by Feng Yue
After contemplating for a moment, he finally decided on a tentative plan. “So, I’ll keep a low profile first and meet up with Mabel.”
Clang! Right after he took a step forward, he heard a crisp sound, and something fell onto the ground from his clothes. Ye Qingxuan looked down and saw a section of a black branch that resembled iron and wood by his feet. He couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. “After such a long time, I have forgotten that… I still have this thing?”
Poisonous Black Branch.
A few months ago, in the Sacred City, the enraged Abyss Black Branch, Menti, threw one of his only three Poisonous Black Branches at Ye Qingxuan. However, not only did it fail to kill Ye Qingxuan in the end, it was instead sealed by Ye Qingxuan with nature interference and was suppressed within his Symphony of Predestination. Since then, the product of centuries’ worth of hard work that Menti had put in became Ye Qingxuan’s possession.
It was powerful enough that Gaius could kill the King of Red by stabbing the latter with it in hand. Ye Qingxuan had originally planned to do the same to Arthur, but in the end, he had no use for it at all. If it wasn’t for the power of the Ultimate, Ye Qingxuan would have forgotten that he still had such a deadly, awesome item on him.
After Ye Qingxuan was done keeping it, he immediately sensed that the aether waves in the entire city had suddenly begun to fluctuate violently.
Among the hundreds of aether waves, almost half of them had begun to soar in intensity, pulsing rapidly with a fierce tempo.
A fight has been set off? And it’s a chaotic and unprecedentedly large-scale one at that…
Ye Qingxuan was stunned, as he had not expected the situation to evolve so quickly.
Without waiting for him to react some more, an aether wave moved towards Ye Qingxuan.
When the musician, who was of the Level of Master and whose entire body had been tempered, emerged from the wall he broke and saw Ye Qingxuan, he was momentarily stunned at first, then his eyes immediately lit up with the joy of surprise.
The Level of Distortion? I have never expected that he would be so weak!
Then, without any mercy or reason, the musician went for the kill!
…
The first to start fighting was the northeast of the city. After being thrown into the city of the Ultimate that was huge and complicated to the extent of being shocking, the hundreds of masters and scepter musicians disappeared in a flash, just like gravel that was thrown into the sea.
By right, conflict shouldn’t have erupted so quickly at all. However, the two masters who were the first to meet happened to be none other than the members of the School of Dragon Stone and the School of Blue Blood respectively.
Although they were both schools of summoning, more often than not, peers of the same profession didn’t enjoy a harmonious relationship. Even in the Church, heretics were considered more deserving of death than demons, let alone two schools that had competed against each other for centuries.
Right from the beginning when the School of Dragon Stone and the School of Blue Blood were established, their goals and the paths they took were the complete opposite of each other.
The research of bestiality by the School of Dragon Stone aimed to explore the limits of bestiality. It was known for vigorous and vast bestiality, and the Phantom Beasts summoned were often shockingly huge. One of its signatures was the Snake of the Atrium, which was large enough to swallow a city. Ye Qingxuan once saw its projection in Romulus, and even the projection was enough for observers to comprehend its terrifying power.
Meanwhile, the School of Blue Blood explored beast fusion. Like the blood of the Deva, by altering the bone marrow, the blood was mutated, depositing bestiality in one’s own body. Those who had undergone the transformation could be considered as humanoid beasts, and their most prominent characteristic was the blue color of their blood after the mutation was complete.
In the centuries of competition, the two sides started off with minor disputes, which later intensified into animosity, and escalated to violent fights, causing countless blood debts to accumulate, and finally spiraled into irreconcilable hatred.
The scale of the war stirred up by the two schools almost expanded, and the problem was so serious that even the Church had to intervene to carry out mediation. The two schools were given strict orders to migrate, just like the School of the Market at Sea and the School of the Buildings of the Clam Monster [1] during the major split-up of the school of magic back then, one to the north and the other to the south.
