Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  As if they had heard a bell ringing out to announce an assembly, musicians were still arriving from all over.

  Besides warships and merchant ships of all sizes, there were also numerous broken sampans that drifted with the tide. He had no idea how they had gotten there.

  Waves of aether crashed out one after another. In order to avoid trouble, many people had shown the signs of their school and of the power that they could wield. The symbols and music theory of countless schools shone down from the sky. It looked like nothing so much as a grand exhibition.

  In addition to all this, turbulences still rose up from within the sea.

  Indistinct shadows could be seen drifting below the surface. These were the fantastic beasts raised by the School of Summoning, many of them strange even in the realm of aether.

  Wild animals’ territorial consciousness was much stronger than that of humans. Although the sea was large, it was still not enough to accomodate all of these vast ocean beasts. Even though the Ultimate had not yet opened, the friction between them led to hostility, and some fights had already broken out.

  The sea monsters bit each other, breaking through their carapaces. Pungent blood seeped out into the water, slowly drifting upwards and turning the surface a dark red.

  Nor was up in the sky where the Mountain of Nomadism very peaceful. Many of the Masters and Scepters could not wait for their their carriages to be prepared, and so, trusting in their own flying ability, were simply flying over.

  The struggle below the water was quite chaotic, and it was difficult to determine just how many monsters were down there. The musicians above the water maintained an appearance of peacefulness. The abilities of those gathered there were quite mixed.

  They may have been flying up in the air, but they were no cowards.

  Roughly speaking, there were ten or so Masters there, and even four Scepters hidden among the clouds. It was impossible to ignore their powerful presence.

  They did not even need to employ their movements deliberately. By only revealing a small amount of their elements, their music theory was enough to distort the Physical World, allowing them to fly in the sky and overlook the whole area.

  The arrival of the Mountain of Nomadism into this odd situation stirred up a lot of chaos. Almost everyone here was well-informed, how could they not have heard of the Grand Inquisitor who always appeared where the struggle was fiercest?

  The Hand of God, Ye Qingxuan.

  If nothing else, his talents and his so-called ill-fortune were enough to make them wary.

  There was fear in everyone’s eyes, especially since he came with a mighty fleet behind him, and his expression was cold.

  Shouldn’t they take the opportunity to deal with this threat before the Royal Navy arrived?

  On the deck of the Mountain of Nomadism, the white-haired young man rubbed his hands together and seemed to glance over his surroundings casually.

  Upon seeing the Staff of Fate that had suppressed the catastrophe, no-one could help but slam their eyes shut, as if they had been stung, and avert their gaze.

  So be it, friends.

  They despaired at the prospect of attracting his attention.

  Even though this guy was only a Master, he was powerful enough to defeat any opponent under the Scepter level. As for those at the Scepter level…before they did anything they would have to take into account the iron rod in his hand, and the golden halo above his head.

  One was the symbol of the Inquisition, giving him the power to chastise heretics, and the other was the the Chapter of Golden Victory of the Anglo Royal House.

  With these two items, in addition to his power and skill, even the Scepters hesitated before drawing his attention, not to mention the other musicians.

  And then, before everyone’s eyes, the dark warship swaggered in, ignoring the original situation and occupying a position at the front. A steel rope dropped down from it quickly, and a heavily armored knight and several purification musicians slid down it, forming a huge beacon to guide the Royal Navy above the surface of the water.

  While this was happening, the other countries’ navies were rushing over in an endless stream, until at the end it seemed like the whole sea was covered in warships. It was a very chaotic sight.

  It was like a market square on New Year’s Eve. People were lined up overnight, and even brushing their teeth and washing their clothes in the queue.

  They didn’t know how long they’d have to wait for the market’s doors to open.

  Up until evening the sea became more and more chaotic, but the Ultimate was still unchanged. Thunder still roared within its silvery vortex. No one knew how long they would have to wait for it to give birth.

  Ye Qingxuan was pacing back and forth on the deck when suddenly he turned and looked to the north.

  There was an lonely, clear noise.

  It was like a soft song of sorrow in the middle of the night, so sweet, but with a hint of bone-chilling cold. Without realizing it, he became lost in the song, as if he had been embraced by the darkness and pulled down into an eternal slumber.

  All of the musicians could not help but shiver. They turned their heads in shock, and saw a fog rising off of the water, and a small boat glide out silently from within.

  The boat looked like it belonged on a lake, but it travelled across the sea, seemingly pushed along by the waves. Wherever it passed the wind calmed and the water quieted, turning the turbulent seas into still water.

  Upon the small boat, a woman dressed in blue embraced a white jade pipa. Her head was lowered as she fiddled with it absentmindedly. The sound wormed its way into everyone’s ear, raising the hair on the backs of their necks.

  It was clearly only a small boat, but it was faster than anyone could believe. In a flash it had already overtaken most of them, as if it was passing through a frozen world, and it came to the forefront before everyone’s stunned gaze.

  At the stern of the ship, behind the girl playing the pipa, a helpless looking young man made a sign of obeisance to the musicians and laughed.

  A longsword hung from his waist, from which hung a string of small bells. They knocked into each other, and the echoes of their ringing lingered on.

