Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  Chopin seemed oblivious to his surroundings as he talked about how he should have taken Schubert’s place, when his tone suddenly seemed to carry a tinge of expectancy, “If only we had done so earlier, then we would not have had to deal with all the subsequent problems.”

  The Archbishop looked awkward and spoke softly, “My Lord, Chopin, you are the only person amongst all musicians that is capable of becoming a saint. Please preserve yourself…”

  “Here we go again. Stop nagging.” Chopin waved his hand. Half of his palm looked absolutely perfect. It was simply exquisite and was definitely the perfect hand of a musician.

  However, the other half of the palm looked extremely wounded as there were layers upon layers of injuries on the wrist. There was even a huge burn mark on the back of his hand. Now, a finger pointed at the Ultimate, at the origin of that Heaven Ladder.

  “Take a look over there.”

  –

  “Prepare the God’s way and repair his path.” Ye Qingxuan heard a soft voice from behind him, “You used your own music theory to suppress the outside world, without fear of the Dark Zone or chaos. I once spent 30 years in order to achieve this, yet you managed to do in just a few months’ time…”

  Ye Qingxuan turned back suddenly and saw a figure in the darkness. That figure was slowly approaching, yet it did not feel real or substantial. An androgynous face peeked at Ye Qingxuan and its eyes were filled with envy.

  “This is probably down to the talent that I never had.”

  “Paganini?” Ye Qingxuan frowned, “Instead of guarding over the top of the Ultimate, you actually have the time to come and find me?”

  “The cage has been broken, naturally I have to come and take a look. But I never expected you to level-up under such pressure.” Paganini sighed, “I have always been given a free reign because of my talent and abilities, but a century later, I was easily surpassed by your father. I had thought that a person with his abilities was one of a kind but now, you have caught up as well. Perhaps back then, I should have just killed you at Auschwitz. Amongst all the musicians, other than King of Blue, you are the only one whom I see as a threat.”

  Ye Qingxuan felt no joy in being compared to the King of the Blue because this could only mean that Paganini was serious about killing him now. He might not have done it back in Auschwitz but it was still not too late to try and do it now.

  Subconsciously, he made sure that the old nun was behind him. He did not have the time to look for escape and instead, he had to focus all his energy on dealing with the pressure that Paganini was exerting on him.

  “Even until now, you still worry for the church?” Paganini took a glance at the old nun and almost seemed to smile, “It’s a pity that it will not matter to the church.”

  “I don’t care what the church thinks.” Ye Qingxuan replied coolly, “But I cannot allow such meaningless sacrifices to take place in front of me.”

  “You and the church are not the same, Ye Qingxuan. I knew that from the moment I first saw you. Your father’s path was not the same as the church and neither is yours. You may not like him but you have inherited his disregard for authority and preference for what is right and correct. In fact, you have done better than him. He has always sought to hide but you will always prepare early.”

  “So what?” Ye Qingxuan asked indifferently.

  “Join my side, Ye Qingxuan. This is the last time I am extending this invitation to you.” Paganini stretched out his hand and the expression on his face was sincere. “Hyakume is already dead. I will rule the abyss and become the new God. From here on, I will change the abyss, change the Dark Musician and change this world. This world will welcome a new beginning. You will have a hand in how this new world will be created and how it will function. As long as you join me, we can control this entire world.”

  “No.” Without any hesitation or consideration, Ye Qingxuan shook his head and declined. He was so firm that even Paganini was stunned.

  “Why?”

  “No reason.” Ye Qingxuan did not wish to pay more attention to him and grasped his Staff of Fate tightly, “Just take it that there is something wrong with my brain.”

  Paganini looked at how he was preparing to fight. After some time, he finally sighed.

  “Have you always been so stubborn about those trivial things, Ye Qingxuan… How funny.” He raised his eyes and looked down on Ye Qingxuan coldly, “Even if you have become a Master or even a Scepter, do you think you are my match? Just based on your Clothes of Original Sin?”

  “So, you haven’t forgotten about that.” Ye Qingxuan could not help but laugh, “Don’t be so petty. Isn’t it just a piece of cloth? I thought it wouldn’t bother you, and that you would already have forgotten about it. To be honest, it is nice to wear and it stayed loyal to you till the very end. Please forgive it.”

  “Let me tell you, Ye Qingxuan. The reason why the Changing Music Theory is so powerful…” Paganini looked solemn. He only raised his palm and fog seemed to swirl around his fingers. Dust and aether gathered before vanishing, as if they have been dismantled. In such a short instant, they were converted to become part of the Changing Music Theory. “… is because I am the user.”

  675 Depths

  Although they were quite far away, the Revelation Musicians in the Sacred City were still able to observe the whole process.

  Right now the aether was in chaos, and some movements’ structures were so weak that there was no way to directly use them, cutting off the possibility of directly observing the scene through the use of music theory. However, there were plenty of movements for enhancing one’s eyes and ears.

  Twenty or thirty nautical miles away really wasn’t that far.

  “Did he win?” Seeing that Ye Qingxuan had chosen to act against Paganini first, everyone could not help but suspect that they were seeing an illusion.