They were far apart from then on and had no chance to meet.
But the world was only so small, and were they to run into each other on the odd occasion, the two parties would definitely go for the kill without hesitation.
Beasts were the most vengeful creatures, save for musicians of the school of summoning who passed the hatred down via the bestiality.
Therefore, at the very first instant they met, both parties went for the kill.
In the end, the master of the School of Blue Blood won.
On one hand, it was because the bestiality of the School of Blue Blood was stored in his body and could be launched rapidly. On the other hand, in order to kill the enemy in one go, the master of the School of Dragon Stone directly summoned the Snake of the Atrium that the school reared in the aether wonderland. As a result, he only discovered in his dying moments that the Ultimate was resistant against foreign objects.
It was the same even if the subject in question was bestiality.
In an instant, as the two sides crossed paths, the winner survived, and the loser died, just as everyone had expected. Even if someone had intended to mediate the conflict, it would be too late by the time they rushed there.
But immediately after that, a worse incident, or rather, an incident that could be said to have surprised everyone on the scene to the extent that they were unable to restrain themselves, happened.
In the pool of blood, the blood of the master of the School of Dragon Stone rapidly disappeared, followed by his Symphony of Predestination. In the end, even his body was disappeared under the sun as if it had melted. Only a tattered musician’s suit was left.
As the deceased vanished, everyone sensed a slight quake of the huge aether wave of the Ultimate from the depths of the city. But immediately after that, the aether wave of the master of the School of Blue Blood who had personally killed the other master increased continually and rapidly skyrocketed. As countless strands of music theory gushed into it, his Symphony of Predestination swiftly increased in power.
In the end, from the stage of just having achieved the Level of Master, he had advanced to the peak of the Level of Master. In fact, he was only one step away, after integrating the elements, he could advance as a scepter musician. It was simply as if the loser’s power had been taken away by the winner together with his life!
At the moment, everyone understood the second rule of the trial other than not relying on foreign objects—the loser would lose everything, and the winner would win over everything!
It was the cruelest method of trial.
In the city, everyone’s fate had changed in an instant.
One could either become the resources of others and get used as a stepping stone or become the strongest!
…
Meanwhile, at the moment, a steely wind was blowing against Ye Qingxuan. Amid the sonorous melody, the enemy in front of Ye Qingxuan expanded in size once more, and layers of complex movements emerged from his body of metals. In the loud noise of steel scraping against each other, the blue-black crystal of steel covering his body reproliferated, causing the body of the master to expand some more.
In the blink of an eye, his height increased from that of the ordinary person to three meters. The steel turned into majestic armor, covering him.
As for his hands and feet, a completely different movement lit up on the steel covering every part of the body. Dozens of movements were brought together as one under the control of his Sy
mphony of Predestination, becoming a complete whole.
He was a master of the School of Iron Heart—Larbin the Iron-eater.
Ye Qingxuan had once read his archives. Larbin was a powerful and well-known fighter who had single-handedly brought about the rise of the School of Iron Heart, a new, little-known school, from the bitter coldness in the south. After combining the music theory of the school of summoning, he advanced the core music theory passed down in the school one step further, and it became a rare school which involved the music theory of three systems. Modifications, summoning, and choir, the three systems of music theory were merged as one.
By combining the schools of modifications and choir, he further altered his body, even merging it with steel. After transforming himself into a giant of steel, he solved the original flaw of clumsiness and sluggishness. With the music theory of the school of summoning, he merged with the bestiality of Glia the giant from the Holy Bible, and completely turned into the giant of destruction.
[1] This is a reference to a Chinese saying which means mirage and literally translates as “the market at sea and the buildings conjured by the clam monster”.
