by Feng Yue
Ye Qingxuan stepped forward and suddenly jabbed at the throne! It might have been a swift attack to ordinary people but to Arthur, it was as slow as a tortoise. He could hardly bear to take another look at that pathetic posture and jab. Even so, there was a chill in the lance blade that even Arthur had to be wary of. The Firebird continued to twist and turn in the hall.
But with the sudden jab of the lance blade, even the Firebird was torn into shreds. The dark ocean was split into two by the golden streak of light, unveiling a straight path. The power of dragon blood that had yet to complete the ritual of godly ascension could not be compared to the true nature of Leviathan. But to Arthur, a Firebird of this standard was just like breathing. The pair of dark and empty eyes looked up and there was an explosion from the throne.
On the path of godly ascension, that hoarse voice suddenly turned into a howl of terror. The Aether wave, which was already terrifying in its own right, became a thousand times more powerful. It was as if a sea monster, who was on the brink of death, was flailing in the ocean in defiance and raising terrible tidal waves. The Aether waves turned into a wild torrent and crashed onto the Physical World.
On the other hand, the throne was in the peaceful eye of the storm, where Arthur slowly raised the stone sword. The blade of the sword moaned and trembled but there was nothing it could do to resist the will of Arthur. It was aimed at Ye QIngxuan.
Kill!
In that moment, a powerful light exploded and devoured everything. The incoming hurricane overwhelmed the glow of the Lance of the Dragon Slayer. The Symphony of Predestination trembled fervently. The trinity of components shook and was almost about to break apart. This was the difference in nature and it was as vast as that between a giant dragon and an ant.
Comparing the power of Leviathan against that of ordinary humans was like comparing the seven seas to a sampan. Just a slight tremble was enough to raise towering waves to drown every country and bury everything under the sea. A simple wave of the hand and hacking motion of the sword in the air was all it took to stop Ye Qingxuan in his steps. Even his determination has been shaken. His mind was now filled with the thoughts of the pain and hopelessness of being turned into dust.
Even though the ritual of godly ascension was still incomplete, with the stone sword in possession, Arthur was as powerful as any catastrophe. Catastrophes were catastrophes after all. They were not like any other ordinary people that could be killed just because one wielded an artifact.
“What a pity…” Momentarily, Ye Qingxuan’s voice spoke softly but his sigh was audible. He closed his eyes and in the next instant, a light that was thousands of times more powerful exploded.
Arthur was stunned.
In his hands, countless cracks appeared on the Lance of the Dragon Slayer but from these cracks rose the Musical Theory of Collapse, the terrifying imagery of Gods against mankind. It represented the clash between the musical theories of Gods and mankind and a tragic song of destruction was played by the base plate of Classical School. This was the final main interpretation, ‘Evening of all Gods”.
It was just like the destruction of one world and the closure of another. The Lance of the Dragon Slayer was destroyed in exchange for the terrifying power of God’s rage. It would wreak havoc everywhere, drown everything with the sea and all the Gods would fall. The old world would be set on fire and from the ashes, four major elements would be determined and used to establish the new era.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Amidst the powerful blasts, immense and overwhelming light exploded from Ye Qingxuan’s hands. Arthur’s powers have been shredded into pieces. The power of the Lance of the Dragon Slayer pierced through layers upon layers of obstructions and finally smashed onto the blade of the stone sword with a glow that was as if the world had been set on fire.
Arthur was furious. The blade of the stone sword roared and the Chapter of the Golden Victory was roused from its slumber. The images of all sorts of phantom beasts appeared, culminating in a real giant dragon in the end, which tried to devour Ye Qingxuan. But alas, even the giant dragon was no match for him.
Ye Qingxuan screamed. All of his powers turned into light and they gushed out of his eyes. He was almost about to be burnt alive by the incredible power. It was thousands of times more powerful than what he could control.
Explosions sounded continuously every moment due to the clash between the Lance of the Dragon Slayer and the stone sword. Each clash would bring about an earth-shattering explosion. Even the Sacred City would be able to observe this terrifying aftermath. Wielding that powerful light and using the power from the self-destruction of the Lance of the Dragon Slayer, Ye Qingxuan kept moving forward. He crossed the barrier of an audience to the monarch and continued to overcome every single obstacle.
Finally, Arthur was within reach.
For such a long time, from the day he arrived at Avalon, he has been trying to escape from the shadows of Arthur. He had to wait until today to be able to see what Arthur really looked like for the first time.
Arthur looked terrible. Really terrible. Underneath the human face was the silhouette of a beast. It was ugly and ferocious and it stared at Ye Qingxuan, full of rage.
Ye Qingxuan screamed at the top of his lungs and with all the strength that he had left, he thrusted that light against Arthur.
Arthur howled with rage. The stone sword roared and its power increased once again. The full power of a catastrophe has finally been unleashed in one go and it overwhelmed even the clash of the power of terror and the Lance of the Dragon Slayer. The hall of the throne collapsed suddenly.
