sight of which reminded Ye Qingxuan the smell of blood. It was weird and evil, yet fascinating.
In the shining glow of the liquid, a cold eye suddenly opened slowly. It was staring at Ye Qingxuan behind the blood curtain. It sent a chill down Ye Qingxuan’s spine which spread like an electric shock throughout his whole body.
Ye Qingxuan stepped back. He was hardly able to suppress the urge to scream. He began to feel nauseous and fearful, almost losing his consciousness. At the same time, however, he wanted to kill. Every thought in his mind was dragging him into madness. He bent down and almost fell on the ground, sweating all over, gasping for breath. It was only a short second, yet he felt like being tortured for a long time.
Suddenly, the sound of Jiu Xiao Huan Pei was heard. It activated the blood of Deva in him, in which the silver moonlight rushed and swirled. Ye Qingxuan instantly became fully conscious and dispersed all the emotion inflicted upon him. Then, he ended the desire to kill and the madness in his mind.
He was freed.
Opening his eyes and wiping off the sweat on his forehead, he stepped a few more steps back and looked at the Blood of Amber in the Grand Conductor’s hand.
What the hell was it? Screaming came from inside the Galahad’s barrier. The iron barrier of wind and sword was torn up immediately.
It was broken from the inside?
Ye Qingxuan looked behind him and saw the blood-red eyes of Mary. Crazy firebirds were oozing out of every inch of her skin, more powerful than ever before. It liquidized into red blood and flew out of Mary’s body, dripping into the blood pool on the ground which was full of ruin and madness, with blood flowing everywhere.
Her broken gown was immediately torn into small pieces by the firebird. Instead, she was wrapped up with a red layer of firebird.
Ye Qingxuan then understood—the grand conductor’s Blood of Amber was not targeting him at all. It was attacking Mary!
Under the stare of the eye in the blood, the curse in the dragon’s blood was ignited. It broke out and turned into blood, spurting out of Mary’s body. With blood all over her, Mary cried and screamed, but she could not restrain the mad laugh that burst out of her.
The ripper was awake!
“Holy sh*t!” Ye Qingxuan heaved a sigh and turned back. He looked at the dead man standing far away and gestured, saying, “Hold on for a moment.” Then, he went toward Mary.
Instantly, he felt like he was surrounded by blood and irritating screaming. It was like falling into a giant juice extractor, being chopped by the blades, hit by iron hammers, ripped by steel saws, and squeezed by gravity. It could turn a normal human into small pieces in a split second, turn flesh into liquid, and evaporate everything into a steam of blood and stinky smoke. Though protected by the Clothes of Original Sin, Ye Qingxuan was so scared that he grew pale.
Mary was in grave danger now. The dragon’s blood was awake now and was almost as strong as that of the original blood. Though Mary was too young and less powerful, her potential was even greater than that of her mother Elizabeth. If she could ascend to the throne, she would definitely become a king as great as Arthur, b
ut Ye Qingxuan knew, even without thinking, that was not a blessing.
All the members of the royal family in history faced a dilemma: If their dragon blood did not wake up, they would have no power and have no way to use the Stone Sword and the final defense line of Anglo. If the dragon blood woke up too early, it would be too dangerous and the king would fall into madness and become a monster.
Therefore, the happiest king in the history of Anglo was the fourth king—King George the Impotent. In his time, there was no foreign threat and no severe corruption within the government. His dragon blood had not awoken until he turned 40. He was ordinary his whole life, yet he had a happy and rich life, leaving all problems to his successor. Some called it dumb luck.
With all this nonsense in his mind, Ye Qingxuan went up against the firebird and held Mary in his arms. The Clothes of the Original Sin were torn up hundreds of times in one split second and could hardly manage to keep him safe.
Ye Qingxuan pressed his finger against Mary’s forehead. Mary became quiet immediately, the madness in her eyes gone. She became still, and the firebird on her dispersed quickly and revealed her skin.
“Hold on for a moment.” He whispered into her ears, “It will be okay very soon.”
The Clothes of the Original Sin came off Ye Qingxuan and wrapped Mary up very quickly. Then, many iron crystals grew on the Clothes of the Original Sin and became an iron cage. Then, massive music theories turned into chains and bound it up. The music theories blended with each other and made the sealing stronger.
At last, Mary disappeared and there was only a heavy iron coffin. No sound could be heard from the coffin. It was as if Mary was fast asleep.
Ye Qingxuan stumbled, exhausted. He undid the first button of his shirt, gasping for breath. In the aether world, the sub-originator sensed the vulnerability of the body and replenished the body with more energy.
Ye Qingxuan began to recover and felt much better. Christine looked at him in astonishment and asked, “What have you done?”
Ye Qingxuan smiled bitterly and said, “It was a little trick of a Mind musician to create dreams. The emotions are better channeled out than kept in. I made her a channel to release her negative emotions, but it was like drinking poisoned water to quench one’s thirst. It won’t last long. We have to get her out of here before it fails.”
Then, looking at the dead musicians who were coming to them, he cast away his hesitation and confusion and said, “Those musicians of past generations were really terrible.”
Boom! Jiu Xiao Huan Pei popped out from on his fingertip and then became invisible as the music theories established a great music chapter. Then, the Symphony of Predestination burst out from inside Ye Qingxuan and flew along the strings of the zither. With the Resonance of the catastrophe level, Ye Qingxuan was ready to strike.
Seeing the astonishment in the eyes of the dead and their transient hesitation, Ye Qingxuan couldn’t help laughing at them.
I am better than them, after all.
“Which of you will fight me first?” Ye Qingxuan stepped forward, pulling Christine and Mary behind him, and smiled. “Or, will you all come at the same time?”
