Silent Crown

by Feng Yue

  “Is this the world you wanted to save? Look at it! It’s not worth your sacrifice, why can’t you see that?” Ye Qingxuan roared furiously. “If God really loved the world then the world would be good, and you’d have a place in it! You have to live!”

  He reached out and slammed the Staff of Fate down, firmly trying to bring an end to Schubert’s operation even if the flame burned him. He was like a mantis waiting for death in front of a spinning wheel, hoping it would miraculously stop.

  The old nun was silent.

  She looked at Ye Qingxuan for a while and smiled with relief.

  “Your Excellency - God probably doesn’t love us, right?”

  She reached out and gently pushed away the lifeline that Ye Qingxuan had reached out to her, cutting off her last hope.

  Within the flames her eyes were full of compassion as she looked at Ye Qingxuan. “But at least we can choose to love each other.”

  His headache became fiercer and fiercer. Ye Qingxuan rubbed his throbbing forehead and gritted his teeth. He reached out and tried to pull her back.

  But she was swallowed by the flames and disappeared.

  The flames rose into the sky and a grand melody rang out throughout the entire world.

  As if in response to the miracle, a cheer rose from the Ultimate, and the fragments of the Stone Plate slowly rose, attracting the core that had been scattered to the four winds, instantly gathering it back together.

  The sea of aether began to boil, like terrifying fluctuations were bursting forth from the stars one after another. The realm of aether and the Physical World suddenly overlapped, and in the distant Originator a line of illusory light shone quietly.

  It was like there was a baby crying. It was like there was nothing.

  But everyone felt that a formless giant had emerged from the Originator and was descending into the world.

  A catastrophe had been born.

  A miracle was finally coming.

  688 Wheel of Balance

  Ye Qingxuan looked up at the sky.

  “You wanted to stop her, but on the contrary, you helped her achieve her goal, no?” A soft voice rang in Ye Qingxuan’s ear. “Everything has been arranged by God a long time ago, and the plan is perfect. Haha, such is the Sacred City, Ye Qingxuan.

  “Everyone is a chip in their hands, including her, and also including you.”

  The voice asked softly, “Are you sure you still want to be on their side?”

  It was Paganini.

  It was Paganini, again.

  This time around, Ye Qingxuan didn’t even bother to turn back.

  He just felt very tired.

  Sitting on the fallen bell tower, Ye Qingxuan lowered his head and stopped looking at the sky. He fished out a crumpled paper packet and ignited the last crooked cigarette.

  He took a deep breath, looking at the glow flickering at his fingertips, and suddenly asked back, “Paganini, I don’t like the Sacred City indeed, but do you know why I don’t want to cooperate with you?”

  Paganini was silent.

  “To be honest, I didn’t know it at first, but now I finally understand.” Ye Qingxuan laughed self-mockingly. “It’s because I have always been trying to make the world a better place, Paganini.” Ye Qingxuan turned back and looked at him coldly. “And you don’t deserve it.”

  Paganini sneered and said nothing. He didn’t even attack, just looked at Ye Qingxuan, like he was watching a fool, a psychopath who didn’t understand anything.

  “No need to talk nonsense anymore, Paganini, don’t you want that thing? I will no longer fight with you over it, I give up. What are you still waiting for? Go grab it, go snatch the food from the jaws of the Sacred City like a mad dog, go fight for the sake of your ambition.”

  Ye Qingxuan coldly withdrew his gaze. Leaning against the ruins, he closed his eyes tiredly. “I just want some silence, so… get lost.”

  Paganini gave him a final look. Suddenly he felt that he was wrong about the young man. Ye Qingxuan wasn’t the type of person who harbored hatred as he had imagined him to be. They who harbored hatred were like fire, like lava, and they would burn everything down, but he was not.

  He was just a fool.

  The phantom dissipated.

  …

  When Paganini reappeared, the abyss sages had become a mess. The rage that had nowhere to vent lashed out at him from the very first moment since he returned. Shackles consisting of a gloomy glow suddenly burst forth all around him, putting him into a cage.

  “Look what you have done!” The withered head roared, “What on earth were you thinking, Paganini? You ruined everything! The four knights left by the sacred god, the last power of the abyss, and the future have all been ruined because of you!”

  “Is it a bad thing?” Paganini snickered. “Right from the start, I have never intended to allow the sculptures you all made from clay and wood to surpass me. It’s just that you all took things too simply. Why should I obey and bow to the four puppets that you all control?”

  “Now we’re all finished, Paganini.” The head looked at him coldly, his eyes filled with hatred. “Maybe we will be consumed in the battle, and as for you, you will definitely not have a good ending. Coincidentally, I am just waiting to see where your courage comes from for you to be bold enough to behave so rudely in front of me, as a newly promoted dark minister. Soon, you will know. We can help you accomplish your goals, and so can we ruin you!”

  “No, you won’t.” Paganini smiled and spread his five fingers. On the five fingers, a black mist lingered, turning into the face of the withered head. It was realistic and lifelike, making the head’s expression turn into one of shock.