“Don’t even think about it!” Arthur laughed deviously. The musical theory of the sword blade has managed to overwhelm the Lance of the Dragon Slayer, suppressing the terrifying musical theory that was as powerful as the destruction of the entire world. But in that moment, through the burning light, he saw a smile on Ye Qingxuan’s face. It was a smile of joy. Then, the smiling young man released his grip and allowed the Lance of the Dragon Slayer to drop.
“Has he given up?!”
Shortly after, the palm that was full of wounds was raised. His fingers were fully outstretched and he gathered strength before aiming for Arthur’s face and smacking it.
Slap!
A slap that was so clear and distinct amidst the roars. Arthur’s face was one that was filled with evil aura and crushing authority but now, the fresh print of a palm was slowly appearing on it. His eyes were in a daze and there was a tinge of confusion and helplessness.
This attack came so unexpectedly and it was so offensive. It was so … heartbreaking!
“This is the expression I want.” Ye Qingxuan nodded his head with satisfaction. It was as if every cell in his body was dancing with joy.
What a great feeling!
611 The Staff of Destiny
The shock hit him suddenly.
Stunned, Arthur stood where he was.
Arthur had never taken this fellow who thought that he could do whatever he pleased just because he had an artifact in hand seriously, even when Ye Qingxuan detonated the Lance of the Dragon Slayer on his own accord.
But he didn’t expect that, with the artifact in hand, Ye Qingxuan really did as he pleased…
After expending so much effort, not even hesitating to use the Lance of the Dragon Slayer as a consumable, what Ye Qingxuan desired was not victory, but to walk up to Arthur and give him a crisp slap in the face?
A slap in the face!
After the shock that didn’t even last for an instant, what rose as an immediate effect was an unprecedented violent fury.
Arthur roared.
His rage possessed material form, with Firebird being the medium. It caused the huge sun of darkness in the sky to tremble wildly, and a loud rumble burst forth.
He broke out in roars, shattering gloomy clouds. The stars swayed, trembling as they went out. The pair of dark eyes had been covered in blood red streaks at the moment, like the fiery fire in
hell.
Eroded by the wrath of the Firebird, even the blade of the stone sword turned pitch black.
It didn’t look to be made of tangible matter that really existed, but seemed to have turned into a crack leading to the World of Dark after a certain sort of collapse had occurred. Through the body of the sword, one could faintly glimpse the darkness ravaging and sweeping like the ocean.
Simply by standing within three steps of it, one could feel the severe pain of being dismembered by the blade. It was especially so for Ye Qingxuan, who was targeted by the stone sword, and every inch of flesh and blood on his body trembled as a result.
“What’s the hurry.” Ye Qingxuan waved his hand nonchalantly, the look in his eyes full of malice. “It has just begun.”
The world stood still for a moment.
Then, Arthur saw the Lance of the Dragon Slayer, which had been suppressed by the stone sword, stab into the ground after leaving Ye Qingxuan’s hands.
Shortly after, a terrifying hiss sounded from the depths of the earth.
Innumerable clouds of dust rose, and a bloody torrent spewed out of Avalon’s sewers. It flowed upwards toward the sky, dyeing the entire of the pitch black night sky scarlet.
Avalon shook, and the frenzied tides swept in all directions.
The Lance of the Dragon Slayer pierced the earth. The brilliance gathered into a ray that pointed straight down, penetrating the soil and the rocks. Wherever it passed, everything evaporated, and even the activated flesh of Leviathan was completely torn open, revealing a huge crack.
The music theory of destruction erupted, killing the activated earth once more. It left eternal scars which were thousands of meters or even tens of thousands of meters long. Even though the brilliance went out, the horrifying quakes turned into waves and propagated in all directions.
In the World of Dark on the other side of the earth, silent mountain peaks cracked, spurting out lava of destruction.
In the whole world, thousands of aether balls burst in an instant. The large-scale instruments of harmonious melody near the surroundings of Anglo all lost responsiveness. Almost all the musicians were able to sense the terrifying fluctuations rising.
It resembled the horrifying aftermath of stars exploding.
However, the peak of Avalon had descended into a strangely calm silence.
The hand print left from the slap on Arthur’s face had yet to fade, but an unconcealable panic rose in his eyes.
The path of godly ascension!
The path of godly ascension shook, like a collapsing building. In the vast alchemy array, countless fine circuits were rapidly losing their sense of aether, disappearing without a trace like ice cubes melting in the sea.
The inexhaustible power abruptly stopped flowing, and the sun of darkness brewing up in the sky tremored in pain, producing a sound that resembled glass breaking. The catastrophe that had yet to be born was about to die prematurely…
It only took an instant for everything to change.
At the moment, Arthur felt an unprecedented weakness and fear.
Amid the ruins, the remaining body of the Lance of the Dragon Slayer was deeply nailed into the ground. The steel body of the lance was covered in countless fine cracks. As its music theory dissipated and the array in it ruptured, it no longer possessed its mightiness like before.
However, then only did Arthur saw the two intersecting marks, which had appeared without him noticing, on the ground cast with black gold and wrought iron before the throne.
One could vaguely identify it as the projection array that Hermes once set up. The array was set up within the grain of the stone and iron. As the projection dissipated, the array was also destructed.
The only part exposed outside the stone and iron formed an odd scorch mark.
