by Feng Yue
The path of domain formed the carrier, while the path of commandment constructed the pure essence of modifications.
It was awe-inspiring.
But that wasn’t all.
As the cane tapped the ground once more, in the crisp sound, a brand new aether wave was awakened. The bones in Sigmund’s right hand lit up, and the power residing in it rose, constructing its form from nothingness. Unexpectedly, it was another Sub-originator!
This time around, revealed in the Sub-originator was a faint Eye of Bestiality—the school of summoning!
Then, Ye Qingxuan’s expression changed.
A third wave rose.
Above Sigmund’s left hand, the slumbering Sub-originator awakened and floated in the air, revealing its true nature. In the Sub-originator which resembled a burl, a strong aura of vitality was exuded. On the surface of the burl, a viscous liquid formed by music theory dripped, corroding the ground when drops of it landed and making a hissing sound. It was a vicious, spine-chilling poison…
The school of choir!
But it was far from over!
The fourth, the fifth, and the final, sixth bubble-like Sub-originator, which represented the school of magic, rose slowly. Six distinct Sub-originators gathered behind Sigmund, as if six masters had gathered there, their minds in sync, fitting each other perfectly and resonating as one. With one’s own self and body in a leading role, the six systems of music theory were controlled.
Collated under the axis of the music theory of the school of abstinence, the seven systems of music had converged into a complete Symphony of Predestination.
Ye Qingxuan took in a deep breath of cold air. He had mastered almost all of the music theories employed by Sigmund. He didn’t even feel any trace of concealment on Sigmund’s part when learning them, as if Sigmund was teaching him without reservations. But Ye Qingxuan had never thought of such an application method of the Sub-originator music theory.
Such was the pinnacle of the Sub-originator, the ultimate achievement of the School of Stone Heart!
“I initially thought that since the old gentlemen were in deep slumber for the past centuries, they must have been abandoned by the times. The fact that they are capable of such terrifying means took me by surprise…” Ye Qingxuan smiled bitterly and nodded as a sign of respect. “Excuse me for not realizing it any earlier.”
Protected by the six Sub-originators, Sigmund stood in the center of them, the seven systems of music converging into one. Faced with Ye Qingxuan’s words, he did not reply, but simply raised his cane, clearly expressing his intention to fight without hiding.
Bang! The duel began!
At that very moment, the exact same melody rang out from the directions of both musicians.
Holy! In a flash, the light of heaven gathered like a stream of water, forming invisible barriers around each of the two, the holy domains constructed.
The two used the same tactics coincidentally. With Holy being the core movement passed down in the School of Stone Heart, its playing was done with a unique skill set. Before musicians of the school managed to create their legend and form their scepter, the domain set up by Holy would be the most suitable arena for them to unleash their powers. In other words, it could construct a defense position for them.
The domain of Holy that was constructed by Sigmund combined the variations of the seven systems of music. In the blink of an eye, countless music theories gathered, breaking the barrier between the Physical World and the realm of aether, instantly creating a unique, alienated territory.
As for where Ye Qingxuan was at, countless rays of moonlight flowed, and bubbles emerged faintly from the moonlight, fantasy-like. The path he took was not Sigmund’s way of controlling the seven systems of music with the music theory of the school of abstinence, but the path of the dreamweaver, which involved constructing a dream with the music theory of the school of abstinence after blending it with that of the schools of mind and magic.
After learning from the books of the Religious Court of Inquiry, the music theory and structure of his domain had subtly included the elements of purification and ‘righteousness’. The two copies of the music theory of Holy started off the same, but in the hands of the two, they had become completely different. Unexpectedly, the two finished constructing the domains of Holy at the same time.
Immediately after, neither one hesitated as they reached out, pointed forward, and guided each Symphony of Predestination to burst forth in a roar. But no other effects emerged, for the two had abandoned other movements, and once again chose the core technique of the school of abstinence coincidentally.
Nature interference!
It was a brutal showdown of the two domains of Holy. Uncountable occurrences of nature interference took place rapidly one after another under the operation of the two. The air was turbulent, like ripples in water. But at the moment, hundreds and thousands of ripples were forming and dissipating in an instance!
The two used their Sub-originators as weapons and carried out nature interference. Countless music theories gushed out like a flood as they attempted to rewrite and seize each other’s defensive position.
The circle of dust that was ten meters in diameter seemed to have been thrown into another world altogether.
The broken slates crumbled into dust, and the dust was swept up by a gale that emerged out of nowhere, but the gale quickly disappeared without a trace. The dust fell rapidly and was burned into fine crystals in the high temperature without warning. The crystals then gathered together due to the turbulent gravitational forces.
The soil was as turbulent as an ocean. Countless crystals emerged from it, blooming like flowers, but were soon flattened by stronger waves, wilting and disappearing into nothingness. Numerous strange sights appeared out of thin air and dissipated just as suddenly.
As the domains of Holy clashed, the Symphonies of Predestination of the two slammed into each other brutally. The torrents of aether in the Sub-originators burst forth, countless music theories unfolded and expanded rapidly.
