Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  “You see? What I just said came true.”

  Ye Qingxuan stood on the dragon’s back with the Staff of Fate in his hands. He reached up and with a mocking smile tipped a nonexistent hat in a salute to the already enraged Paganini.

  “This is the technique of the Ye family. How do you like it?”

  Paganini did not answer, merely stretching out his index finger to pluck at formless strings, further developing the insane melody. His endless movement swept away the remnants of the dragon’s breath in an instant and The Witches’ Dance started once again, even fiercer than before.

  The gold dragon flew high into the sky. Now, Ye Qingxuan was finally on the same level as Paganini. He was blessed by the power of the catastrophes. He was in concordance with the gods, coexisted with the world, and breathed in harmony with heaven and earth.

  With but the slightest response he could pierce through the nine layers of the Sea of Aether, reach the realm of aether, and under the radiant Scepter of the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth faintly touch the edges of the Originator.

  He was resonating with the world.

  This was a catastrophe.

  Ye Qingxuan took a deep breath and held out his hands. Drifting snow fell upon his hands. Everything had a dreamlike quality.

  As the ice crystals melted on his fingertips, fluttering snowflakes emerged from the void, drifting through the air as they fell. Among the gathering clouds, an endless waterfall of snow fell down into the world.

  A blizzard was coming.

  He could feel no warmth on his fingers, and a bone chilling cold suddenly appeared in his heart.

  The incredible illusion was using this as a fulcrum to open up the entire Ultimate.

  “Let’s go on a journey,” Ye Qingxuan whispered. He began to drum his hands and sing softly, “I came alone, I will leave alone. Now cold envelops the world, and falling snow covers my body. When I leave, I will make no decisions. On that dark road I will only find…”

  As he sang hoarsely and stretched out his fingers, the endless falling snow transformed into a sheet of pure white that spilled between the two of them, covering the heavens and the earth.

  At some point after the snow had fallen, the turbulent ocean and the Ultimate had disappeared, leaving only the white sky and the endless falling snow, with an endless road stretching out before them.

  “Schubert…”

  Listening to the song that drifted over from far away, Paganini suddenly understood.

  This was the music theory that Ye Qingxuan had stolen! The quintessence that he had stolen from St. Schubert’s Scepter! A poetic change drove the movement of the melody, creating a world that seemed both real and illusory.

  Winterreise!

  At this moment Ye Qingxuan held the blessings of the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth which could power the Firebird endlessly. He used his essence to transfer his willpower into the aether, transforming it completely and turning his ideas into reality.

  The Firebird and the School of Magic combined to make the illusions that Ye Qingxuan had learned from Lola come to reality.

  Both real and illusory, neither true nor false.

  Between his fingers the illusion seemed real. He used the false snowflakes as an initial fulcrum, and a massive illusion swept out along with the Firebird, pulling Paganini into this false world in a flash.

  “You wish!” Paganini roared. The thousands of hands of The Witches’ Dance stretched out and pulled apart the dark clouds, just like they were tearing a hole in the heavens. They were about to break through.

  But waiting for him on the other side was a smiling Ye Qingxuan and a falling Staff of Fate.

  “Wait a bit, it’ll be alright in a second.”

  Boom! The Staff of Fate pounded into The Witches’ Dance like a hammer. The Firebird gushed out, choking up the transforming music theory. On the back of the dragon, Ye Qingxuan looked over at Paganini with a smile on his lips.

  Paganini had probably already reacted.

  After a normal person gained power, they would probably use it to get revenge for their former shames. But why was Ye Qingxuan messing with Paganini? There were more important things in front of him.

  He didn’t need to struggle with him.

  The Ultimate was right before his eyes.

  As long as he used the illusions to delay him, even if it was only for ten minutes it would be enough to make him fall short.

  Ye Qingxuan had made up his mind to not struggle with him at all. He liberally sprinkled out the power that came from the catastrophe.

  Then, he played “Weathervane,““Frozen Tears,““Bodhi,““Will-o’-the-Wisp,““Spring Dream,““Crow,” and “Whitehead” and the movement he was most familiar with, “Holiday.”