The resurrected musicians were enraged by the remarks of this young man who was born generations after them. The crowd parted and the grand conductor stepped forward. Behind him, darkness rose. Massive tides, strong winds, and dark clouds were brewing. In the depth of the clouds, the King of Storms opened his eyes, revealing the nature of the beast.
Yet, someone from the resurrected musicians held him back and stepped forward instead. It was his assistant, the one in grey.
The grand conductor looked at his deputy for a moment and then, as if persuaded, stepped back. And the musician in grey looked at Ye Qingxuan and went forward. There seemed to be some emotion in his hollow eyes.
Ye Qingxuan smiled bitterly. For Ye Qingxuan, the deputy conductor was even more difficult to handle than the grand conductor as he knew Ye Qingxuan very well.
The musician in grey went forward slowly, holding his stick. Covered by the grey cloak was a simple robe, and he wore a signet ring which was the emblem of his family. He was more like a scholar than a musician. The top hat he wore was the same as the one that Ye Qingxuan wore.
Sensing the movement of the sub-originator in the Symphony of Predestination of the enemy, Ye Qingxuan felt a headache coming on.
Are you now going to kill me on behalf of the School of Stone Heart?
579 Sub-originator Showdown
Sigmund. Sigmund Hoffman.
A musician who made his name during King Arthur’s reign, he was from the School of Rock and Iron in Asgard and joined the Son of the Oak, a well-known branch in the school of abstinence, at the age of 24. The following year, because of dissidence regarding music theory, he was expelled by the Son of the Oak and disappeared from the public eye since then.
At the age of 30, he came to Avalon and swore allegiance to Arthur. He joined the Royal Musician Division, the cream of the crop of the 13 orchestras. After achieving the Level of Master, he served as the deputy head of the orchestra. With a music theory, which was completely different from that of mainstream musicians at the time and was even considered heretical by some, he established the School of Stone Heart and passed it down.
In other words, he was the founder of the School of Stone Heart. To some extent, he was Ye Qingxuan’s forebear.
After all, the technology of Ye Qingxuan’s Sub-originator was obtained from the item Sigmund had passed down. So, Ye Qingxuan couldn’t avoid being referred to as the atavic successor of the School of Stone Heart. What was more, Ye Qingxuan had also added his own innovations.
Music theories would resonate with each other if they were derived from the same source, let alone Sub-originators compiled of music theory, which had intangible mutual sensing between them. Such mutual sensing became especially strong when the distance between the two was less than ten meters.
Ye Qingxuan was getting a headache from the thought of fighting against his forebear. What was more, he also respected this Mr. Sigmund very much, and he really didn’t want to see the elder musician on the battlefield. But in this regard, Sigmund had nothing to hesitate about but had instead stopped the principal conductor who was getting ready to take the field and opted to fight against Ye Qingxuan by himself.
Fortunately, even though the musicians of the first generation had died for centuries, they still retained an almost instinctual pride and dignity from their past, and they would never choose to besiege a musician of a younger generation.
Sigmund opted for the most traditional manner of fighting, a duel between musicians. He stood still ten meters before Ye Qingxuan, advanced no further and simply waved. Countless dust particles flew and condensed into a faint circle, enveloping a large area.
Then, as Ye Qingxuan looked on, Sigmund took off the alchemy equipment on him and handed it to others. In the end, only the dress suit and gray coat that he was wearing remained, as well as the gray-black cane in his hand.
As his Symphony of Predestination began operating slowly, a vast power rose from his body without any disguise and could be clearly seen by everyone.
Behind him, the coat of arms of the School of Stone Heart rose slowly.
Sigmund gazed at Ye Qingxuan and waited silently for a response.
His eyes remained empty.
…
What is this? How to Fight against Your Forebear for Dummies?
Ye Qingxuan couldn’t help but get a headache. Even among the various versions of duels between musicians, the one Sigmund had chosen was the most classical and formal. Participants would remove all their external equipment, demonstrate their strength and declare the school they came from. They would only rely on their own powers and nothing else when dueling.
The method would enable the outcome to be determined in the fairest way possible.
Ye Qingxuan was silent for a moment. Jiu Xiao Huan Pei faded into nothingness from his fingertips, and
he removed various alchemy equipment from himself before stepping into the circle of dust.
Across a distance that wasn’t very far, the two bowed to each other, their actions so synchronized that they looked as if they were cast from the same mold. Ye Qingxuan looked up, and his Symphony of Predestination revealed itself. It consisted of the seal of moonlight, catastrophe resonation…and the stone of sage which had combined with his Sub-originator.
In an instant, a round moon descended from the realm of aether and floated behind Ye Qingxuan, the cold, clear moonlight spilling down. The world became calm and quiet once more.
This is…a Sub-originator? Shock flashed across Sigmund’s eyes. Soon, he tapped the ground with his cane. In the crisp sound, aether waves were awakened and rose from his body.
Under his garment, his heart gave off a glow as bright as fire.
His Sub-originator awakened.
The complicated music theories within were entangled with each other and formed a stable structure. It separated from his body and floated above his shoulders. Simply by appearing, the huge gravitational force coming from its music theory was enough to distort reality, and vague illusions of flames leaping formed faintly.
The Sub-originator had been constructed in the most orthodox way possible. It was combined with precious materials from the realm of aether, implanted into the human body, and formed an aetheric organ after being transformed with music theory.
Such was Sigmund’s Sub-originator.
Although its structure could not be compared to the huge moon, each detail of it was exquisite and down-to-earth, having been perfected over and over again. Nothing unnecessary was present, and God knew how many music theories were contained within the Sub-originator of the size of a fist. Countless instances of nature interference were occurring in it, and it had even evolved to contain the essence of the school of modifications.
Employing the powers of modifications via the powers of abstinence, the music theories involved ranged across two systems.