642 Let’s Negotiate
Two years ago, he had no qualms diving into forbidden topics solely for his own improvement. He received a warning from the Sacred City as a result. This was why when he discovered what was so special about the Ultimate, Larbin’s first reaction was to kill all the people around him! By the time all the accompanying musicians had all been shredded into pieces, Larbin almost cried after sensing the growth of music theory once again. Besides, due to the effect of the Ultimate, his own music theory had decreased. After extracting the redundant structures, the movement was simplified and had become much more flexible and agile. This gave him hope for the journey that he would embark on in the future.
He was overjoyed by this gift. As a result, the moment he sensed the presence of Ye Qingxuan, he rushed forward without any hesitation. Next, he used his right hand to press Ye Qingxuan down. Without thinking twice, Ye Qingxuan rolled around on the ground before getting up in a skillful but ungraceful way.
The smell of dust and the feeling that he had not felt for a long time, they were all so familiar. Ever since his return to the Sacred City, he had never had to experience rolling around on the ground. Even when his opponent might have been trying their best to kill him, he had always been able to restrain himself. But now that he has been forced into such a situation, Ye Qingxuan could not help but feel rage. In the midst of rolling on the ground, he could sense coolness over the top of his head. A gigantic crater suddenly appeared without a sound. It was as if an invisible gigantic beast had taken a bite out of the ground.
A black hole appeared in mid-air above the crater before evaporating rapidly. That was the alchemy array that had been welded onto the right hand of the Iron Giant and was the most powerful annihilation singularity of the School of Modifications. After some modifications by Larbin, the range of its power shrunk by hundreds of times and the speed at which it could be activated also increased by more than ten times. Typically, musicians that did not possess a solid foundation would have been turned to dust by the annihilation singularity. He did not expect Ye Qingxuan to be able to react so quickly and with such agility.
Soon after, there was a shrill cry as the sounds of something breaking rang continuously. Ye Qingxuan quickly dodged as huge craters appeared on the wall and the ground. Countless metal plates were mounted on these craters, breaking the ancient bricks into pieces and almost penetrating through them. Ye Qingxuan had seen the same effect as this when he had encountered his first ever enemy—Rain Artist—but Larbin’s technique was many times more powerful and faster than Rain Artist. Nevertheless, a technique of such a standard was never going to pose any serious danger to him.
“Aren’t you looking down on me?” Ye Qingxuan was so upset he even began to laugh. He dropped his Staff of Fate momentarily and the sound of his laughter was clear.
Boom! A blurry and illusory full moon appeared behind Ye Qingxuan as countless knives and axes were summoned from within. Due to nature interference, they turned into real weapons and struck. The sword and knives rattled, while the iron roared. The giant staggered backward as its entire body was cut by countless swords and knives.
Ye Qingxuan sniggered. If not for the effect of the Ultimate, his swords and knives should have been more than able to tear Larbin into shreds. With the attack of the swords and knives, countless perception threads extended out from the broken shards to enclose him and probe at the gaps in the helmet tirelessly. Once he found a gap, he would be sure to give Larbin a taste of being eroded by moonlight.
Very soon, Ye Qingxuan frowned. There were no gaps to be found. Larbin sensed the probing of the perception threads and laughed. This was the School of Iron Heart, where man and metal had become as one. It was not something that could be compared with those ordinary motorized armors because there were no gaps to be found. He did not even need to breathe. His bones were the bones of the armor, his muscles were the muscles of the armor, his blood was made up of the thickest aether current, and his heart was the aether engine of the armor.
The Symphony of Predestination shook once again as its tempo increased. The heart, which had been modified by iron, was now beating insanely. Aether wave filled the entire body. “Now try this!”
The bestiality that has been temporarily lodged on the iron, Glia, began to roar. Burning flames burst out from the back of the Iron Giant as if they were gigantic wings of light. The rule of gravity did not seem to apply to the Iron Giant as it leaped into the sky and flew, despite weighing several tons. It stopped in mid-air and countless alchemy arrays surfaced in front of his chest. After the four major layers were connected together, the immense loop was initiated and terrifying energy was unleashed.