The key to the mysteries of aether was hidden in everything in the world, be it birth or aging, sickness or death, soil, water, fire or wind… Everything was just made up of various transformations and forms of music theory.
One could interfere with the nature of matter via notes, assign characteristics to matter via music theory, activate powers with musical movements. As long as one had possessed a deep enough understanding of the essence of aether, one could embark on the road to the Originator.
Such was the belief held by the musicians of the school of abstinence.
At the moment, due to the massive amount of nature interference by the two, aether had distorted the rules of the Physical World. The pull of gravity radiating from music theories blurred the boundaries between the real and the illusory. Within the circle of dust, the level of aether turbulence had surged to the highest reading ever, which had been obtained in a black zone, and broke the limit. The entire circle of dust was pushed into the dimension of the sea of aether.
Renounce the concept of self.
Under the interference of the music theory of the school of abstinence, both of them replaced their blood circulation with aether circulation, reposing their souls in their Symphonies of Predestination, turning themselves into beings closer to the realm of aether.
They had almost become oddities.
As the environment changed, the pull of gravity of music theories themselves became stronger and stronger as the realm of aether was drawn closer.
In the end, as the two domains battled and deviated, the huge pressure tugged at their Sub-originators, which slipped into the core of the battle!
Boom! The six Sub-originators revolved like stars, and the huge gravitational field formed collided with the Pure White Moon!
The showdown entered a feverish stage!
580 The Inheritance of the Stone Hear
At the moment of the collision, Sigmund’s raised his fingers slightly.
The six sub-originators which had converged into a whole separated. The moon missed its target and bumped into the center of the battlefield and became brighter.
The moon took the upper hand in the battle.
Did he give up so easily? Ye Qingxuan was a little surprised.
The six sub-originators scattered around the moon, like six stars surrounding the moon. The music theories rubbed against each other, giving off fascinating rainbow-like lights. But Ye Qingxuan didn’t think it was beautiful at all. On the contrary, he felt like being trapped in a cage.
He was besieged.
Each of the six sub-originators was not comparable to the moon which had integrated with the Stone of the Sage. However, under the command of Sigmund, they supported each other in the battle and formed a whole. Their strength didn’t depend on themselves, but on the power field they created together.
The six sub-originators resonated with and supported each other, their music theories vibrated and clashed, and their reality-twisting pull overlapped. The concerted power was directed on the moon. It appeared that the six sub-originators revolved around the moon, yet their pull was always tearing the moon. The terrible force was inflicted directly on Ye Qingxuan’s Symphony of Predestination.
All music movements had their own intelligence, and a musician’s Symphony of Predestination was the crystallized intelligence of the musician. As Ye Qingxuan had entered the level of Aether Circulation, his Symphony of Predestination became the carrier of his spiritual power. The pressure on his consciousness was causing him great pain due to the swaying of his will power. From just one bad move, he was checked.
Since he started the pursuit of his dream, Ye Qingxuan had fought many enemies stronger than him. He defeated those enemies by depressing their power with his skills and fighting rhythm and avoiding direct confrontation to find his chance to strike the fatal blow.
Ye Qingxuan now began to know the pain caused by being trapped by superior fighting skills. This disadvantage was unavoidable as Sigmund was the creator of the School of Stone Heart. No one understood the music theories of the School of Stone Heart better than Sigmund. Even though the theories were outdated and sub-originators were proved with a dead end which seemed promising, no one could beat Sigmund in terms of understanding of this school. It was like the fact that no human musician could defeat the King of Back—Bach.
Sigmund was the very representative of the School and the music theory system and he knew every skill there was. Each and every slight change in the music theory was powerful enough to greatly impact Ye Qingxuan, who had never known that those basic music theories could be used in ways like that.
In the moonlight, Ye Qingxuan raised his hand and pressed his forehead to relieve the pain. He should not have taken Sigmund lightly. He had to admit that he was not comparable to Sigmund in the field of sub-originators. Luckily, his Symphony of Predestination was much more than this and his sub-originator was improved to a new level that was quite beyond the limit of the sub-originator theory.
Ye Qingxuan took a deep breath. The cold air, with a slight rotten scent, entered his lung and suppressed the anxiety and sick feeling caused by the circulation of aether, lighting up the moonlight in his eyes.
The Seal of Moonlight was initialized.
Boom! The music theory changed suddenly and the pure white moon vibrated, giving off ripple-like light. The ripples contained some invisible power. At the moment of the collision, the locking among the six sub-originators vibrated violently.
The originators were pushed away from the moon and the locking music theories went further apart. The locking was almost broken under the first round of attack! The “pull” of the moon was greatly increased at that moment.
Affected by the tearing caused by the pull of the music theories, the physical world was also twisted and seemed to be whining, cracks forming all over it. In a split second, Ye Qingxuan’s Symphony of Predestination broke the limits and boomed incredibly. Although its power had not reached the level of Scepter, the increasing pull was thrilling.
Now the battle became a draw between Ye Qingxuan and Sigmund.
No. The situation was totally in Ye Qingxuan’s control.