It was like a pre-drawn target. Just looking at it would make one feel that one couldn’t help but itch to poke it, just once…
And at the moment, the Lance of the Dragon Slayer was precisely nailed into the ground on the spot where the marks intersect.
Right in the bull’s eye!
“It’s you…” Arthur suddenly looked up and fixed Ye Qingxuan with a death stare.
In the air behind Ye Qingxuan, the handsome and feminine face appeared for the last time and took his hat off politely at Arthur, silently bidding farewell.
From the beginning to the end, the corners of his mouth curled with a mocking smile.
It was the last prank.
Arthur roared in fury, and the stone sword rumbled, forcefully wedging into the array of the path of godly ascension. The power originating from the catastrophe propelled the vast music theory and forcibly regathered the array that was falling apart.
But he immediately felt the huge array shook.
It was as if the keel that was the most important part of the foundation, which was eternally unchanging initially, seemed to have been taken away at the moment. The foundation became so fragile like a building that would collapse upon the blowing of a breeze.
Like a fire, the Firebird burned in mad fury.
“What on earth have you done!!!” Arthur reached out, and the Firebird condensed, materializing and turning into a dark hand. It tore apart layers of protection, grabbed Ye Qingxuan by the neck, and pulled him up.
As if he was pressured by ten thousand tons of water, the sharp pain of body parts breaking came from all over his body.
Ye Qingxuan raised a brow, his eyes looking to his side.
There, the Lance of the Dragon Slayer that had lost its brilliance laid motionless quietly, making no sound. In its brokenness, it resembled an unloading lever used by dock workers.
What have I done?
Is there still a need to ask?
Ye Qingxuan’s smile was full of pleasure. “The obvious answer is — to pry your kingdom away.”
As he said so, wisps of mist flowed out of the cracks on the Lance of the Dragon Slayer. Before the throne, the Lance of the Dragon Slayer suddenly tremored violently. Innumerable scar-like cracks rapidly closed up amid the lingering mist.
As if it had returned from the underworld, the dead artifact came back to life once more!
The Changing Music Theory from the clothes of original sin resided within, unceremoniously occupying the body of the lance which had lost its spirituality. It forcibly united all the remaining music theory in it, then immediately flowed in the alchemy array that was falling apart.
Like a turtledove occupying a magpie nest, the Changing Music Theory had taken over the lance.
The Changing Music Theory that had lost its form and the Lance of the Dragon Slayer that had lost its music theory merged as one, and a faint light radiated from it once more. It was the flowing moonlight.
A moon of pure white emerged.
It was the Ye Qingxuan’s Symphony of Predestination!
‘As if you are above, as if you are below, and so all can begin.’
The music theory inherited from the Emerald Tablet flowed within. Under the smelting of moonlight, the music theory consisting of thousands of strands and loose ends was quickly reorganized with the way of deciphering. Under the forceful suppression of the three-in-one structure, the two were completely combined as one.
In the body of the lance, the fragments that had originally belonged to the gun of fate were awakened, and gave off a fiery glow once more. After being reactivated, like wilted branches that were almost dying, they absorbed aether wildly.
Even the Changing Music Theory of the clothes of original sin, as well as the array and music theory that originally belonged to the Lance of the Dragon Slayer, were swallowed up without mercy. The fragments reacted crisply, like monsters, and were still totally unsatiated.
The Symphony of Predestination trembled, and the Night on Bald Mountain was played. Then, hundreds of purifying movements passed down from the Religious Court of Inquiry all poured into it.
Only when the reserve in Ye Qingxuan’s Sub-originator was completely drained also did
the lance stop its feast.
After obtaining such a vast amount of resources, a new aura radiated faintly from the body of the lance, dissipating quietly without a sound, and the blade rapidly dimmed.
In the end, what remained in the original position was only a black iron staff that looked roughly made.
The fragments of the gun of fate smelted into it turned into bronze-colored striations spread over it. In the end, they converged at one point and outlined the holy emblem, forming a pattern.
At this point in time, the Lance of the Dragon Slayer and the clothes of the original sin died, and a new, grand chapter was reborn here. What emerged from it was a terrifying majesty so sharp that one dared not even look straight at it.
Everything seemed illusory and as fragile as a dream when compared to it. Only the iron was real, difficult to move in its heaviness.
It was destined by fate.
Unchangeable!
In just a flash, a new artifact was born from the fragments of the Lance of the Dragon Slayer.
No matter how the Firebird charged at it or how the frenzied wind blew and swept, the iron staff seemed to be wedged into the stone, unmoving and unshakable.
And at the moment, it obeyed Ye Qingxuan’s will.
A horrifyingly loud bang sounded from it.
The heavy music theory advanced along the crack that the Lance of the Dragon Lance had pierced through, crushing the layers of protection. It caused the moonlight to flow rapidly and instantly reach the deepest part of the whole territory of the country.
The blockade set up by Leviathan was no longer!
The mighty melody from Genesis sounded from afar. In the reflection, the city that was on the verge of shattering emitted a dazzling brilliance. The golden Firebird rekindled, igniting the entire of the dark ocean once more.