  Illusion after illusion followed this, covering him, intermingling with each other, and injecting various elements into each other. In this poetic process they turned into a real world full of pain and confusion.

  The music theory of the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth firmly suppressed Paganini’s counterattacks, and smothered him within, letting his Changing Music Theory erode away. Many different kinds of illusions were born and then died.

  Finally, the movement called “Old Accompanist” wedged itself firmly into the music theory. The chain of music theory pulled apart the elements, bringing with it frightful power, wearing away Paganini’s Scepter and bringing him into the deepest part of the illusion.

  The Firebird swept out and entered the Ultimate. It was like a giant holding a massive cage, picking demons out of the Ultimate one by one and stuffing them into the cage.

  Each demon that had not yet reached the level of Master lost its sense of self as soon as it entered the illusion as its consciousness and music theory was erased and evaporated, adding to the music of Winterreise. At the same time, the pressure on Ye Qingxuan was reduced.

  This was Paganini after all. Ye Qingxuan did not dare to be the slightest bit careless.

  Winterreise was a double edged sword. If he let up just a little bit, Paganini would turn the tables on him, escape the illusion and pull Ye Qingxuan into it.

  -

  -

  “Paganini was actually suppressed?” On the Sacred City’s flagship, the commanding bishop gasped, looking confused. “When did the Anglo Kingdom complete the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth? We must report this to the Sacred City immediately. The College of Cardinals is going to go crazy when they hear this.”

  “There’s no need to report it.” Chopin shook his head. “The College of Cardinals has been watching this all along, and they’ve already gone crazy. I never would have thought that the Anglo catastrophe weapon had already reached such an unrestricted level.”

  This was definitely bad news.

  Although all the nations had studied catastrophe weapons in private, they hadn’t gotten anywhere. At best they could produce something that matched a catastrophe. The Sacred City had lots of tricks up its sleeve, and they weren’t worried about the other nations getting out of control.

  But the Anglos had not only not been damaged by Leviathan’s attack, they had used it to complete the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth…this had made the Church realize that something was wrong.

  Now that the Abyss was in shambles, having descended into the Physical World with demons and catastrophes running wild, the Sacred City had almost no control over anything anymore. And the Anglos held that madman who was not controlled by the Sacred City in their hands…even a small misstep could lead to a huge amount of chaos.

  It was just like it had been hundreds of years ago with Arthur…

  The bishop looked gloomy, and he said indignantly, “I’ve said it before, the Anglos do not follow the path of the Lord. They don’t believe the Word of God. They must be suppressed.”

  “Speak a little louder, why don’t you, so that the Hand of God can hear you.” Chopin glanced at him indifferently. “If you’re looking for death, I won’t stop you.”

  The bishop was stunned. In
the spyglass he could see that the white-haired young man on the back of the dragon seemed to be staring back at him with a sneer. He could not help but take a step back as he turned pale with fright.

  He had heard him!

  “Everywhere where the power of the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth radiates is Anglo land, and where the Firebird is, nothing can be hidden. The heritage of the Kingdom of Heaven and Earth is not inferior to the greatest of catastrophes.” Chopin waved his hand, indicating everything around him. “The way that the Sacred City does things is arranged by the Sacred City itself. You don’t need to criticize it.”

  The bishop’s face twitched.

  It was clearly Chopin who had been telling tales about him, and who had leaked what he had said. Otherwise, with a Saint around, how could he be worried about being eavesdropped on?

  Feeling that Chopin was not satisfied with him, the bishop had no choice but to act humble. He did not dare to make the Saint sent by the College of Cardinals angry and provoke him to action, and so he asked respectfully, “Is there anything that we can still do?”

  Chopin played with the rosary around his wrist. He lowered his eyes and did not look at the writhing Ultimate. “The time is not right.”

  As he said this, the Ultimate began to shake violently.