When Sigmund gave up actively attacking and chose the “bush-fighting” strategy, he inflicted upon Ye Qingxuan great pressure. While at the same time, he also put himself in a dangerous situation. When the system of his six sub-originators could not suppress and block Ye Qingxuan’s power, he couldn’t do anything but watch Ye Qingxuan take control step-by-step and defeat him. It was destined when he chose to fight Ye Qingxuan in this area in which he was the master.
Ye Qingxuan’s Symphony of Predestination was just too big, of which the sub-originator theory represented by the Stone of the Sage took up only one third.
This was quite beyond reason. Each and every one of the Seal of Moonlight, the Stone of Sage, and Catastrophe Resonation was very difficult to master and included massive superior elements. Not to mention the combination of the three. The pressure generated during the integration and collision of the three movements could crush any musician. It was even harder to coordinate them into a concerted whole and direct them to work in harmony.
Even if Ye Qingxuan was best at the music theory construction of the School of Abstinence, without the compatibility across the seven systems of the Heaven Ladder, the accurate operation of the Jiu Xiao Huan Pei and the once-in-a-lifetime conditions in the Holy City, he would have exploded at the very beginning. Now, no one of the Master level, even those former scepter musicians, could match Ye Qingxuan at the skills and profoundness of knowledge. The music theories of the Stone of Sage could distort reality. With the help of the Seal of Moonlight, its power could multiply instantly!
Sigmund’s six sub-originators, however sophisticated and concerted, relied on the skills of the musician who were merely using the theories of the School of Abstinence to empower the music theories of other schools. He might have a lot of methods and skills and make the six sub-originators resonate with each other, but he could never integrate the six sub-originators into one real system. Otherwise, why should Sigmund separate them instead of integrating them into one? What’s more, his sub-originator was inferior in terms of material and was not a match for Ye Qingxuan’s.
This was the limitation of the School of Stone Heart. In the view of the later generations, the School of Stone Heart, though powerful, was born with many disadvantages.
The first was that the potential of a sub-originator was determined by the material it was made of. The special materials needed to make a sub-originator cost huge amount of money and a lot of precious ingredients. Otherwise, the sub-originator would be no good than an aether stove transplanted into the human body.
Sigmund’s theory, based upon the core philosophy of “abandoning oneself,” was to make aether organs named “sub-originator” to undertake the pressure of music theories in the musician’s place, or even abandon one’s body and put one’s Symphony of Predestination in the sub-originator, so that the musician could reach closer to the essence of aether. This, however, determined its super-high requirement on the materials.
Ye Qingxuan made his sub-originator with “the blood of deva,” which was absolutely luxurious. And then, he integrated the Stone of Sage, which was powerful beyond reason, into it.
Sigmund was the deputy head of the royal musician division and lived in the best time of Anglo under the reign of Arthur. He exhausted all his resources yet only made six supreme originators. How could that be comparable to the Stone of Sage, which was made by Hermes through painstaking effort?
This characteristic of the School of Stone Heart determined that ordinary musicians could never benefit from it as most musicians were not rich enough to afford the sub-originators. As time went on and the improvement of the music theories, the economy of sub-originators was ever decreasing. With the same amount of time and money, it would be better to try other things than to make sub-originators. With no followers,
the study on sub-originators was abandoned after Sigmund died. The School of Stone Heart finally ceased to exist in the course of time.
At his time, Sigmund, sticking to his own theory, left the “Sons of the Oak” and established the School of Stone Heart and spent his whole life studying in that area. Had he anticipated the miserable fate of the school? His whole life’s work was treated like rubbish by the whole world, cared for by no one. There was nothing more painful than this for a musician.
Sigmund was destined to fail in the level of the Masters.
Out of Ye Qingxuan’s expectation, Sigmund didn’t use the scepter. Ye Qingxuan had planned that once the battle reaches the level of Scepter, he would start the third part of his Symphony of Predestination, the Catastrophe Resonance, which would increase his power by four folds. After that, he would deploy the Wyrmrest Enchantment with the music theory of Quiet Moon.
In that way, he would eliminate all the aether in this area. He didn’t know how those resurrected musicians would be affected and if he could fight against their scepter and resonance. But he would gain enough time for Christine to get Mary out of this place.
But Sigmund did nothing to summon his greatest power from the aether world. Since Ye Qingxuan took the upper hand in the fight, Sigmund didn’t strike back at all. What he did was only command the six sub-originators with his fingers to integrate them with himself. He was fully devoted to playing his Symphony of Predestination, taking care of nothing else.
Numerous music theories were revealed in his realm of Holiness to Ye Qingxuan. As Ye Qingxuan’s nature interference invaded Sigmund’s realm, the changes of the music theories of Sigmund’s were totally revealed to Ye Qingxuan.
The changes of the notes, the combinations of the tones, the creation of music theories, the combination and application, the secret skills of the School of Stone Heart, the evolution and ways of utilization of the sub-originator techniques, and even the core elements of his Symphony of Predestination and his road to the scepter level, were all revealed to Ye Qingxuan.