  It was… changing music theory?

  “Something’s wrong! When did you…” His expression changed drastically, and he looked around but found that everyone stood transfixed without him realizing. They did not respond and just stared straight at him. The expression of the skull was twisted. “When did you plant the changing music theory in me?!”

  “Although I want badly to tell you, it’s actually a secret.” Paganini smiled. He pressed his palm on the withered head and finally bid him farewell. “So, it’s best that you don’t know it…”

  The head wanted to wail forlornly, but he couldn’t make any sound.

  When Paganini’s removed his palm, the copper disk floating in the air fell to the ground with a clang, and the broken bones, which were the only parts that remained of the shattered skull, smashed to smithereens on the ground.

  It was like a broken wine glass.

  A breeze blew from the deep darkness, and all the bodies of the abyss sages crumbled, like puppets piled up with sand. The power they accumulated throughout their lives gushed out like a spring, flowing into the wisps of dark, grayish mist, and flew towards Paganini’s fingertips.

  In the end, no traces of them were left.

  Only Paganini was left standing alone in the darkness. In the faint candlelight, his face turned stranger and stranger, and it was so beautiful that one could not tell whether he was female or male, but it gave off a strong impression of being non-human. Despite clearly having perfect features on his face, there was nothing human-like about his eyes and brows.

  Paganini quietly bid the ashes farewell, then left silently. “Thank you for your care and support all this while. In return, consider the mausoleum that has been used to bury the various kings of the first generation a present for you all to enjoy. May you all find the future you were seeking in eternal death.”

  Thunder sounded from the surface of the earth a long distance away, shaking the dust off surfaces, and extinguished the last candlelight.

  Darkness arrived.

  …

  The sound of thunder became stronger and stronger.

  After the cry that seemed like an illusion, frantic thunder sounded from the sky. The rumble seemed to indicate that a storm was coming, but no dark clouds could be found in the night sky, nor was there any flash of lightning. It
was purely a result of friction between music theory.

  A huge gap cracked open in the realm of aether, spilling miracles into the physical world as if the magnificent power of creation was operating within. Various horrifying elements that humans could hardly imagine spewed out, constantly shaking violently and scraping against each other. Breathtaking thunder burst forth.

  At the moment, the sky had become a forbidden area.

  The aftermath of the collisions between elements took place one after another. The layers of waves intertwined like ripples, spreading outwards in all directions, spilling a tremendous amount of pressure downwards. Matter was not damaged in the slightest bit, but all music theory oscillated in the aftermath. It was like houses whining forlornly in an earthquake.

  The scepters with elements of a lower class would burst completely and cease to exist in an instant when placed within, and the Symphonies of Predestination which were one class weaker couldn’t even approach. The musicians who approached hastily were swept away by the airwaves. Then, they fell from the sky like insects and crashed onto the ground, becoming piles of meat pulp. Before that, their will, their Symphonies of Predestination, and all their music theory had been brutally erased.

  It was the melting pot of the creation, the manifestation of the destruction of the world, the enormous power that operated the world. All human beings were only dust in front of it and could in no way hinder it. They couldn’t even be considered as mantises blocking the carriage [1].

  The crystals proliferated from the small core. A physical form was being bestowed upon the new catastrophe.

  But Ye Qingxuan just looked up at the sky, lying motionless in the ruins. Initially, he wanted to involve himself in the Ultimate and get his share of the catastrophe that was being born.

  At the moment, after understanding its nature clearly, he had no desire to even touch it.

  Like what he said to Paganini, he had given up.

  It was a power that had been irrigated with blood, a miracle for which countless people had given up their lives in return.

  How was such a thing different from rotten meat?

  Just thinking about it made him want to vomit.

  But in the silent observation, the embryonic form of the body of the catastrophe had gradually emerged. It grew wildly, evolving towards the most perfect form. In the friction and collision between countless elements, brand new music theory and power slowly emerged from it.

  At the moment, no musician would have their minds on other things. Their consciousness, their gaze, all their senses were directed towards the sky, and they used every method available to them to get closer to the core, sensing the earth-shattering changes and experiencing the wonder of the operation of the world.

  Everyone saw different things, but all of them felt that they had only seen the tip of the iceberg of the behemoth, and it was difficult to see the whole picture. Just gazing and sensing it would make one’s power increase wildly, and aether waves erupted one after another like volcanoes. But soon, the incorporeal waves dissipated, and the colliding elements gradually disappeared.

  In the greedy and lingering gaze of countless musicians, the gap in the realm of the aetheric world closed silently, and the blessing from the Originator was over.

  They had no time to be sentimental or regretful because as the moment arrived, mighty tolls of bells resounded through the perception of all the musicians in the entire physical world.

  They announced the emergence of new power and the establishment of new rules and order.

  A new catastrophe had been born from nothingness!

  At the moment, the existence hanging high above the sky finally revealed its true appearance. It was an odd stone wheel that seemed to be carved from rocks. The stone wheel that seemed to have been carved crudely had hundreds of precise scales on it. Under each scale were odd patterns consisting of countless complicated notes.