  As the heavens and the earth roared, a beam of light screamed up from the Ultimate. Something was slowly spinning in the beam of light and emitting majestic waves of aether.

  Everyone’s eyes strained to see it.

  It was the Stone Plate!

  The broken Stone Plate was wrapped up in the streaming light as it rose up from the Ultimate. The second part of the core of the catastrophe was complete!

  The bishop looked back in shock, wanting to ask Chopin about it, but found that he had already disappeared at some point.

  At the moment that the Stone Plate appeared, he had transformed into a beam of light, rushed into the Ultimate and grabbed at the Stone Plate.

  Now the time was right!

  Chopin was not only one. The gold dragon roared, spread his wings and carried Ye Qingxuan towards where the Stone Plate was.

  On the Asgardian sea fortress, countless steam whistles screamed and a lightning bolt shot out. A majestic deity awoke within the fierce blaze, transforming into the One-eyed God of the Second Emperor as he flashed out towards the Stone Plate.

  And all around the Ultimate, amid dark clouds, deep seas and cold wind, dozens of figures suddenly appeared. A Scepter unfolded in the realm of aether, its elements emerging as a grand melody rose and fell, rushing towards the Stone Plate.

  So many people had waited for this very moment, and where now ready to reap the benefits!

  In the same moment, in a narrow room filled with cobwebs in the depths of the Ultimate, the two people sitting in the dust looked up. Their matching white hair reflected the distant light, brilliant as silver.

  “May I trouble you, Master Yuan?” Liu Ran grinned as she nodded at him. “I implore you.”

  Yuan Jing smiled briefly, then stopped, his face become cold once again. He slowly gripped the longsword on his lip, and raised his eyebrows. “I, Yuan Jing, your unfilial descendant, request to use the movement of the Ancestor Sword!”

  At that moment, in the far east, a sword rang out from thousands of miles away above Yu Jingshan Mountain.

  679 Don’t Eat Pies That You Are Not Supposed To

  For a moment, everyone felt a chill for no reason.

  Time seemed to freeze, and one could hear a clear whistle of a sword.

  As time seemed to progress at a speed tens of millions of times slower than usual, a cold light flew towards them from the depths of the night sky. It passed the stars, penetrated the gloomy clouds, flitted across the endless oceans and mountains, and descended from the sky.

  It was so cold, but it possessed a brilliance like that of souls burning, stinging everyone’s eyes.

  The Sword Art of the Departing Soul!

  The clear whistling of the sword reverberated in one’s ears belatedly, sounding one after another, yet overlapping with each other. It was like the gentle and slow plucking of the strings of a qin using five fingers, the captivation of iron drumsticks hitting a bronze drum, and the charm and joy of lutes being played and flutes being blown.

  A ray of metallic gleam cut the night sky apart, but wherever it passed, ripple-like patterns appeared. It was as if they were looking up from the bottom of a pond at the bustling mortal realm, where songs and dances extolled the good times. But when the metallic gleam silently stabbed downwards from the curtain of the night, it shattered the ripples and the illusions of the bustling mortal realm.

  Someone was tapping the sword to the melody of a song, and the grand scene described in the movement named Long Chi Le [1] evolved from it. Then, the bestiality of the true dragon was extracted from it, turning the pure gleam of the sword into a dragon-like shape hovering in the sky.

  “What is that!” The scepter musician blocked by the dragon was stunned. Before he even had time to react, the dragon of the gleam of the sword high in the sky wrapped itself around his elements. In a flash, the musician and his scepter stiffened where they were.

  A storm of aether swept across, and the musician and his scepter quietly crumbled, dissipating between the heavens and the earth. Only bone-chilling murderous intent lingered around everyone.

  One of the Six Royals, the head of House Yuan had acted ferociously at the moment, scaring the scepter musicians secretly watching on in the dark so much that they all retreated hundreds of miles in an instant. All their courage had been wiped out by the fleeting dragon-shaped gleam of the sword, and they dared not approach again.

