Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  He did not look. Not even a single glance.

  Although Ye Qingxuan might be overthinking, but against someone like Naberius, there was no harm thinking too much and being more prepared. Both of them were well aware that they stood for very different things so if an opportunity presented itself, they would have no qualms killing each other, even if they had been on very good terms. Besides, they were not on tremendously good terms anyway. Their relationship was best described as mutually beneficial.

  From a distance, he hesitated for some time before deciding to move closer in the direction of Schubert. But just as he was doing so, he noticed that quite a number of musicians have already appeared. Everyone was keeping a safe distance from Schubert and continued to look from afar.

  The first thing he saw was a corpse in horrendous state. Its innards have all been spilled.

  It was Raymond.

  After some time, Ye Qingxuan finally recognized the broken piece of corpse to belong to that old man. He never imagined Raymond to die in such a manner in the Ultimate, and to die… beside Schubert.

  Ye Qingxuan looked away and saw the old nun chanting beside the corpse. The frail old nun was completely covered in the robe she wore and looked like an old granny who has been abiding by the rules for decades. Both her hands clasped onto her Rose Prayer Beads, seemingly oblivious to her surroundings, as she hung her head and only looked at her fingertips.

  Ye Qingxuan could vaguely see her lips moving, as if she was chanting something. In fact, some of the musicians that specialized in lip-reading had already figured out what she was chanting.

  “Holy Bible.”

  646 Command

  The Holy Bible.

  It not so much that she was reading it aloud, but more like she was reciting it from memory. It was as if after having chanted the scriptures for so many years she had memorized the whole thing.

  She had recited chapters six through seven with her eyes closed, as if she were doing something as simple as singing hymns.

  Even though her partner, Raymond, had died horribly in the Ultimate, there was still no response from her.

  It seemed as if she could not sense anything in the outside world.

  She stood in the same place as she had before, not moving at all, even with the Scepters still in the sky.

  She simply kept chanting.

  Ye Qingxuan was dumbfounded for a good while. All of the musicians around him were similarly at a loss. In all that time, anyone who had tried to grab the stone plate out of the air had been attacked by Schubert and their Symphonies of Predestination had nearly been destroyed.

  Ye Qingxuan was perplexed. He walked over from the corner towards the frail old nun.

  The musicians standing all around them sneered at this.

  It was not like no one had tried to walk forward to find out what was going on, but as soon as they got within a hundred paces they felt an overwhelming sense of danger, and could not get any closer. If they got any closer, a hostile fire would spring out from their very bones, burning them both inside and out.

  Not even ashes would be left.

  But then, something that made them go wide-eyed with shock happened.

  Ye Qingxuan walked towards her step by step without issue. Schubert allowed him to approach to her side, even as he approached the dangerous area.

  The whole time, her eyes were fixed on the staff that he carried, as well as the holy emblem on his collar.

  After confirming who it was that approached her, she ignored him and closed her eyes once again.

  Could only members of the Church approach her?

  Ye Qingxuan breathed a sigh of relief and touched the insignia of the Court on his collar.

  At present, he was the highest ranking member of the Church in the Ultimate. Even if Raymond had still been alive, his status would not have been higher.

  He was the archbishop appointed by the King of Red himself, the head of the Inquisition, and was able to sit at the same table as the head of the Congregation for the Discipline of the Sacraments and Grand Judge of the Sacred Court.

  “Your Excellency Schubert, I am honored to have the good fortune to meet you.”

  He greeted her with all the formality that the Church required, but the old nun still did not move. She kept her eyes close, still chanting and ignoring him.

  Ye Qingxuan frowned. After a long silence, he waved his hand in front of the nun’s face.

  It as like she could not see him. Her expression remained as indifferent as before. There was not the slightest response from her.

  She just kept chanting.

  Ye Qingxuan frowned again. He took out a handkerchief and covered his hand with it, then turned to examine Raymond’s body. His head had fallen off his neck and now rolled around in a pool of blood. His eyes revealed nothing but the blank expression of the dead.

  He had died instantly.

  Luckily, there had been no pain.

  Someone had taken advantage of Schubert’s preoccupation with her struggle for the stone plate and killed him in a flash of violence. Raymond was just an ordinary person, not even a musician. He should never have come to the Ultimate. He was too weak. If it wasn’t for Schubert’s protection he would not even have been able to enter this place.

  When he realized this, he was confused.

  Then why did he want to come here?

  Wouldn’t it have been better to just leave this to Schubert? Could it be that the Sacred City was so worried about this that they had insisted on sending one of their own to handle things?

  He was silent for a while, then looked up at the still chanting Schubert. It slowly began to dawn on him.

  Unless, Schubert needed him…

  Raymond couldn’t leave Schubert’s protection, but at the same time, perhaps Schubert couldn’t leave him.

  Then what could have made Schubert depend on him so completely?

  Her chanting?

  What a joke.

  Of all the places he could have appeared, this was the worst.

  Then…

  Ye Qingxuan hesitated for a while. Then, faced the still dazed old woman, “Sister, I beg your pardon.”