  There was clearly a huge disparity between them, but for some reason the bishop’s heart was still troubled.

  Maybe he had won?

  Part of his unease came from the fact that Ye Qingxuan seemed so full of confidence, and part of it from the Sacred City’s analysis of him.

  The Grand Inquisitor often exceeded people’s expectations, acting based on his own preferences. In general his schemes were quite well planned, and he was one of the most difficult people to deal with.

  Although he tended to overestimate himself to the point where he would futilely try to hold back an overwhelming force, often gambling with his very life, his good luck defied the natural order, and he was able to win every time.

  If they thought about it carefully, they would find that he already had countermeasures planned in advance, and that he had prepared a trump card or had thought of something outside the box.

  Although he had some shortcomings overall, when you looked at him in a detailed fashion it could be said that he was so powerful that every one step of his counted as ten steps of someone else.

  For people like him, the outcome of a battle was often determined before it even started.

  He was best at using small things to defeat the powerful, and forcing his opponents to face him in the areas he was most skilled in, using his own plentiful experience to defeat them.

  He had performed this type of miracle again and again. And now, as he faced Paganini, everyone had a faint bit of confidence in him.

  “If he won, there’s something fishy going on!” Chopin rolled his eyes. He picked up the cup of cold tea beside him and after pursing his lips in displeasure, upturned it on a porcelain plate The soaked tea leaves rippled through the faintly reddish liquid.

  He looked down at the trails made by the tea leaves. He was silent for a while, and then a flash of white light came from his eyes. At that moment, everyone on the bridge felt instantly sluggish.

  Chopin seemed to have become a hole into the realm of aether. The projection of a Scepter had descended upon them.

  This was a game that Revelation Musicians who focused on the Way of P
rophecy often played. They used leftover tea leaves as a medium to implore the Originator to tell their fortune.

  However, few people dared to use this method in actual practice. On the one hand, this type of thing was child’s play: it didn’t matter what kind of movement you used, how much you could see depended entirely on the musicians experience and accomplishment in the School of Revelation. On the other hand, if the matter was related to someone important, the prediction could easily be distorted by your opponent’s music theory, giving you results that were hundreds of miles away from the truth.

  Chopin dared to do this was because on the one hand boldness of execution stems from superb skill, and on the other hand…maybe he wasn’t really taking this matter seriously. Who would win and who would lose had already been decided.

  Everyone held their breath as they looked at Chopin.

  But after he did not speak for a long time, the bishop hesitantly asked, “How well can you calculate the result of this battle?”

  “Why could I care about something so boring?” Chopin glanced back at him. “Try thinking in the long-term, there are more important things worth considering.”

  The bishop clearly did not understand. “You’re saying…”

  “That’s right, the future of the world!” Chopin looked seriously at the porcelain plate, and the traces left on it. He gave the clueless bishop a bitter look and said sadly, “Tragic! Tragic, it really is tragic…sure enough, in the coming days there will be no saving this world, no matter how many times I look into the future. Everyone is finished, bishop. This world is finished! Life is so tragic, if you could leave it early…Ye Qingxuan understands this. It would be easier to die early. At least you would not have to endure the coming torment.”

  When he spoke of Ye Qingxuan his tone was full of envy, shocking everyone.

  The bishop’s face went green as he finally remembered his colleagues’ pitying expressions…

  It was true that Master Chopin was a musician from the Sacred City, but his School was completely different than other schools. The most absurd thing was…the members of his school were supporters of Eschatology, and even held a copy of something called The Book of Revelation, some d*mn thing that was written hundreds of years ago by a sick priest.

  Having such a teammate would be a test of the spirit for both yourself and your enemies.

  Fortunately, after saying so many morale-reducing things, Chopin finally said something useful, “You’d better not expect too much from the Grand Inquisitor.”

  Chopin threw the plate aside, and said in a profound tone, “Paganini has hidden depths.”

  -

  -

  Ever since Ye Qingxuan’s fame had spread, the Church had assigned someone specially to collect and sort out information about him.

  After he became the Hand of God and then the Prince of Avalon, this had become a whole team of people. As the water rises, the boat floats higher, and so soon this team reported directly to the College of Cardinals.

  Such a team was not uncommon. All of the kings and important figures of nations had a small group assigned to them, so that the College of Cardinals could gather information and formulate countermeasures at any time.

  The other nations also had similar institutions. The original Anglo Privy Council had cultivated a large group of people to do the same thing, but they relied on their own intelligence network, and were not as quick or efficient as the Church’s.

  The Church had always had many speculations about Ye Qingxuan. The only two bright spots in these speculations were that as Hand of God there was a high possibility that he could become an agent of the Sacred City, and that he never cared about the so-called ‘big picture’.

  In a novel or a play, he would definitely play the role of a selfish, corrupt villain. Now, he was experiencing the negative effects of not understanding the big picture.