  In a fleeting instant, the dragon-shaped gleam of the sword cast itself towards the fragment of the Ultimate. The fragment was wrapped in the gleam, like a dragon ball in the mouth of the dragon. The man wasted no words, turned, and started to leave.

  “Leave it here!” Frenzied thunder struck from the overcast clouds, and the phantom shadow of Odin which the Second Prince had transformed into appeared as the layers of thunder and lightning interwove. A mighty melody unfolded, and the divinity within operated, pressing towards the dragon-shaped gleam.

  Compared to the phantom of the giant god whose figure stretched all the way from the earth to the sky, the small gleam of the sword looked like a candle in the wind, but it was incredibly deft. It tore apart the blasts of thunder and the music theory easily as if it was crushing dry weeds and smashing rotten wood. Despite forcibly fighting against the divinity, it was at no disadvantage!

  But next, Chopin’s figure suddenly emerged from a wisp of moonlight in thin air. Facing the blade that was powerful enough to mince himself up, not only did he not retreat, but instead, he greeted it ecstatically, as if he was looking for death, and couldn’t wait for someone to kill him.

  However, the music theory around him that was complex and terrifying like a tide made the ray of gleam deeply wary. As compared to the ease it enjoyed when fighting against Odin, it was somewhat constrained when dealing with Chopin.

  In contrast, Ye Qingxuan was one step slower, but he seemed to be in no hurry. He simply hovered around, riding the golden dragon. Nor did he idle, and he kept on throwing plenty of musical movements into the Ultimate. The movements he played with his fingers were merely lead-ins. Ye Qingxuan played the prelude, but after that, hundreds of aether waves followed closely.

  Outside the Ultimate, the warship named the Mountain of Nomadism had been burnt red due to it operating under the ninth drive. The huge heart in the pool of aether was wildly beating, constantly absorbing power from the sea of aether and distributing it to every musician’s body along with the music theory of the Net of Aether.

  A nearly infinite power was available for the musicians to dispatch, and the purification musicians of the Religious Court of Inquiry had never been able to expend power so extravagantly before. With the guidance of Ye Qingxuan, under the command, the warship’s armor
opened up layer by layer, revealing hundreds and thousands of thick pipes, and hot steam spewed out of the pipes.

  It was a huge organ that had completed its warm-up.

  After undergoing modifications once more in Anglo, the Mountain of Nomadism had become a total stronghold. After the hull was completely dismantled, the alchemists built a huge war instrument specifically tailored for the Mountain of Nomadism and embedded the huge organ in it.

  Just the keys alone made up nine layers. It had thousands of organ bolts and tens of thousands of resonance pipes.

  At the moment, the purification musicians had begun resonating as one under the guidance of the Heaven Ladder, with synergy, they played a purifying movement. The grand melody of Night on Bald Mountain resounded through the skies.

  The gloomy clouds were burned to a bright red. Countless meteors descended from the sky with the guidance of Ye Qingxuan. It was red-hot gleams of iron, stakes with the Fire of Judgment entwined around them.

  The clouds wrapped around the Mountain of Nomadism had already become a scorching furnace. Innumerable gleams of iron brewed up within, appearing out of nothing. They condensed and turned into heavy stakes. Together with the Light of Judgment, they descended from the sky and smashed into the Ultimate.

  Loud bangs burst forth continuously. The stakes were like heavy rain, descending from the sky as Ye Qingxuan waved his hands. Each of the stakes crashing down would trigger a raging fire, as if it had smashed out a hole leading straight to purgatory in the ground, causing the lava in purgatory to spew out.

  The fiery glow from the rows of stakes shrouded everywhere in sight.

  It was as if Ye Qingxuan had waved a hammer about and hammered nails down. Each stake wedged into the Ultimate nailed the music theory of the Religious Court of Inquiry deeply into the land.

  Wherever the fire shrouded was holy land.

  In a flash, all the other forces were expelled by the ferocious music theory on the stakes, and only pure judgment and destruction remained. The demons hiding in the shadows were swallowed by the flames in large numbers. They screamed and dissipated as ashes in the terrifyingly high temperature.