  If one was to look closely, one couldn’t perceive the texture of the rock at all. It was just an illusion caused by the distortion of the air, and it was difficult to even determine whether it had weight.

  It was as if the surface of the world had peeled off, revealing a crack leading to the core, allowing humans a vague glimpse of the complex structure within.

  At the moment, the stone wheel hung high in the sky, motionless, but it gave one the illusion that the whole world was slowly rotating around it.

  Perhaps, it really was spinning.

  It was just that the stone wheel was the midpoint of the world, and when it decided to spin, what would rotate would be the whole world.

  Just by sensing and looking at it, in the blink of an eye, everyone understood its essence.

  Just as what everyone had hoped, after consuming countless resources, the catastrophe born had entered the level of abomination, alongside the Three Pillar God and the Three Wise Men.

  It was just that it was neither a manifestation of human nature nor a result of divinity operating within. Instead, it was something purer, an item, a tool created in order to reach a certain purpose.

  Or in other words, a pure artifact.

  As the stone wheel rotated, it subjugated all music theory completely, and all the elements emerged at just the right timing, converging together as a whole.

  By right, everyone should have felt its power at the moment it appeared. If it had been a lethal artifact, it wouldn’t have been impossible for all musicians to die once it had been born. If it had been a savior-like miracle, then an exuberant vitality would have naturally emerged with it.

  But at the moment, all the people there perceived nothing unusual.

  It wasn’t until when some musicians were ready to act before the rest that they realized that something was wrong, and they couldn’t help but give a yelp of shock — the realm of aether, which was initially close at hand, did not respond to their call, and the rules of the physical world remained just as stable as before.

  At the moment, the musical movement that was originally enough to shake the heavens and the earth could only stir up weak ripples in the physical world!

  Until then only did they discover that the physical world and the realm of aether had been quietly separated, and the boundaries between the two were no longer unclear, but instead, they became distinct.

  The nine-layered sea of aether seemed to have a new order and structure. The structure was complex and clear, forming a perfect balance between the two realms.

  Everyone got a serious case of goosebumps.

  The artifact could actually control the ‘distance’ between the physical world and the realm of aether!

  As long as it operated, be it completely overlapping the physical world and the realm of aether to create a magical wonderland beyond the imagination of human beings, or be it separating the physical world and the realm of aether totally, blocking off elements and scepters, causing the sea of aether to stop flowing, and forming a vacuum with no trace of aether within, all such actions would be just a breeze.

  Then only did the name given to it by the Originator emerge in everyone’s heart.

  The Wheel of Balance!

  [1] The author is referring to a Chinese proverb that literally translates as “blocking the carriage with one’s front legs as a mantis”. It means being unaware of one’s incapability to do something and attempting to do it to no avail, often harming oneself in the process.

  689 The Plague Returns

  To an ordinary musician, the realm of aether was simply too mystical and illusory. Most people would not even be capable of imagining the existence of the realm of aether or physically touch that secretive region hidden behind nine layers of the sea of aether. Long ago, some people even thought that ‘the realm of aether’ only existed in the imaginations and perceptions of musicians.

  A world that was purely made up of aether, which was a material that did not exist? Unimaginable.

  There was only one world after all, right?

  For the longest time, count
less musicians tried to explain the difference between the two worlds to their own students, but very few of them were capable of giving a clear explanation. Therefore, they had no choice but to create the new concept of a ‘physical world’ in order to explain the world that humans could see.

  At the end of the day, the things that humans could perceive were too few and far between. It was like a dwarf who was unable to appreciate a beautiful scenery because it was just too tall for him or the insect who would never be able to understand the cold weather of winter because its environment was always in the summer.

  Humans had always been very restricted by their five senses. Many scholars predicted that possibly more than 17 dimensions existed in this world but humans were only capable of interacting with three of them.

  This was why musicians yearned to make use of aether to gain a broader appreciation of this world. This was the biggest misunderstanding that most people had. The realm of aether was not a dimension that hid behind another dimension, nor was it a bubble that existed beyond another bubble, nor was it a world that was created from aether; It was a world as ‘perceived’ by aether.

  To be more exact, the actual term was “seeing the world through aether.” By transforming into extensions of aether, humans could break through their own limitations to become one step closer to the reality of the world and grasp even greater power. The only catch was that this was only useful for musicians that were at least of distortion level.

  One’s body could only be “aether-ized” after aether circulation had been formed within. One could only delve deep into the realm of aether by utilizing the Symphony of Predestination as the carrier of one’s consciousness and character, and possibly even to form one’s own scepter. It was even possible to possess the “nature” of a particular existence and turn it into an “element” in the realm of aether, so that it had completely surpassed the level of humans.

  This was precisely why the level of Masters was so mysterious, why scepters were so tempting, why the origin of catastrophes was so secretive and why the existence of the Originator had attracted the pursuit of countless musicians.