  For orthodox musicians, the big picture was essential. It referred not only to the circumstances of the outside world, but to the big picture of the struggle between musicians. Otherwise, it would be like two chess players of wildly different skill levels playing each other. One would be caught up in the other’s rhythm and not realize they were being skinned alive.

  Ye Qingxuan believed that when it came to the details, he was the best of all his peers. He could count the number of musicians who could compete with him on his fingers. But when it came to considering the big picture, there were at least ten Naberiuses between him and Paganini.

  He had forged the Staff of Fate with Ye Qingxuan, and became the tool that stirred up the sea of aether.

  For Paganini, the many magical effects of Changing Music Theory did not matter. The important thing was to use the details of chains of movements to tilt the situation in his favor until in the end he was in control of the entire course of the battle and make his opponent serve his own whims.

  Now, he had finally turned Ye Qingxuan into a teammate who had to go all out. Even though compared to Ye Qingxuan he was like a lion pouncing on a hare, he still did not let up in the least.

  Instead of quickly completely destroying his opponent once and for all, he chose to destroy them by an absolutely reliable and extremely painful method, like placing a frog in warm water before you boil it.

  Ye Qingxuan finally truly realized what a frighteningly powerful musician Paganini was.

  The whole situation was enough to make him shudder.

  He was like a chest master, who starts casually for the first three or four turns, but by turn ten has turned into his opponent’s worst nightmare.

  He seemed pompous and overbearing, but when you really fell into his snare, you would feel it pull at your entire body, and his evil influence would penetrate to your very marrow.

  Paganini, who had mastered the music theory of both the Holy Cauldron and the Abyss, had unified them into one, and through Changing Music Theory had become his own thing.

  What did it feel like to be hanged?

  It felt like Ye Qingxuan felt now!

  676 Reformation

  A moon of pure white slowly rose, flanked by thunder. In the moonlight that was as cold as steel, countless knives and axes condensed out of thin air, whistling as they flew out. Wherever they passed, everything was taken apart.

  At the moment, in Ye Qingxuan’s hands, the technique of sword casting had evolved from the music theory of the school of abstinence towards that of the school of modifications. Murderous intentions from the school of heart gathered on them, forming a lethal poison that could rot away and annihilate all consciousness and tenacity.

  A horrifying amount of aether was lifted from the sea of aether by Ye Qingxuan, using the staff of fate. Every knife and axe contained a terrifying power enough to suck any musician of the same level dry.

  The massive amount of aether was constrained within the knives and axes of nothingness by the music theory of the school of abstinence. From the pure white at the beginning, it gradually turned into a turbulent orangish-yellow, then a dangerous bright red, and in the end, a faint trace of horrifying pure black was already revealed.

  Every knife and axe seemed like a horrifying black zone. Electricity lingered on it and was constantly turbulent, contrary to the calmness of the quiet moon. Through the pitch black cracks, it was as if one could see the horrifying scene of the world destructing amid chaos.

  “Just with this technique alone, you deserve to be at the pinnacle of contemporary musicians.” Paganini softly gave praise, but his figure was so illusory. It fleeted in and out, allowing countless knives and axes to strike him. Wisps of black fog extended from his body.

  The light, fleeting mist contained changing music theory, easily distorting the physical world, blocking the inside from the outer. Countless clouds of fog covered the sky and the sun, engulfing everything.

  The contours of the fog constantly changed and evolved into vague shadows.

  The musicians who had been eroded and transformed by the changing music theory consta
ntly emerged from Paganini’s scepter — They were not illusions emerging from the scepter, but were in fact part of the scepter. The more people the changing music theory eroded, the stronger Paganini’s scepter became.

  The musicians released from the scepter alone were comparable to the scale of an orchestra. In the end, even the shadow of a catastrophe vaguely emerged from it…

  The scepter emerged from the Paganini’s hand and turned into a short baton.

  Countless strands of music theory were connected to the top of the baton, and the inextricably linked strands interwove into a huge net. Like silk threads used to controled puppets, the strands controlled the countless musicians, directing their every move, and they attacked fiercely.

  For the opponent, it was like being stuck in a quagmire.

  The harder one struggled, the harder it was for one to breathe. One could only watch oneself use up all of one’s energy and sink into the darkness.

  In Paganini’s hands, the whole orchestra was commanded with ease just as he wished. Hundreds of musicians worked together, but not only did the innumerable types of music theory not interfere with each other, they were instead united as one, guided by the changing music theory, and could operate freely and effortlessly.

  Ye Qingxuan was facing an entire legion.

  Some were in charge of distracting him, some in charge of attacking, and some were in supporting roles… What made Ye Qingxuan even more uncomfortable was dozens of the darkest shadows drifting freely outside the orchestra, lingering around him, looking for an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

  They were the most dangerous. Once Ye Qingxuan slackened for the slightest bit, they would rush up to him, disregarding their own lives, and inflict severe damage on Ye Qingxuan.

  Or, they might act even more ruthlessly by hugging Ye Qingxuan, then detonating their own Symphonies of Predestination.

  The fellas were all projections of Paganini’s scepter, and were completely unafraid of death. Even if they died, it would only consume a little energy to regenerate them.