  Both of them had hair as white as pure silver.

  “They’re just pretending to be mysterious!”

  In the water, the vast beasts were irritated. A cold humming sound rang out, and the shadow of a frightfully large mouth began to rise from the waves.

  Seeing this, many of the musicians scrambled out of the way to avoid getting caught up in the destruction. But then, the quickly rising shadow suddenly shriveled up.

  It was distorted, like it was being viewed through a lense.

  A faint breath of that cold and gloomy pipa music lingered above the behemoth. In a flash, the beast began to twist around and shrivel up. In the end, it sank down back into the deep sea, nothing more than a dissolving, dissipating dry skeleton.

  A few faint, sorrowful shadows could be seen being drawn in by the music. They entered into the white jade pipa like phantoms.

  Everyone stopped holding their breath, only to find that the air was now cold.

  As they stood there dumbfounded, the woman’s pale face seemed to appear from inside the pipa, coming from the underworld to get a glance at the world of the living. Everyone was chilled to the bone.

  Seemingly unintentionally, she looked up into the sky at the shadow of the Mountain of Nomadism.

  On the stern, the young swordsman reached out and grasped the string of silver bells on the hilt of his sword, snuffing out the bright and sonorous sound coming from his sheathed sword. He then cupped his hands in obeisance towards the sky.

  On the deck, Ye Qingxuan smiled and nodded his head.

  Just by seeing his white hair, the identity of the newcomer was self-evident. If he was not mistaken, the man with the sword was a member of the Yuan family of the Nine Families of the Dragon Bloodline. And the other was…

  Se
nsing the resonance between the Jiu Xiao Huan Pei and the white jade pipa, his eye twitched slightly.

  The heiress of the Liu family-the Yaksa.

  639 Kings of the Sea

  Two days had passed and more and more people were filling up the entire sea region. Nothing has changed about the fact that the turbulence enveloped by the Ultimate was still devouring luminous flame. It was common for musicians to clash with each other for various reasons, and in the most chaotic times, every single person on the seas had to be on guard against any attack that might come out of nowhere. But these fights were usually contained within the exterior.

  At the layer of the core, the fleets of all the countries were in peaceful locations. It was not that no one has tried to stir up trouble, but due to the large number of Masters and scepters, any sign of trouble was extinguished completely. Some people would try to force the fleets of various countries to give up their positions through coercion but they would eventually be blown to bits by the main cannon or they would be strongly deterred by the burning stakes. In the end, the situation finally stabilized.

  The elite navy and scepters of each country occupied the interior layer and the sky, while the middle layer was taken over by all the different Schools that had rushed over. Finally, the remaining individual good and bad musicians were pushed out all the way to the exterior layer. Of course, Ye Qingxuan could not care less about all this. He left them for Sylvaine, who had arrived after him, to handle. In any case, delegating tasks was something Ye Qingxuan did very often. Of all the things that he has picked up from Shi Dong, this was the most useful of them all. A capable subordinate would be able to settle everything, and the manager would only have to take responsibility.

  Compared to the low-profile Ye Qingxuan, Nirvana Mable was all out to make herself known. In just a couple of days, this musician, who looked like a little girl, had already unleashed Fire of Nirvana on quite a number of musicians. As a divine Phantom Beast, the immortal bird, which was brought back from the dead, involved the top-level issue of the Schools of Choir and Summoning. The Fire of Nirvana could be used as an antidote to prolong life, yet it could also be a terrible skill that would unleash flames that could not be extinguished and were insufferable. Masters and scepters might have ways to counter it, but that was only if they were of a certain level.

  The Hands of the royal family was on par with the Knights of the Round Table so when the royal musicians arrived, Mable also received the personal blessings of the Queen. If she had unleashed all her powers, it would not be on the same level as the Chapter of the Golden Victory, but she would still be able to kill one-third of all the musicians on the seas. With her leading the royal fleet, Ye Qingxuan could afford to rest assured.

  But for some unknown reason, for the past two days, there was a niggling feeling in his heart. Any ordinary person might have laughed it off but Ye Qingxuan was a Master of the School of Revelation, after all. He was admitted for his way of deciphering and while his ways might be unorthodox, his accomplishments were legitimate.

  To any Revelation musicians, premonitions were rather important. Fighting might not be their forte, so they usually specialized in monitoring phenomena and the Originator. The more accomplished Revelation musicians would usually also be more sensitive. If they managed to level-up to a Diviner of Dreams, they might even be able to see the future in their sleep.

  “There are usually a few possible reasons when something like this happens.” After some discussions amongst the old fellows of the court, they replied, “The most common reason is that you may have forgotten something crucial. But the importance of what you might have forgotten has a very wide range. For example, it is possible that you may have simply forgotten to turn off the water tap before you left house…”

  Ye Qingxuan felt helpless. “And another reason might be?”

  “Someone is trying to set you up, which is why your sense of vigilance is kicking in.” An old man continued, “But your accomplishments in the School of Revelation are quite significant, so you should be able to sense any enmity towards you. However, if anyone wanted to harm you, they will typically ask a Revelations master to mess up the relevant information so that all you can see is fog. Think carefully, have you made any enemies recently?”