  Upon saying this he grabbed her wrist and pulled up her sleeve. His face fell at what he saw there.

  He suddenly realized what was going on.

  Layer upon layer of alchemy arrays and movements were engraved into her old skin. All he could feel when he touched the lines was the vast amount of music running through her frail body.

  But it had nothing to do with her breathing or her heartbeat.

  It was like she was nothing more than a bucket of water…a container.

  He finally understood what was going on with the old nun. Schubert’s Scepter was trapped within her body, fixed in place by alchemy arrays. The vast movements and frightful spirituality flowed through her body.

  It had taken over her body.

  It had completely washed away her personality.

  The missing inheritor of the Saint was being kept inside this unconscious body. The old nun in front of Ye Qingxuan could be said to be an artifact in human form. With but a single command she could be as valuable as if the Saint had come there himself.

  You didn’t even have to take care of the body. At the worst, if something happened to it you could just find another one…

  In order to inherit Schubert’s music theory, this old nun before him had forgotten everything, even her own name. All of her consciousness and personality had been shattered by its frightful power.

  All that was left was her empty, pious heart.

  Besides that, she had only her instinct to breath. If she had not had someone to guide her, she may not even have been able to feed herself.

  She could only chant.

  She could only praise God…

  This was a magnificent idea. Even if Hermes was resurrected, wouldn’t he be moved by its genius?

  Ye Qingxuan’s face fell. He quickly realized that there was a more serious is
sue.

  With Raymond dead there was no one left to direct Schubert. Since Schubert could not defend herself, if someone was able to find a way to kill her it would be simple to pull off!

  You didn’t even need to face Schubert’s music theory, simply targeting the frail old woman would work.

  Ye Qingxuan could think of dozens of ways to kill her off the top of his head.

  There was the curse against the flesh that used techniques from both the School of Revelation and the School of Choir. This pure chemical reaction did not involve any aetheric poison. Or, since her defenses were out to a hundred paces, one could just stand outside of that range and create a vacuum that she would suffocate in. Or they could just keep her where she was, and sooner or later she would starve to death.

  The people all around seemed to also feel that something was not right.

  They looked at Schubert and Ye Qingxuan with eyes filled first with shock, then with doubt, and finally…danger.

  A saint!

  Even an Archbishop like Ye Qingxuan had never heard of a situation like this. Even though he wasn’t a proper Archbishop, the existence of the Saint was one of the Church’s most closely kept secrets.

  Especially since she was clearly so weak.

  He was not the only one smart enough to have figured this out. So even if he couldn’t be sure, now was the time to gamble. He instinctively knew how valuable Schubert was. If they killed her now, how strong would the gift from the Ultimate be?

  But was this the Church’s plan from the start?

  If the situation changed, they might order Schubert to kill herself, putting the Saint’s music theory into the Ultimate, further infecting it.

  Schubert’s inheritance was a vital part of the system of human music theory. But if it was to be immersed in the Ultimate, then the Sacred City would be able to control a significant part of it.

  But the problem was…no one had asked Ye Qingxuan.

  And he was unhappy.

  He had been unhappy with the Church for a long time, but never like today.

  So why would he let go of Schubert’s inheritance when it was right there before his eyes?

  Since Hayden’s music theory was already hidden, Schubert’s Scepter was even more important to get a hold of! Especially since Schubert’s specialty was his weak point, the School of Modifications.

  But there was not enough time for Ye Qingxuan to think things over.

  Things were already starting to go wrong.

  He could feel something wrong in the air.

  Heavy footsteps rang out.

  Some people were coming closer, slowly and solemnly, step by step, with somber expressions.

  But when Ye Qingxuan turned his head, he saw the insignia of the church on their chests.

  He felt like cursing.

  In all these years, how many honorary faculty titles had the Church given out? Why had they all been higher positions than altar boy? If you were a musician you could apply to join the Church, and the acceptance rate was not low at all…

  A wave of aether with with intent to kill rose up.

  Six Masters…

  Ye Qingxuan looked around wildly.

  He forced himself to be calm amidst the chaos, and looked over at them disdainfully, saying, “Are you here to provoke the Saint?”

  “Mr. Ye, there’s no need to pretend.”

  The old musician smiled sincerely and said, “I’ve been here ever since that guy died. Although I don’t know what happened there, this does mean that she has no power to resist now, right? But after all, it’s up to you do decide this for us.”

  Ye Qingxuan pursed his lips into a frown. “Are you sure you want to become enemies of the Church?”

  Even though he said this, he knew in his heart that despite its illustrious name, the Church was no longer something to be trusted.

  What was more, the Pope was far away from the Ultimate. If they did this, at the very least they could flee to the Commonwealth of Caucasian.

  These people had already planned to attack the Saint, they wouldn’t care about a Grand Inquisitor like him.

  After a moment of silence, the old man said, “Mr. Ye, you are the Deputy Prince of the Anglo Kingdom. As a former employee of the Anglos, I don’t want to cause you any trouble. If you’re willing to retreat, I won’t stop you.”