Hurricanes were coming. Torrents of rain appeared in response to the call of the Symphony of Predestination. The turbulence of rapids gave the invisible hurricane a taint of white color as if it had been thrown into the deep seas. Under the pressure of the howling wind, the bones began to roar. The friction between the turbulences created lightning within the hurricanes. As the air moved at high speed, terrifying plasma was developed and surrounded the giant’s body, giving him an imposing look.
Ye Qingxuan was shocked. He did not expect Larbin to be able to develop the music theory of the School of Iron Heart to this stage. Not only did he carve out alchemy arrays on the iron body, but he was also able to maintain balance when the reconciliation of three systems of movement was under the control of music theory. In fact, based on what he was seeing now, there was nothing comparable to the amount of power and destruction he wielded right now. This must only be possible because of Larbin’s unique music theory and technique.
Without a doubt, the state that Larbin was in right now was the most efficient that a musician could ask for in a battle. Turning into iron meant that he would not need to fear any sneak attacks yet still possessed amazing power. It was the perfect combination of musician and motorized armor. If this could be utilized on a wider scale, the standard of the armor of Witch Hammer could definitely be raised. Over time, it would not be impossible to achieve Gospel Armor one day either.
“How about a negotiation?” Amidst the strong gusts of wind, Ye Qingxuan pressed onto his hair and raised his voice. “Larbin, it’s still not too late for you to join the Religious Court of Inquiry. As for your privileges, we can still discuss…”
Boom! Thunder roared and lightning gathered in Larbin’s hands before streaking across the sky like a whip.
Roar! Amidst the ear-shattering roar, the layers of barrier around Ye Qingxuan began to break down, and in the final moment, the holy barrier finally surfaced to block off the incredible lightning strike. The streaks of lightning shone light on the terrible expression on Ye Qingxuan’s face.
“What are you still dreaming about, Chief Inquisitor?” Larbin teased this young man who was not even half his age, �
��Let me teach you something. The most useless thing in the world of musicians is talking!” With that, both lightning whips struck and everything in their paths melted. Deep gullies formed on the wall and on the ground without a sound. Stones were cut open cleanly. Countless lances of electricity rose from the pool of lightning and accompanied the lightning whips in their strikes. The holy wall shook violently and seemed to be on the brink of collapse.
Ye Qingxuan sighed lightly. He lowered his eyes as his fingers tapped on his Staff of Fate. “What a coincidence. I happen to think the same way.”
Boom! The roar of iron. That deep sound was produced from the Staff of Fate but was heard through the Iron Giant in mid-air. It was as if the metal staff was knocking on the giant’s body.
Larbin was stunned. The alchemy array was delayed for a moment, causing a loss of control of the lightning whips momentarily.
Boom! The metal staff knocked against the ground once more but the sound was being heard through the Iron Giant once more. Larbin felt as if he was being smashed by the head of a battering ram.
Ye Qingxuan’s laughter rang in his ears. “Have you forgotten to put in place a layer of shock absorption between yourself and the iron?”
Boom! There was yet another boom as the invisible metal hammer struck from the sky. Larbin felt giddy. It was as if he was a piece of metal that has been placed on the anvil and was being hammered until complete flatness. The lightning whips have completely collapsed and the pool of lightning has also dissipated. Even the gigantic wings of light at the back could no longer be sustained.
It was gravity—gravity that had increased tremendously. Due to the effect of nature interference, gravity had been transformed into a physical object and each increment felt as if the depths of his bones were being struck by metal hammers.
By right, unleashing a direct attack on him should have been a foolish option. After all, every music theory would have been warped and crushed by his Symphony of Predestination. But at some point in time, the Symphony of Predestination had already been infiltrated by countless perception threads, just like mistletoe tangled around a machine and creeping into every single crevice. The moonlight perception threads followed the alchemy loop and directly infiltrated the Symphony of Predestination in his body. Soon after, the Staff of Fate tapped the ground once again.