  Ye Qingxuan thought carefully and realized that he actually had quite a number of enemies. But there was no choice. Ever since he began his journey as a musician, he had been making enemies every step of the way, so much so that he has lost count of the number of the people that wanted him dead. Dark Musicians, other countries, the Sacred City, even Anglo has quite a number of people who saw him as a troublemaker.

  One’s emergence into prominence must be accompanied by many others who had made way. Besides, the moment Ye Qingxuan’s Net of Aether appeared in the future, he would immediately become the common enemy of the entire world. Ye Qingxuan thought about it before punching his palm. “It must be that damned Raymond!”

  Upon hearing what he said, all the old men of the court became a little awkward momentarily.

  “Not necessarily.” An old man coughed. “Raymond has already received a stern warning from the Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments, so he probably would not dare to do anything to you for the time being. But it is the right thing to take precautionary measures.”

  “Are there any other possibilities?” Ye Qingxuan asked.

  “Others…” The old men looked at each other before saying, “You may be on the brink of being involved in a major event, or something may be about to happen to you.”

  “Alright.” Ye Qingxuan sighed. “I may have forgotten something, or someone may be trying to do me harm, or I may be involved in something major… even so, what should I do?”

  The old men kept quiet. This was the most awkward part for the School of Revelation. Sometimes, premonitions of the future might not necessarily be a good thing. What was meant to happen would still happen, just like one was always going to die when the time came. The only difference was that one might have a better idea of the cause of his death…

  “Forget it.” Ye Qingxuan sighed. “In any case, I can’t go wrong by taking precautionary measures, right? Ask Shi Dong and Hua Sheng to increase the speed. Anything can happen in this wretched world. How is the expansion of Witch Hammer coming along?”

  “Everything has been smooth so far, but,” the old men were helpless, “the production of the knights’ armors has always been a complicated process, especially when the training of the knights will also take a very long time. The more dangerous the weapon, the higher the demands it would place on the user. We have already tried our best to simplify the process but in order to achieve the scale of 10,000 men as you have requested, we will need at least another two years.”

  “How many do we have now?”

  “1,600 men.”

  When the old men saw the look of regret on Ye Qingxuan’s face, they almost wanted to vomit blood. These 1,600 men already constituted the biggest scale that the Religious Court of Inquiry had ever produced! In the past, the Chief Inquisitors could only manage to come up with 800 to 900 men even with their best effort. Aside from the production of the armors, the training of the knights was an even more expensive investment.

  When Ye Qingxuan took over the court, there were only 400 men in Witch Hammer. Now that they had the industrial foundation of Anglo and the techniques of Chainsaw Fraternity, only then did they manage to accomplish all these today. Yet, he was still not satisfied?!

  “What about Purification musicians?” Ye Qingxuan asked again.

  “600.” The old men no longer expected anything from Ye Qingxuan’s reaction.

  “Oh, that’s not enough.” Ye Qingxuan waved his hand. “All of you must put in more effort. The youngsters are so hardworking nowadays. I have already doubled the medication fees for all of you. Please make sure to contribute something useful and worthwhile before you die.”

  “…” The old men rolled their eyes. It was just
their luck to encounter a boss like this. Just as Ye Qingxuan had cut off the communication signals and was preparing to request for updates from the Privy Council, he heard the commotion outside.

  “My Lord, there are changes to the Ultimate!” Mable shouted. Ye Qingxuan dashed to the deck and looked down, only to see chaos amongst the musicians. No one knew when the silver glow had gradually dimmed and became faint. The turbulent aether waves were beginning to converge and collapse internally.

  Within the core of the seas, the outline of an island could vaguely be seen. The Ultimate was about to complete the process of giving birth and had surfaced. But right before this, fog began to appear everywhere around the seas. An indistinct figure appeared and sent the musicians into chaos and exclamations.

  Ye Qingxuan looked over and saw a blurry figure far away on the surface of the sea, who was slowly approaching. It was a half-transparent illusion that was created by the refraction of aether from an unknown location. It looked like a traveler that was returning home after a long journey.

  That forlorn figure trudged forward on the surface of the sea. He was using the long sword in his hands to prop up his body, which was already full of wounds. His cloak, which looked like it had been badly burnt, was fluttering in the wind. White long hair hung on both sides of his face while he wore the Crown of Black Metal on his head. He was wearing a suit of armor that looked like it was from centuries ago.

  When all the musicians caught a glance of the blurry circular-shaped insignia, they already managed to guess his identity. He was one of the kings that brought forth the Golden Era of mankind at the end of the Darkness Era centuries ago. He was also the first person who founded the kingdom of Burgundy, King of the Sun!

  “North! There are more in the north!” the musicians exclaimed, before turning back to peer at the northern sea region. A figure had gradually appeared behind the Asgard fleet. He was wearing a white long robe, a crown on his head and carrying a heavy-looking staff while floating towards the Ultimate. That was the predecessor of the kingdom of Caucasian and the uncrowned king that founded very first Commonwealth, Sage of the Metal Moon!