  This was a rare show of lenience, and a wise choice.

  Even though Ye Qingxuan had fallen to the level of a Distortion Musician, he was by no means some pushover that the Master could casually defeat. Who knew how many tricks he had up his sleeve? None of them wanted to be the first to find out.

  The best option was to have him go far away.

  The further the better.

  But Ye Qingxuan was not prepared to accept this graciousness.

  In the silence, his expression changed constantly, until finally it grew firm

  He did not leave, but stood in front of old nun. He looked at them, and said back to them, “I’ll offer you the same deal.”

  The others were struck silent. “If you leave now,” Ye Qingxuan continued, “I’ll act like nothing happened.”

  Upon hearing this, the Masters could not help but laugh. They clearly did not take him seriously at all.

  Six waves of aether rose up, nearly powerful enough to kill, and yet Schubert still remained motionless.

  No reaction at all.

  Ye Qingxuan could not help but sigh. He stretched out his hand and raised his head.

  But when he opened his fingers, the six Masters’ expressions changed. He was holding a bloody brooch-the one that Raymond had given him before he died. The completely ordinary brooch bearing the Holy Emblem.

  Holding the brooch in his hand, Ye Qingxuan’s words seemed to carry some mystical power. “Schubert, kill everyone not wearing white clothes.”

  Schubert opened her eyes.

  647 And It Was So

  Oh no!

  At the moment, everyone’s expression changed drastically. Not waiting for Ye Qingxuan to finish his words, they instantly gathered up all their strength, and instead of attacking, they quickly dashed away.

  But immediately after that, in midair, they felt that something was wrong.

  The thunder-like blow they expected never struck.

  Nothing even happened.

  They turned back in surprise and only saw Schubert casting a look at Ye Qingxuan, a blank look in her eyes, which had no vigor in them at all. Then, she withdrew her gaze once more.

  She lowered her head and continued reciting the scriptures.

  Confusion, surprise, realization, and anger… Finally, their expressions turned to that of mockery.

  As everyone looked on, Ye Qingxuan blushed, awkwardly retracted his seemingly incomparably impressive pose, and coughed twice.

  He had just put on an act for nothing!

  He threw the brooch that had been of no goddamn use to the side, madly cursing the Church in his heart!

  He thought that he had turned the tables just now, and he even talked tough, but it ended up not working at all. The contrast between the situations before and after made him feel as if he had a mouthful of blood stuck in his throat and was unable to spit it out.

  What on earth are the *ssholes in the Church thinking?! Despite having committed the awful act of making a person into a container for a scepter, they’re too stingy to add one more control module, aren’t they?!

  Ye Qingxuan dryly laughed twice. “Um, something came up last minute, do carry on with your chat, I’ll take my leave first.”

  However, just as he turned and took a step forward, iron ridges grew out and filled the ground in front of him. The sharp upper edges aimed straight at Ye Qingxuan’s face.

  The murderous intention was bone-chilling.

  “A pretty good trick, Grand Inquisitor.” The old man in the lead wore a dark expression. “You’ve successfully made fun of us and also given up your last chance.”

  Ye Qingxuan sighed and tapped t
he ground with the staff of fate. “In other words… I must fight?”

  No one responded, and frenzied aether waves rose again.

  Ye Qingxuan inwardly cursed. Raymond, that old fart, he just had to cause me more trouble even in his death. Devil knows what a weakling like him had relied on to command Schubert!

  Surely he didn’t rely on the reciting of scriptures instead of alchemy equipment?

  Wait, reciting scriptures?

  Despite being at such a nerve-racking juncture with the enemy looming in front, Ye Qingxuan was momentarily stunned.

  He only just realized that since a while ago, the old nun had switched to reciting scriptures of the same verse without anyone noticing. “…Fear thou the Lord and the king, and company not with them that are given to change. For their calamity shall rise suddenly. He that saith unto the wicked, ‘Thou art righteous’, peoples shall curse him, nations shall abhor him…”

  She recited it over and over again, but it was still the same verse.

  But the last sentence, the conclusion of the utmost importance, was missing from the Proverb.

  Subconsciously, Ye Qingxuan murmured softly, “— And the destruction from the Lord, who knoweth it?”

  At the very moment, it was as if thunder had descended from the sky.

  In midair, a rumble suddenly erupted from the scepter hanging high. Horrible thunder brewed within, and lightning burst forth. Everyone felt the bone-chilling cold coming from the old nun.

  In a trace-like state, as if she was obeying the instruction of God, she raised her head, and the terrifying brilliance of God filled her hollow eyes.

  The next moment, horrifying thunder burst forth from the element of the scepter in midair. It was as if a bright sun was rising between the heavens and the earth.

  The mere act of gazing upon the fierce light close at hand would be enough to burn and damage one’s eyes severely.

  In the blink of an eye, while Ye Qingxuan only felt a horrifying heat descend from the sky, the thunder had turned into an ocean and engulfed everything.

  When he opened his eyes again, he could only see a scorched blackness in front of him.